Mounting evidence continues to contradict Success Academy charter network head Eva Moskowitz's claims that harsh discipline of struggling students is isolated and anomalous across her 36 NYC schools. Less than a month after 13 parents filed a federal civil rights complaint against the network for allegedly using harsh tactics to pressure special needs children out of the system, the NY Times has published a secretly-filmed video of a teacher from Success Academy Cobble Hill yelling at a first grader for stumbling over a math problem, ripping up the child's worksheet, and banishing her to a "calm down chair."
"Go to the calm down chair and sit," yells teacher Charlotte Dial, after ripping the small girl's worksheet in two. "There is nothing that infuriates me more, than when you don't do what's on your paper.... Do not go back to your seat and show me one thing, and not do it here."
When another student struggles with the same problem, Dial snaps, "[I'm] very upset and very disappointed."
The video was taken in the fall of 2014, by a concerned assistant teacher who later described Dial's treatment of students as consistently "harsh." Dial, however, is reportedly popular among school administrators, and within Success Academy at large—so much so that she was promoted to the position of "model" teacher in 2015, and has conducted teacher training.
Success Academy, which some parents and politicians praise for its rigor, student focus, and high test scores, has been challenged by others who say the scores are maintained at the expense of struggling students, some of whom have allegedly been disciplined to the point of expulsion.
The NY Times apparently shared the video with Success Academy last month. The school stated that Dial had been suspended for the duration of an investigation, but the teacher was back at work within a week and a half, defended by a group of parents convened by the school's principal. One parent, whose child had Dial has a soccer coach, said, "If you tell me that happens every single day, that’s a different thing. But no one is telling me that, and everyone is telling me about all the amazing things that she does all the other days.”
Moskowitz once again described the unsavory situation as an anomaly, calling Dial "wonderful" and "committed"—a teacher who blew up because she "so desperately wants her kids to succeed and to fulfill their potential." She did state, however, that all teachers will receive additional training on their tone in the classroom.
But in 20 conversations with other current and former teachers, the NY Times heard stories that suggest it is not uncommon for Success teachers to leverage fear in the classroom. According to five of the interviewees, even ripping up papers is common practice (one teacher said the tactic was encouraged as a way to "demonstrate urgency" and get a child's attention). Former Success teacher Ayanna Legros, who taught in Harlem for part of the 2013-14 school year, said the practice even had a name—a "rip and redo."
