Eva Moskowitz, the controversial founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, has earned allies and enemies in equal measure for championing school choice and waging war on the policies responsible for our nation’s dysfunctional public schools. Now, she has brought her crusade to the page in THE EDUCATION OF EVA MOSKOWITZ: A Memoir (Harper; September 12, 2017), a riveting chronicle of her battles, a deeply felt personal story and a resounding mission statement.
A quintessential New Yorker known for her “sharp elbows,” Ms. Moskowitz pulls no punches in her candid account of her clashes with powerful interests, including the teachers unions and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who announced during his mayoral campaign that it was “time for Eva Moskowitz to stop having the run of the place … to stop being tolerated, enabled, supported.” When De Blasio evicted three of her schools, it led to showdown that garnered national press coverage. Ms. Moskowitz provides a behind the scenes account of her successful battle to save her schools.
Ms. Moskowitz, a graduate of Stuyvesant High School and former Professor who holds a Ph.D. in American history from Johns Hopkins University, also recounts her decision to enter politics, the conflicts she had with the teachers unions as a member of the New York City Council, and the revenge they exacted on her when she sought to run for Manhattan Borough President. It also covers the remarkable story of how she founded Success Academies and grew it over the course of a decade from a single school in Harlem to a network of 46 schools serving 15,500 children in four boroughs.
Ms. Moskowitz provides a deeply personal account of her life describing her own personal insecurities, her struggle to have children, her firsthand accounts of the attack on the Twin Towers and the murder of one of her colleagues by a political opponent, her joy at seeing the children at her schools succeed and her heartbreak at the tragedies that have befallen many of them.
Over the years, many people have given their opinion of Eva Moskowitz:
“Possibly the most polarizing, successful and controversial charter leader in the country.” –Richard Whitmore
“I’ve never experienced star-chamber hearings the way her hearings went, and they were so biased and so one-sided.” –Randi Weingarten
“Brilliant, savvy, ambitious, often a pain in my neck, and atypically fearless for an elected official.” –Joel Klein
“Why’s there so much hate for a woman who has decided to spend her days starting schools for poor and mostly black children in Harlem?” –Elizabeth Greene
“Charter czarina Eva Moskowitz carries sharp elbows.” –Michael Powell, New York Times columnist
“[Y]our arrogance about what the system should do and that charter schools are the answer is exactly what drives the conflict in a community.” –Council Member Carmen Arroyo
“They’re both extraordinary. I’m going to vote for both of them.” –Donald Trump on Moskowitz and her political opponent
“Surprises From 2015, and Reasons for Hope….: Eva S. Moskowitz realizes that lots of people don’t like her.” —Ginia Bellafante, New York Times
“A lightning rod for praise and rage: the patron saint of parents and the pariah of the unions.” —Lizzy Ratner, New York Observer