The throng was awash in red T-shirts bearing the slogan, “I Fight to End Inequality”. With the help of the mayor’s erstwhile friend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the State Legislature passed a law mandating that new charters receive rent-free space in public school buildings or new space paid for by the city, a significant win for Ms. Moskowitz.
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Natasha Shannon, 37, of Washington Heights, a stay-at-home mom whose girls all attend Success Academy Charter Schools, spoke at the rally. “It’s the school I always dreamed she would go to”.
She called herself “idealistic” and denounced de Blasio for posing “obstacles at every turn” for the growth of her school network, which critics have said is run like a corporation.
The leader of a major chain of New York City charter schools says she will not run for mayor. The rally was organized by Families for Excellent Schools, a powerful lobbying group with close ties to Success, which has waged an expensive publicity campaign against de Blasio’s education agenda and his union allies.
“These requirements, which provide for greater transparency and oversight of the DOC, are consistent with this administration’s commitment to improving jail facilities”, de Blasio’s office said.
After the rally, protestors marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall, to deliver the message in person.
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Moskowitz served two terms as a City Council member representing the Upper East Side.
