Cheers
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
So the state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, in his latest in his series of investigations of New York charter schools, has unearthed the news that at the Carl C. Icahn Charter School in the Bronx, a grand total of $1,288 was spent on alcoholic beverages for the school’s staff. Well, that amounts to .05% — one twentieth of a percentage point — of the school’s $2.44 million annual operating expenses. And, as President Lincoln reportedly said when others complained about General Grant’s tippling, “Find out what he’s drinking and send a case to the rest of my generals.”
The staff at the Icahn school deserves to be toasted with fine Champagne for the results it has achieved. Its performance was the topic of a front-page article that ran in May 30, 2006 number of The New York Sun ran under the headline, “Icahn Quietly Emerges as a Force for Improved Education in the City.” The article reported, “Last year, a remarkable 86% of fourth-graders passed the state reading test. That’s much higher than the city’s average pass rate, which was 56%. Every fourth-grader in the school passed the state math exam.”
Our story reported that “Class size at the school is capped at 18 and the school day runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with Saturday classes for students who need more help. The school year extends into the middle of July, offering children significantly more school time than their peers in regular public schools. The children are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic and more than 90% have family income low enough to qualify for the federal free lunch program.” The school was built and is led by Mr. Icahn, the billionaire investor.
What is going on with the use of the comptroller’s office for politically motivated audits is a statewide scandal. Mr. DiNapoli won his post without winning a statewide election and is clearly doing whatever he can to win the support of the powerful teachers union, whose members, unlike the staff at Icahn, do not work until the middle of July or on Saturdays. Hence the series of audits by Mr. DiNapoli of charter schools. None has yet been forthcoming of the charter schools run by the United Federation of Teachers. So let us lift a glass to the staff of the Icahn school and say “cheers.”
