Opened in fall 2008, Harlem Success Academy 2 is a charter school with an extended school day and school year, science classes every day, and instruction in chess for all children. Children wear uniforms of orange polo shirts with blue jumpers or trousers.

Like its sister school, Harlem Success Academy, which opened in 2006, Harlem Success Academy 2 combines an intense academic program with mandatory parental involvement. Parents are required to read with their children in the evening. If a student arrives late during the week, parents and child must show up together for Saturday school. In addition to hands-on science class, children are taught geography, writing, social studies, chess, arts, and sports, according to administrators.

While class size is no smaller than an ordinary public school, children get lots of attention because they are broken into small groups for reading instruction.

While the school emphasizes early academics, there is also time for play, according to school founder Eva Moscowitz who gave us our tour. Classrooms have blocks and all children go out for recess, she said. In their daily science classes, children might investigate a topic such as whether snails prefer a wet or dry habitat. Children place snails on wet paper towels and on dry paper towels and observe them crawl from the dry to the wet. Every child also studies chess as part of the regular school day.

Harlem Success Academy 2 has battled over space with PS 123, the zoned neighborhood school in which the new charter is housed. In the summer of 2009, there was a tense confrontation when moving men hired by the charter school tried to remove furniture from classrooms in the neighborhood school. Charter school officials said it was a misunderstanding, but bad feelings remain, and it is unclear how or where the charter school will find additional space as it adds a grade each year. Its plan is to grow until it serves children in grades K-8.

"The relationship with PS 123 is not good," says Principal Jim Manly. He says the charter school may only use the gym before 9:30 a.m. or after 3 p.m., and his students must have lunch at 1 p.m. - rather late for small children.

Classes run from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and begin in mid-August. Children are tested every Children are tested every eight weeks to see if they are meeting standards.

For kindergarten and first grade, the school uses the scripted Success for All reading curriculum, which offers phonics drills. In second grade, teachers switch to "balanced literacy," which offers children's literature rather than textbooks. The school uses the TERC math curriculum, which emphasizes problem-solving rather than quick recall of arithmetic facts.

Charters are prohibited from offering "pre-kindergarten," but Harlem Success Academy 2 offers what it calls "junior kindergarten" for children who turn 4 by August, school officials said.

Manly was briefly principal at the Manhattan Charter School, has worked for Teach for America in recruitment and placement, helped found DreamYard Preparatory School in the Bronx ,and was assistant director at a charter school in New Jersey for seven years. He began his career teaching in a Harlem middle school.

In addition to Harlem Success 2, Harlem Success Academy 3 and Harlem Success Academy 4 also opened in September 2008. The Success Charter Network, led by Eva Moskowitz, a former chair of the City Council's education committee, sponsors all of the Harlem Success schools. The network conducts extensive student recruitment campaign, including mailing brochures, leaving flyers in building complexes and local businesses, and hosting information sessions at day care centers. The response has been substantial; there were 5,000 applicants for the 475 available places at Success Academies in the fall of the 2009.

Special education: Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS), occupational therapy, and speech therapy are all offered.

Admissions: Application and lottery, with preference given to students in District 5 and siblings of current students. (Lindsey Whitton Christ, telephone interview,September 2008, Clara Hemphill, October 2009)

I think HSA 2 is a great school. My son began attending in August 2009.The curriculum is very different from regualar public school.The scholars are exposed to so much more. Mr. Shabazz the school dean is a wonderful person very open and always available. My son is excited about science everyday. Maybe some of the public schools can find out what is working at the charter school and implement some of the programs in those schools.

There was a tense confrontation between PS 123 teachers and moving men hired by the Harlem Success Academy to take over several classrooms of the building the two school share, New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez wrote on July 2, 2009 .

"We're old fashioned," says Harlem Success Academy founder Eve Moscowitz. "We believe in recess. We believe in blocks."