Liz Baker withdraws services to Success Academy, alleges systemic racism
The spokesperson for New York City’s largest charter network, Liz Baker, has withdrawn her services to Success Academy, accusing the management of promoting systemic racism in the school.
While disclosing this on Wednesday June 24, 2020, Baker stated that such racism is detrimental to the emotional well being of its students.
Baker, who withdrew her services to the Academy on Tuesday, said, “I am resigning because I can no longer continue working for an organization that allows and rewards the systemic abuse of students, parents, and employees.
“As the organization’s press associate, I no longer wish to defend Success Academy in response to any media inquiries.
“I do not believe that Success Academy has scholars’ best interests at heart, and I strongly believe that attending any Success Academy school is detrimental to the emotional wellbeing of children,” she continued.
Her resignation letter comes at a period when the network was being inundated by complaints from employees, parents, and students about a culture that some argue is racist.
Baker, who has worked at Success for about a year and four months, is one of the network’s most visible employees and was responsible for responding to reporters’ questions about the network.
While reacting to the criticisms, the network’s CEO, Eva Moskowitz, held a series of town halls last week to address concerns.
In her resignation letter, Baker said officials screened out critical questions from parents and employees.
“Questions deemed ‘too critical’ were rejected before they could be posted in the Live Q&A section visible to attendees,” Baker wrote.
One such question involved a bulletin board at a school that displayed paper cutouts of Black Success students hanging upside down with the heading: “Hang in there … It’s almost summer!”
Ann Powell, another Success Academy spokesperson, wrote in an email that “Liz worked here for more than a year, never questioned Success Academy policies or culture, and even when she gave notice today, did not voice any of the concerns that she wrote in her letter.”
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