The leader of the city's largest charter school network sent a blistering letter to parents and staff members, saying she no longer supports President Trump. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.
She stood on the steps of City Hall in November, a school leader in charge of more than 10,000 black and Hispanic students, defending Donald Trump.
"There are many positive signs that President Trump will be different than candidate Trump," Eva Moskowitz said then.
Nine months later, in an email Thursday morning, Moskowitz apologized to parents and teachers and publicly denounced the president, "...particularly in light of President Trump’s horrifying response to the violence in Charlottesville," she wrote. "I should have been more outspoken so that no one would possibly think that either Success Academy or I was tacitly supporting President Trump’s policies, which are contrary to the values of respect, caring, and concern that are central to our mission."
After meeting with Trump in November, Moskowitz said she had been considered for Education Secretary. She said she decided to stay at Success but believed in working with Trump, who received less than 20 percent of the vote in the city.
"I am troubled by what I see as sort of rooting for Trump's failure," she said at the time.
The lifelong Democrat then gave Ivanka Trump a tour of one of her Harlem schools. And in May, she hosted House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Now, Moskowitz says she's found the Trump presidency distressing. It's a rare mea culpa for the firebrand leader known for embracing controversy.
It's the second email on race relations she sent in two days. Tuesday, she apologized on behalf of her board chairman, Dan Loeb, who ignited a firestorm by calling a black state lawmaker worse than the Ku Klux Klan. He remains in charge of the board.
Parents NY1 spoke with say they were increasingly upset by Moskowitz's connections to Trump but found her email reassuring.
"Most of her students are black children, so of course it would bother me to know that she is racist, she's connected," said Rosetta Oldcare-Lyken, a Success Academy parent. "So now that's she's cleared that up, I'm good."