New York State Reportedly Positioning Itself To Take Over Haredi-Dominated School District

New York State officials sent the scandal-plagued East Ramapo school district a third formal notice late last week that states that the district's special-education programs violate state and federal laws.

New York State Reportedly Positioning Itself To Take Over Haredi-Dominated School District
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Newsday reports that New York State officials sent the scandal-plagued East Ramapo school district a third formal notice late last week that states that the district's special-education programs violate state and federal laws.

Parents previously filed a lawsuit alleging that the haredi-dominated East Ramapo Board of Education illegally siphoned public money into local yeshivas.

Haredi school board members have previously denied the allegations. School Board president Daniel Schwartz, an Orthodox Jew who affiliates with the haredi board majority, did not return Newsday’s call for comment Thursday. Neither did the schools’ Superintendent Joel Klein.

At a recent East Ramapo School Board meeting, President Daniel Schwartz was caught on video signaling a hasidic member of the board to leave, thereby causing the board to lose its quorum. That ended public comment – which was Schwartz's clear purpose – as a critic was pointing out a board failure.

On Friday, the state sent another letter to East Ramapo demanding answers regarding the district's $8 million budget shortfall. An earlier letter set a January 2nd deadline for East Ramapo to answer.

"Their response to the Jan. 2 deadline will be very telling. What’s clear is that they have work to do to ensure that they are complying with special-education law and fulfilling their obligation to meet the needs of the students in the district,” State Education Commissioner John King told Newsday, which also reported that the state appears poised to move toward taking over the district if East Ramapo officials continue to flout education law.

The East Ramapo Board of Education is haredi-dominated, but the East Ramapo school district serves a public school student body that is primarily black and Latino. The board has cut back staff and programs for public school students, while at the same time spending millions to send haredi students with disabilities to yeshivas on the government’s dime.

To deal with the current budget shortfall, the board is contemplating the elimination of kindergarten classes along with all elementary school art and music programs. But this year’s budget allocates about $7 million for purchasing special needs services from yeshivas and from out of district placements, including the Kiryas Joel School District, located in the all Satmar hasidic village of Kiryas Joel in neighboring Orange County.

The state has twice reviewed the district's special-education placement – in April 2010 and February 2012 – both times finding East Ramapo had failed to comply with state regulations and ordering corrective action that East Ramapo has apparently not taken.

The letter sent Wednesday by the state said East Ramapo has habitually placed students in Yiddish bilingual special education programs without proving that the students needed such a program. It also ordered East Ramapo to review all of its special-education placements for students in Yiddish programs and to submit a plan by May 31 for developing in-district programs that meet those students' needs – meaning East Ramapo would no longer send its haredi special education students to yeshivas to be educated.

Allegedly, hasidic students are often diagnosed with learning disabilities and related developmental disabilities that they do not really have. As the East Ramapo case could be showing, the diagnosis illegally brings millions of dollars of government money into hasidic yeshivas by artificially swelling the number of hasidic learning disabled students.

Whether the state has figured out this possible part of the East Ramapo puzzle or not remains to be seen.

 

Comments

[Toby]

Time for new elections.

[yehudis]

You might be interested in reading an article on Lohud today. New York State law entitles 5 year olds to a public education. The idea of cutting kindergarten wont save the district money. It seems the "overpaid" attorney, school board members and the Supt. weren't aware of the law. The last 2 paragraphs of this article are very interesting. It is something I never heard before. I would really be surprised if anyone at the district would sign an IEP form that was "phonied up".

[Shmarya]

…The last 2 paragraphs of this article are very interesting. It is something I never heard before. I would really be surprised if anyone at the district would sign an IEP form that was "phonied up".

Posted by: yehudis | December 22, 2012 at 09:14 PM

Yiddish-speaking kids are probably evaluated off-site.

[MonseyLuke]

OMG-D. Take it over. How disingenuous can this group be? Thank you Aron Wieder for starting this. Take cues from the Rebbe? Real smart! Undereducated morons. All in the name of religion! Sad. Luke

[Rishon]

New York State Reportedly Positioning Itself To Take Over Haredi-Dominated School District

If there is a takeover, how long after that will new elections be held?

[dh]

Teachers (general and special education), school psychologists, program directors and district representatives regularly sign IEP documents without even reading them. Many parents don't read them either.

If Yiddish speaking students were evaluated off-site, meaning privately, the district could also have been diverting funds to pay for those evaluations. The evaluators can't be Webermanesque and need certain protocols.

This has been going on for three years? Bravo to the parents, otherwise it would continue forever. I hope there will be cameras rolling when when the keepers come in and change the locks. DB!!! Go clean out your desk while you still have time!!!

[...]

Is that a picture of a real human?

[Devorah]

Green suit, blue shirt, red and pink tie. That's what you buy with our tax dollars? Lingerie would have better colors to match your soft skin.

[simple jew]

B"H

I didn't know the PUBLIC SCHOOL in monroe/kiryas Yoel is a yeshiva unless you are purposely tryin to misrepresent something.

Shmarya are you purposely misrepresnting that many of the yiddish speaking special needs children are sent to monroe where the public school has yiddish speaking teachers etc

The school in kitas Yoel may be all jewis kids but its a public school.

I have been there and toured it.

American flag out in front

No mezuzahs on the doors.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: simple jew | December 22, 2012 at 10:46 PM

Simpleton, as you well know the KJ school district 99.9% Satmar and its so-called public school is allegedly a sham set up to receive state money to educate special needs kids – some legitimately and some allegedly not.

It is an offshoot of Satmar's UTA constructed specifically as a vessel for public funds. Nothing more.

Like so many other haredi scams, this one will eventually implode. It may take years, but it will happen.

[dh]

Devorah, lol. He's not using the Twinkie defense, although I'm certain he'd like to, he's using the color blind defense. He can't see green so he didn't know it was money he was taking. It's really just a pink tie. The rest is lunch.

I hope as many people from Justice are reading this are are media.

[Pearl of Wisdom]

I don't know that there is any proof about falsefying outrightly IEP documents...could be, but not proof. On the other hand, there is incontroverible proof that the out of district placements are probably 90 percent white, Jewish kids. It is against the law to send special ed students to a placement that is not the least restrictive environment and what the Board does is to over ride the Committee on Special Education's professional opinions about proper placement and they make deals or settlements with the parents to just pay for the private schools...I mean shuls.

Where it gets really bad for Klein, the Supt. is that he was the director of special ed for decades and he has to know that this is illegal. He is allowing these deals to go through all the time. The bills for KJ in the millions and millions of dollars is paid. However, the BOCES bills for the secular, very disable kids has not been paid. They owe 5 million for last year and 15 million for the current year. Now, parents are being told their kids will be kicked out of BOCES unless the District pays up. Boy...want to talk about another lawsuit? That is next! All because these creepy, greedy guys wanted to take more than their fair share. Bulls make money, Bears make money and Pigs get slaughtered! Ashunda!

[Pearl of Wisdom]

You know how kids are when it comes to fashion, they call Schwartz Big Pee Wee. He has a get-up that he wears in the summer that is baby blue suit, white shirt, red bow tie and a straw hat...looks like a much bigger version of Pee Wee Herman. Kids are such fashion police!

[dh]

Pearl, is the Committee on Special Ed composed solely of District employees or is it the collaborative group including parents?

Is the scam that they eval the student, find designation as sped is not appropriate or find that it is, but the Plan is to provide services within the District?

Is the quality of the special education for non-Jewish students via BOCES appropriate?

[Pearl of Wisdom]

The CSE includes district employees and a parent member, plus the parents of the child being reviewed. The parent can also bring others, including a lawyer. But what is happening here is that the CSE makes a placement suggestion, for example at a public school in the district. The parent anywhere else would have to send the student to the placement, or request an impartial hearing...that may require a lawyer if the parents are not savy. What they do in ER is just to send a letter to Klein objecting to the placement and the Lawyer and the Board make a deal to pay the tuition and avoid the impartial hearing. There are a few placements at a place called Croched Mountain that charges over $350K per student that is supposed to be really bogus. Do you know how many employees who could pay with 700K? A lot!

BOCES is used for the most disabled students and they can certainly handle the Orthodox Children...just like they handle the Spanish/Creole speaking special ed students. By the way, Yiddish is not a language recognized by the State of Ny for educating students...Hebrew is. So, again this is bogus. Also, sadly, many of these students are non verbal altogether, so language is not an issue at all.

The reason for these placements is to keep them away fromt the public school students who are black or Latino and non-Jewish and to line the pockets of the Yeshivas with public money.

[seymour]

this is pure antisemitism

when will FM and other haters realize that yidden are above the law, can commit fraud and not be called on it.

pointing it out, it pure antisemitism or in the case of MF readers self hating Jews

[Eli, what me messiah?]

Seymour, good point. In this case, they are also above the Constitution in diverting public funds towards religious purposes. The KJ school district receiving these funds has been dragged repeatedly to the Supreme Court, giving rise to new rules about what is constitutional. And each time the Satmar community wastes no time finding ways to skirt the new rules. Let's include the Constitution as a hateful, anti-Semitic document, too.

(NB for "simple jew": "skirt" is a verb that is synonymous with "avoid", not just a garment that covers a woman's legs, so it is ok for you to read what I posted above. Oh, and "synonymous" describes a word that is the same or similar in meaning to another word.)

[BeenThereDoneThat]

It may just be me, but that guy reminds me of secret squirrel.

[Yossel]

Votes. Votes. Votes.

Voting Block. Voting Block. Voting Block.

Hiilary Clinton. Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton.

This should answer ALL you questions and complaints.

[simple jew]

B"H

Shmarya you and self haters like you as well as other who choose to forego blessing promised in Torah for those who bless Avraham (ie yidden)..... you already tried to bring down the very secular public school in KJ.

If this was a school for hispanic kids you would support it but school to help yiddish speaking kinderlach is illegal.

Your opinion doesn't matter much as the courts have spoken and you know very well KJ public school is legal and here to stay.

You are upset because I outed your false accusation that the monsey district was paying for yeshivas... KJ public school is not a yeshiva and u know it

[Rebitzman]

If this was a school for hispanic kids you would support it but school to help yiddish speaking kinderlach is illegal.

ESL program are traditionally focused on teaching English - not the "mother tongue" to non-English speakers..........

KJ public school is not a yeshiva and u know it

The State of New York does not appear to be convinced.

[dh]

Wow, Pearl, thanks.

[Simple Jew]

B"H

Kibitzman- why do you say make things up or are you just not informed?

A) ESL is to help children who have a language other than english at home to be able to learn in school. If some hispanic kid's parents speak spanish at home and that is his 1st language or some hasidic kid's parents speak Yiddish at home and that is his 1st language... what is the difference between teaching spanish speaking kid in spanish and yiddish speaking kid in yiddish?

B) NY State is not convinced KJ is not a yeshiva? Where are you getting your information? The State of NY does not (Thank G-d) in any way hassle KJ Public school. Have you ever been to the school? I have been there for tour and it is very much a public school.

[Simple Jew]

B"H

To quote a Satmar website about the KJ Public School District:

Source: WWW.KJVOICE.COM

Q. Why did KJ need its own School District to be created?
A. While the overwhelming majority of Kiryas Joel’s school children attend private religious schools, there was a group of children who required services not available in the community. Children who were mentally retarded, autistic, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed or multiply handicapped were entitled to a public education but did not receive one. That changed in 1990 with the creation of the Kiryas Joel Union Free School District, a public school district designed to serve the special needs population of Kiryas Joel.

The school district gained international attention in 1994 when the U.S Supreme Court reviewed a case which focused on the method by which the district was created. On June 27, 1994 the court ruled 6-3 against the legislation which created the district, but a majority of the court held there was no constitutional prohibition of a school district in KJ. Merely, the means to create the district had to be neutral and non sectarian. With that directive, the NY State Legislature created a series of new legislation that broadened the criteria for more municipalities to create school districts for the educational needs of their communities.

Today, the Kiryas Joel School District operates free of any legal challenge and provides valuable educational and therapeutic services to over 250 children from birth to age 21. For its innovative and successful programs over the past decade, the school district has earned the respect of education professionals, both across the County and around the country.

[Shmarya]

osted by: Simple Jew | December 23, 2012 at 10:25 PM

Let me put that into simple English for you simpleton.

When NY State ILLEGALLY created a school district for KJ (because Satmar bought the votes with its own bloc votes and campaign contributions), SCOTUS ruled it illegal but also ruled that districts could be created if they were neutral and non-sectarian.

NY State redrew a law that is still a sham that give KJ – 99.99% Satmar hasidic – its own tiny little school district for the sole purpose of special education.

It is criminal, it is certainly not what SCOTUS had in mind when it ruled, and if there ever is a real criminal investigation, it will be torn down like the house of cards that it is.

[Devorah]

"For its innovative and successful programs over the past decade, the school district has earned the respect of education professionals, both across the County and around the country."

This is published on the KJ website, but most of the "professionals" don't have degrees or licenses and are the same as Weberman. When the kids are raped by these "professionals" no one is the wiser and your tax dollars are paying these fees.

[Pearl of Wisdom]

Devorah...you are right on target. When the mess in ER is taken care of, then it will be time to investigate the KJ District. The biggest problem up there is that they do not employ teachers with special education credentials. In fact, I am told that there is a 90 day course which these so-called teachers take to make it appear that they are highly qualified. If NYSED did it's job properly, they would see that these teachers of the most vulnerable students should not be teaching anywhere at all without direct supervision. Actually, the same is true for the local shuls in many of the New Square and Monsey shuls as well. The have girls almost out of high school themselves pretending to be teachers...they are supposed to be supervised since they are not qualified. We know that the shuls have several buildings and it is impossible for the real teacher to be in all buildings at one time.

I wonder if Daniel would want that kind of education for his own precious kids? I doubt it! I think he would want a real teacher for his kids. I guess he goes by the don't ask, don't tell rule of education. Schwartz is the only majority Board member that we know for a fact finished high school. If you recall, Nathan Rothschild, a brilliant but very imperfect individual, only got as far as 11th grade. We only found that out when his federal trial released the relevant facts. We have no idea if the other majority Board members have any education from a certified school. Only the best for the public school kids! LOL!!

[Mike]

State law allows for the formation of a "village" a municipal entity that can provide its citizens with local services, including a school district. If you were to take away the right for KJ to have its own district, it would set a scary precedent where every tiny municipality in Long Island would have its semi private rich school district challenged as well.

Don't forget that yeshivas are diverted by the state in most of Europe, and the barrier for public funds being spent on yeshivas is a holdover from an age when protestant americans believed they would decisively stop catholic immigration to the united states by not allowing funding for catholic schools. (and not due to a separation between church and state)