The leader of New York City’s largest charter school network has also found herself engulfed in controversy this week. | Getty Following months of criticism, Eva Moskowitz distances herself from Trump

Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz distanced herself from President Donald Trump on Thursday, following ten months of relentless criticism from staff, board members and colleagues, sending an open letter decrying Trump's handling of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The leader of New York City’s largest charter school network has also found herself engulfed in controversy this week after the chairman of her network board, billionaire financier Dan Loeb, compared a black state legislator to the Ku Klux Klan.


In the letter, obtained by POLITICO New York and written to Success families and staff Thursday morning, Moskowitz acknowledged that she has angered many in her orbit for defending Trump.

“Unfortunately, our nation has become so polarized in the Trump era that some have perceived my silence as tacit support of President Trump’s policies,” Moskowitz wrote. “This is particularly upsetting to me because opponents of charter schools in general, and of Success Academy in particular, have sought to take advantage of this confusion to undermine our schools and the work we do for children. I apologize to you for allowing this to happen.”

In the days following Trump’s election, Moskowitz interviewed to become his education secretary. At a press conference where she announced she would not pursue the job, she defended the president-elect. Moskowitz chided reporters for what she called “a kind of rooting for Trump’s failure” in the days after the presidential election, singling out the New York Times.

For months after, she refused to say whether she’d protect undocumented students in her 41 schools — a decision not even her public relations team has defended.

Moskowitz has invited Ivanka Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan into her schools over the last several months, and accused opponents of education secretary Betsy DeVos of using “scare tactics” to block her nomination.

Now, as Moskowitz faces a barrage of criticism over her ties to Trump and to Loeb, she said Thursday that she should have been more clear about where she stands.

“In retrospect, 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,” Moskowitz wrote in Thursday’s letter.

Moskowitz specifically criticized Trump’s handling of the white supremacist marches in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend.

“I am deeply distressed both by the hateful violence in Charlottesville and by President Trump’s refusal to clearly denounce it,” she said.

Success schools serve 93 percent black and Latino students. Earlier this week, former city schools chancellor Dennis Walcott excoriated Loeb for his racially charged remark and warned that Loeb’s presence on the board could undermine Success’s work and leave staff and parents unsure about whether to remain with Success.

Walcott, who is black, has been a strong supporter of Success for years. Joseph Belluck, the chairman of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, the body that authorizes Success’s schools, has publicly expressed anger at Loeb and said he would “review options” for Loeb’s position on the board.

Moskowitz has defended her ties with Trump as part of an effort to reach bipartisan consensus on education reform. On Thursday, she said her silence about the administration was born of a principled stance not to get involved in politics.

But Moskowitz has been an influential political figure in New York City for years. She has been among Mayor Bill de Blasio’s most relentless critics, and has frequently toyed with the idea of running for mayor. She has helped organize several massive political rallies in Albany in New York City to put pressure on elected officials, and recently oversaw the passage of some of the most significant pro-charter legislation out of the State Capitol in years.

“I chose not to speak publicly about these disagreements [with Trump], however, because I feel my responsibility as CEO of Success Academy is not to advance my personal beliefs on a broad range of political issues,” Moskowitz wrote on Thursday. She said she was at odds with the White House over “virtually all of President Trump’s policy positions” and emphasized that she voted for Hillary Clinton in the general election.

Moskowitz’s letter did not mention Loeb. She has criticized the hedge fund manager’s word choice, but defended his argument that politicians who do not support charters are harming black communities.

Read the full letter here.