Perhaps it was because I covered a lot of the battles between Chancellor Joel Klein and former NYC Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz when I was reporting at the Daily News that I was genuinely touched as I watched them them speak together at tonight's grand opening celebration for Harlem Success Academy Charter School. It was genuine respect between the two of them.

Klein praised Moskowitz, for example, for setting out to show the world how much better things can be done by starting an academically rigorous, nailing-the-details, cut-no-corners charter school in Harlem. Klein said there are no shortage of folks in the world (including the blogospheric world, myself included) who tell him how to run his schools.

"But Eva fooled me," Klein told several hundred Harlem Success supporters who crammed into last night's event. "She decided to show me how to do it... She's got skin in the game now and she's doing the hard work of transforming education."

(I've argued before that we should genuflect before the rare person who truly puts his or her political and personal ego on the line behind the success or failure of a specific school or schools. Moskowitz joins UFT President Randi Weingarten and the Fordham Foundation's Checker Finn on my list. Weingarten, who oversaw the creation of two union-led charter schools, and Finn, whose foundation is now authorizing charter schools in Ohio, are now lumped in with Moskowitz on the very short list of grownups who are actually willing to be held accountable for the academic performance of their students.)

For her part, Moskowitz described a school culture she and her team are trying to build that prizes "sweat" and "working smarter today than yesterday." She described how the tiny school of Kindergarteners and first graders had - since summer - read 18,277 books together with their parents. To me, how they got to that figure is more impressive than the figure itself.

1. The school, months before opening, informed its parents they were expected to read one book each night over the summer, and continuing into the school year. It gave each parent a list of books that would be at the right level.

2. The school then made sure the public libraries in Harlem had enough copies of the books on the list, and helped arrange to have copies shipped there from elsewhere.

3. Over the summer, each family received a home visit by a Harlem Success teacher, at which time parents signed a contract vowing to read the books with their children and mark them on the school's reading logs.

(When students returned to school, however, only 38% of the families had completed the assignment. That's when the campaign, as Moskowitz described it, really kicked into gear.)

4. Moskowitz personally called every family who didn't complete the reading logs, even those who were only off by a couple of books, to explain that the deal between the parents and the school was one book per night.

5. The school internally publicized the figures, so that everyone was aware of how far they had to go to meet the goal.

6. The school prepared robo-calls, reminding families when the next reading log installment was due. The school used text messaging to remind parents on their cellphones that it was almost time to turn in the reading logs again.

7. The school hosted a family reading night in the gym, where families showed up with beach towels and beach chairs. More than 250 parents and their kids read books together right there as a celebration of sorts.

8. The school, in making calls to families that were not completing the logs, was able to identify families where parents, themselves, had trouble reading - or speaking English - and found ways to help them complete the task, such as arranging for childrens books-on-tape to be available for the families.

"We go over, we go under... there is no obstacle we can't overcome," Moskowitz said.

It worked.

The initial 38% completion rate increased to 79%, followed by two consecutive 99% periods.

SIDENOTE: Financiers Joel Greenblatt and John Petry also got deserved praise for their vision for the organization, which they founded. Harlem Success wants to create 30 schools just like this one in New York City, but as Klein forcefully noted, the laws of New York State won't allow the organization to even try because of the artificial cap on new charter schools.

UPDATE: In the N.Y. Sun, historian Diane Ravitch laments the state of science instruction and refers to a report that Moskowitz put out a few years ago as chair of the council's education committee which slammed the city's lack of commitment to the subject. This is one of those areas where critics could throw it back at Moskowitz, asking her what she is doing differently. Her answer: Even the little Kindergarteners at her school take science classes five times per week, doing lab work with stains on fabrics and earthworms,, to cite two recent examples. It is an essential part of the overall instruction, she says.

Also, while on the council, Moskowitz criticized the city for failing to provide ample physical education and recreational activities for children. Harlem Success teaches karate, dance, and chess.

Last but not least, many will recall that Moskowitz made an issue of the frequent lack of toilet paper in many city public schools. For the record, the stalls were stocked last night.