Thousands of students, parents and staff from New York City charter schools attended a rally in Brooklyn on Thursday to urge state lawmakers to protect charter schools.

Those at the rally at Cadman Plaza and the Brooklyn Bridge, organized by Success Academy Charter Schools , urged the state to expand the number of charter schools, stressing the event was not political ahead of the November mayoral election. That said, there was a host of charter school employees who said they felt forced to show up at a rally they did not support.

During Success Academy’s annual training seminar for incoming teachers in September, Eva Moskowitz, the chief executive officer of SA, dropped in to press the importance of the rally, according to two former employees who were at the meeting.

“When your boss

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