Protests greet Ryan at charter school photo-op in Harlem

Ryan comes to Harlem

It looks like Eva Moskowitz's Success Charter Academy has become the photo-op, stop-off point favorite for Republican pols anxious to demonstrate their fealty to so-called "school choice".

Latest to duck in and out of Harlem under heavy security was House Speaker Paul Ryan, fresh from his initial triumph over millions of people's health care coverage. What Ryan, Moskowitz and the charter network's publicity department probably didn't count on, was the large gathering of protesters, organized by the Working Families Party, that turned out to greet him with chants of "shame! shame! shame!".

His hourlong visit on National Teachers Day also included a brief meeting with special-needs students at P.S. 149, a public school that shares a building with the charter school. These are the very same students whose programs are being gutted by Trump's Sec. of Ed, Betsy DeVos as her budget shifts about $20 billion from public schools to charters and vouchers.

Ryan, who banned the press from covering his visit,  described the tour as “special.”

Ryan came at the invitation of Moskowitz who pulls down about $500K/year as the charter network's director. A faux-Democrat, Moskowitz was a runner-up to DeVos as Trump's choice to run his DOE. Previous photo-op invitees include Ivanka Trump and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

According to Newsday, 

...protesters, including New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, rallied across the street from the school, on West 118th Street. They waved cardboard cutouts of tombstones bearing messages that denounced Ryan’s push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. They chanted “health care for all, not just for Paul.”

As Ryan exited the building after his visit, protesters chanted, "health care is a human right, how can you sleep at night?"

.@SpeakerRyan .@SpeakerRyan ends his visit in Harlem to a chorus of boos. pic.twitter.com/6ic2icAzsB

— Vocativ (@vocativ) May 9, 2017