The Success Academy charter school network is canceling its pre-kindergarten classes for this fall following a months-long contract dispute with Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration.
Success Academy has refused to sign a contract with the city to run uniform pre-kindergarten classes, balking at the regulation and oversight.
The network has gone to court over the issue, but as it awaits that decision, it decided to preemptively cancel all classes for this upcoming school year.
It currently has 72 pre-k seats. In its announcement, Success Academy, which is run by de Blasio foe Eva Moskowitz, blamed the mayor.
"No, I don't think it's part of a political battle," said principal Jonathan Dant. "At the end of the day, what we do is best for kids and that's the way our organization operates, that's the way the Eva operates. It's our mission to create world class schools for our kids that come here."
"There has to be a way to save the children that are being sent to really terrible UPKs and there has to be a way to not restrict the charter schools," said parent Madeline Vega. "So maybe the charter schools just shouldn't have had to sign the contract."
A spokeswoman for the DOE said all other charter pre-k programs have signed the contract. She said the standards help ensure all the city's pre-k programs meet the high standards set by its educators.