Success Academy is in the process of opening three new schools in the Bronx, adding more options to the borough that has the city’s highest number of charter schools. Once all three are open, there will be 13 Success Academy locations in the Bronx and 57 across the city.
The academy opened a middle school in Unionport this week and will open an elementary school in Kingsbridge next week, as well as one in Williamsbridge.
“I was thrilled to be able to provide a new, convenient elementary school option,” said Ali Foglia, the founding senior leader and principal of the soon-to-open Kingsbridge Heights school. The school is opening in a neighborhood with only one other charter option.
The Bronx has 94 of the city’s 274 charter schools, according to the New York City Charter School Center, which helps support and advocate for charter options. These types of schools are publicly funded and tuition-free but privately run, meaning they can face less oversight than traditional public schools and have more flexibility in setting curriculum and policies.
The academy says it provides free uniforms, Chromebooks and a well-rounded and rigorous curriculum.
Success Academy prides itself on the students it produces, noting the 100% acceptance rate into four-year colleges and universities, with many receiving full scholarships — which it has achieved for each of its three high school graduating classes across the city. The network also says it significantly outperforms other charter schools and Department of Education schools when it comes to state test scores.
But the rigors may come at a cost for some. A local investigation included the story of a South Bronx family who said that Success Academy made 911 calls regarding elementary school children experiencing emotional distress. According to the report, the academy made at least 87 911 calls between July 2016 and December 2022.
Foglia told the Bronx Times that incidents like these show the importance of clear expectations that are consistently enforced.
Foglia, who has been with Success Academy since 2018 in teaching and assistant principal roles, said that teachers are expected to run a “tight classroom,” and students are taught a set of values under the acronym ACTION: Agency, Curiosity, Try and Try, Integrity, Others and No Shortcuts.
These values — taught along with the reasoning behind why each one is important to school safety and learning — are key to helping even the youngest students understand discipline, Foglia said.
Her school is set to welcome approximately 160 kindergarteners and first graders on Aug. 19, with plans to scale up through fourth grade in the coming years.
With most of its 20,000 students coming from low-income families, Success Academy is “trying to do kind of the impossible” — helping all students of all backgrounds become confident, self-directed and well-educated and achieve at high levels in school and beyond, said Foglia.
Success Academy is expanding, with additional schools scheduled to open in the coming years. It broke ground this year on a 300,000-square foot K-12 school near Yankee Stadium, which is expected to open for the 2026-2027 year.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
