Cruz came to the Bronx touting charter schools. But he was the one who got schooled. [Updated]

Malaika Mataba (l.) and Shula Selby helped draft the letter that led to Bronx Lighthouse Charter School to cancel Ted Cruz's appearance Wednesday.

[Correction/clarification: The references below to N.Y. charter boss Eva Moskowitz weren't meant to imply that Lighthouse charters were part of her personal network. But rather that she has become the powerful leader and spokesperson for the district's charter schools as a whole. Thanks to Diane Ravitch for the heads-up. -- mk]


I tried to warn them. When I first head that Donald Trump was holding a rally in Chicago, I asked, who on his staff thought that was a good idea?

When he ventured into Chicago last month, Trump was greeted by a coalition of thousands of protesters, inside and outside the UIC Pavilion. Seeing the size and militancy of the protest, he quickly cancelled his rally and hightailed it out of town. Trump's racist, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, and homophobic campaign may well have met its Waterloo in Chicago. The seemingly invincible campaign has been tumbling downhill ever since.

Ted Cruz down on "New York values". It's mutual. 

On Wednesday, Ted Cruz wandered into NYC attacking "New York values" and talking education. His strategists must have thought his pro-charter, school "choice" message would give him cover in the inner-city. Instead, he was the one who got schooled at a Bronx charter school of all places. 

According the NYDN,

The lesson came from a group of Bronx high school students who told the Republican presidential candidate to stay away. Cruz was scheduled to speak at Bronx Lighthouse College Preparatory Academy until students wrote a letter to the principal asking her not to let Cruz come, prompting staffers to cancel the appearance.

After her board invited Cruz to Lighthouse, Principal Alix Duggins was afraid to cancel without their permission. So the students planned their walkout.

"We told her if he came here, we would schedule a walkout," said Destiny Domeneck, 16. "Most of us are immigrants or come from immigrant backgrounds. Ted Cruz goes against everything our school stands for."

The students' letter made it clear that they had no use for Cruz' "misogynistic, homophobic, and racist" politics and would take action he came to their school.

Fearing a student walkout and a parent revolt, the charter school's CEO Khori Whittaker stepped in, patted the kids on the head, and cancelled Cruz.

A huge embarrassment, not only for Cruz, but for N.Y. charter boss Eva Moskowitz as well.

Lighthouse is a so-called "no excuses" school. The charter company operates 11 schools in NYC and one in D.C. It's one of Moskowitz' "choosiest of charters", with only a 5.9% admission rate and an extremely high (54%) teacher turnover rate.

The wingnuts at Breitbart have their undies in a twist.

The Bronx isn't Texas.