East Ramapo School Fight Heats Up

Ultra-Orthodox Jews vote in a bloc and they view the school board they have controlled since 2005 – meant by law to manage public schools – as a source for funding private religious schools, even through backdoor means. "I think the purpose of the school board is to make sure that all kids get an education," said Shaya Green, an Orthodox Jew from Monsey who has four children in private school. "All kids include private school kids."

And here is the Wall Street Journal's report:

Schools Fight Gets Heated
By SUMATHI REDDY • Wall Street Journal

SPRING VALLEY—The large Orthodox Jewish community here sends most of its children to private schools but took control of the public school district six years ago.

Now, there's a heated school board election pitting three Orthodox Jewish candidates against so-called "public school candidates," who have or had children in the school system.

Critics say the current school board has favored private schools, closing two public schools and arranging for them to be used by yeshivas, or private Jewish schools.

Members of the Orthodox Jewish community say the board is acting appropriately and trying to make sure that the needs of children attending private school aren't ignored.

At a Parent Teacher Association candidate's forum last week, the only candidates that showed up were public school candidates. None of their opponents made an appearance.

It was the same story at an NAACP candidate's forum earlier this month. The Orthodox candidates complain they never received an invitation.

"There has been a lot of division, unfortunately," said Kim Foskew, president of the Parent Teacher Association Council. "I wish there weren't. People are getting angry. It's just the culmination of everything and it has built up a lot of animosity."

Similar power struggles have taken place in communities with large Orthodox populations, such as Lawrence, Long Island, and Lakewood, N.J. But in the East Ramapo district, residents say the conflict has reached the breaking point. Both the Anti-Defamation League and the New York Civil Liberties Union have written letters to school officials expressing concerns about various issues in the district.

Situated about 35 miles northwest of New York City, the East Ramapo district faces an unusual situation. Its public student population of roughly 8,100 is dwarfed by a private student population of about 20,000. The majority of private students are educated in yeshivas.

For years the Orthodox community—migrating to Rockland from Brooklyn—held a couple of seats on the nine-member board. But as the private student population grew, they began contesting more seats.

In 2005, Orthodox members became the majority on the East Ramapo school board. In a subsequent election the first Hasidic was elected to the board. Since then, the Hasidim have become the majority.

Critics claim that the school board has ignored the needs of a student population that is about 90% minority, with large Haitian and Latino populations. More than 60% of the district's public students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch last year.

One of the closed schools was leased to two yeshivas; the other was slated to be sold to a yeshiva. The sale is on hold pending a review of a complaint filed by Steve White, an activist heading up the campaigns of the public school candidates, to state officials, alleging that the sale price was undervalued.

Parents critical of the board also allege that the board has improperly placed Orthodox Jewish special education students in private and other public schools. A state education audit last year found that the district was placing students with disabilities in private schools when spots were available in public schools.

The local branch of the NAACP filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights alleging discrimination for special education placements, among other things, which is currently under investigation.

Some parents and activists were further angered when the board replaced its long-time local attorney with a Long Island attorney who charges a higher hourly rate and has represented an Orthodox-controlled board in Long Island where he helped with similar legal challenges regarding school closures and special education.

Samuel Heilman, a professor of Jewish Studies at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, said Hasidic and Orthodox populations, such as in Ramapo, have many internal divisions and sects. But when it comes securing more resources for their community, they will rally together.

"They vote as a bloc," said Mr. Heilman. "They vote based on who is going to provide them with services. They have a very strong grass-roots network and everybody knows who they have to vote for."

Aron Wieder has been leading the Orthodox faction of the school board since his election three years ago. Mr. Wieder abruptly decided not to seek re-election.

At a "Kosher on the Go" Shell gas station in Monsey last week two men speaking in Yiddish asked Mr. Wieder why he wasn't running.

Mr. Wieder explains that he became a lightning rod of controversy so he decided not to run. But he remains concerned that the Orthodox could lose their majority. Others in his community share his concern. They say that the board should be equally concerned with both public and private students.

"I think the purpose of the school board is to make sure that all kids get an education," said Shaya Green, an Orthodox Jew from Monsey who has four children in private school. "All kids include private school kids. And public school kids. There's very little that we get back from the district. I'm very worried that if they get in they will take that all way."

The district pays for the transportation for private school students and textbooks, as mandated by state law, as well as the education of all special needs students.

Many in the Orthodox and Hasidic communities defend the placement of special needs students in schools outside of the district. "Not every child in the Hasidic community is the right fit and the comfortable fit to be put into a public school class," said Yehuda Weissmandl, a Hasidic Jew who is running for the school board. "And that is something that needs to be understood and respected."

But the opposition candidates, such as Peggy Hatton, who lost a campaign in 2009, say the cultural misunderstandings go the other way, too.

"The people who are currently running the school board do not understand the culture of the children who attend the public schools and they don't quite frankly have skin in the game," said Ms. Hatton. "Why do they want to be a part of the school board to begin with?"

I think the Yehuda Weissmandl mentioned in the article is a son oor nephew of the Rabbi Weissmandl who was, for a brief time, the head of kosher supervision at Agriprocessors.

Comments

[correctorofschoolboardfacts]

In almost all jurisdictions in the USA, all citizens get to vote for school board, not only public school parents. In many places, that means elderly homeowners who care mostly about keeping taxes down dominate school board elections.

Its also a fact that many public school systems are required to fund non public education of students with special needs, per the Americans with Disabilities Act. It would be better if the public schools could give these kids appropriate educations, but in many many instances they cannot or will not.

It maybe that the Haredi voters and the folks they elect in East Ramapo are abusing the system. However the mere facts that folks who dont have kids in the system dominate the school board, and that funds are used for kids outside the system, do not prove that on their own.

[Yehuda_ben_Yehoshua]

Some jews totally forget that her ppl exist but them.

[Shmarya]

It maybe that the Haredi voters and the folks they elect in East Ramapo are abusing the system. However the mere facts that folks who dont have kids in the system dominate the school board, and that funds are used for kids outside the system, do not prove that on their own.

Posted by: correctorofschoolboardfacts | May 17, 2011 at 09:40 AM

Please.

What proves it is 6 years of decisions made by the haredi-controlled school board that hurt public school students and benefit – probably illegally – yeshiva students.

What also proves it is the well-documented 6-year-long pattern of the bad behavior by haredi school board members toward non-haredi members and toward parents of public school students.

[Barry]

Democracy and education are closely related in that an ignorant and irrational electorate will never as a whole be able to reach the conclusions needed to progress society. Can you imagine the situation if blacks or women were given the vote but denied education?

I will accept the majority decision of others who I disagree with if they are as a whole as educated as I am. I will not however accept the decision of others whom are uneducated even if they outnumber me just as I will ignore the political views of children and the mentally ill.

It is therefore essential in democratic societies that all children are properly educated. That is why New York State Education Law requires instruction in at least the twelve common school branches of arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, the English language, geography, United States history, civics, hygiene, physical training, the history of New York state and science.

The Haredi yeshivas do not provide education as required by law. They bear the same relationship to a proper school as a massage parlour in the meat packing district bears to a physiotherapy department at Mount Sinai medical center.

The mere fact that hareidim vote as a block shows that they are uneducated and should be denied the vote. Proper education must be forced on Haredi children (as the Canadians are trying to do) if they are to be allowed to vote when they become adults. Otherwise they are no better than the mentally ill and their vote should be exercised on their behalf by Ah-Pee-Chorus acting as Ah-Pee-Tropus.

A few days ago Yechiel (or cornpopper or loshan horo) suggested that by publicizing Hillary's removal from the situation room photograph by Satmar, Shmarya may push America into Nazism!! If that happens than the new American Hitler may well be a public school boy from East Ramapo.

[Devorah]

East Ramapo is forced to spend almost 97k PER STUDENT on special ed for Kiryas Joel residents. These special education classes are run by Chasid owned providers. Need I say more?

[Dave]

"It's just the culmination of everything and it has built up a lot of animosity" Gee, I never would have thought that. You think she's talking about the destruction of the East Ramapo School District by the Ultra-Orthodox criminals? I do. They have committed many crimes and are presently under investigation on many fronts. There will be a large uptick in our Federal and State prisons of Ultra-Orthodox criminal inmates very soon, and I'm not just talking about pedos. They WILL loose control this time around, which is today, unless the buses are running round-trip from Williamsburg who all have phoney voting credentials. The majority of voters here have had enough. If the Bloc Vote wins, there will war in Ramapo.

[Dusiznies.blogspot.com]

Let's not forget that there are approx 25,000 elementary school students in East Ramapo. Only 9,000 are Public School children, 16,000 are Yeshivah Students, The bulk of the funds to fund these 9,000 students come from property taxes. The taxes go up every single year, and even though we closed about 4 practically empty Public Schools, taxes not only didn't go down but actually doubled in the last 10 years. East Ramapo property taxes are the highest in the nation. The East Ramapo budget is 200 million Dollars, thats over 22,000.00 per child. It the frum people who have their children in Yeshivah that are paying these taxes, because the parents of the Public School children live in apartment houses and do not pay these taxes. Yes, the Yeshivas benefit from Public School programs, like bussing, special ed etc, but we would be a lot better off if they lowered our property taxes,and had us pay our own way.

[anonoymus]

I am a student in east ramapo district, and it disgust me to know MY schools that I've attended over my life are getting shut down & now barely used because of private school kids. We all need the money. Just because they're in special education classes doesn't mean public school students don't need the same attention. If its that bad go back to where it was good for you. The one time we get something good they take it away! We have given up enough and we are left with nothing. For too long the school board has been corrupted and too long no one has listened. We are kids! Kids that deserve better than what we are recieving! Its sick & wrong and its disgusting and it needs to end NOW!!

[catcher50]

D B.com...here's a surprise: Those who live in apartment houses (by which I assume that you mean they pay rent) pay property taxes. It's just that they are included in the rent, and by the way, are not deductible on your income tax. What, you thought that the apartment house owners didn't pay property tax?

I don't know about New York, but in MD, if you own your house, and it is a primary residence, you get a serious reduction in tax rate. It's called a homestead exemption.

Additionally, in most states (and the District of Columbia) you have to actually prove that your child requires special education that can't be adequately be provided by the public schools. In reading many of these articles, this is just not the case.

[seymour]

Barry

what are you saying I went to herdie school and on my report card and transcribed it says i took all this classes.

They must of have been very boring since neither my friends or I remember ever taking them

[seymour]

East Ramapo is forced to spend almost 97k PER STUDENT on special ed for Kiryas Joel residents. These special education classes are run by Chasid owned providers. Need I say more?

Posted by: Devorah | May 17, 2011 at 10:11 AM

I would no be shocked if the actual number of students is really less than they claim so it is really much more than 97,000.

why do I say that

history many have been convicted for such crimes amongst the heridiem.
Including the yeshiva that I attended.

They where collected money for non existing special ed program. Of course some went to jail only to become leaders of kehelus after their release

[Devorah]

When I went to vote today, not ONE Hasid was there and from what I am told, not one showed up at the school. I wonder if the Rabbis told them to stay home because of all the scandals they are causing.

[A.M,]

I went to vote yesterday, voted "NO" for the budget increase, and live about six miles from the main part of Monsey, NY. I am not hasidic, my children attend a Zionist religious day school, and do not have any special education needs... I currently pay $10,500 in school taxes alone and another $6000 in property taxes, and while I strongly believe in fair education opportunities for all children, I could not tolerate another school tax increase. My current private school tuition hovers somewhere around $14,000 a year. Why would the district need $22,000 a year to educate a public school child?? If I payed for private transportation for my children and did not use the district provided school busing, I would still come in well under that $22,000 price tag. If the district receives taxes from the rental community, they shouldn't need $10,500+ from me, especially because my children are not enrolled in public schools.