Lawsuit Against Scandal-Ridden Haredi-Controlled School Board Can Continue, Judge Says

Nine months after parents filed a federal lawsuit accusing East Ramapo school officials of steering public tax dollars to private religious schools and segregating special-education students, the East Ramapo school district will have to turn over records to the plaintiffs – records that could show that the haredi-dominated school board looted the district and funneled money meant for public school students to yeshivas.

Recently resigned East Ramapo school board President Daniel Schwartz

The Journal News reports:

Nine months after parents filed a federal lawsuit accusing East Ramapo school officials of steering public tax dollars to private religious schools and segregating special-education students, the records-gathering process in the case can begin.

A judge ruled on a handful of motions in federal court Thursday allowing the discovery process to move forward after months of contention between the district’s lawyers and Advocates for Justice, the New York City public-interest law firm representing more than 300 plaintiffs in the suit.

U.S. Magistrate Judge George Yanthis’ rulings resulted in wins and losses for each side…: Lawyer David Butler will continue representing the school district after Yanthis dismissed the Advocates’ motion that his involvement posed a conflict of interest. He also ruled the district cannot be a plaintiff in the Advocates’ case against its will; it will be a defendant.…

The Advocates, meanwhile, will gain access to a stash of documents from the district and its attorney, Albert D’Agostino, for everyday matters that detail out-of-district placements East Ramapo has arranged for almost 300 special-education students. Such records are protected by federal privacy laws; Yanthis ruled that they could be disclosed in a redacted form with the students’ initials and state ID numbers included.

The Advocates are seeking a much broader records disclosure including which placements were not reimbursed by the state; that request will be put on hold for the moment, Yanthis said.

“There will be more discovery…but we’ve got to get started,” he said.…

[Hat Tips; Devorah, Ruthie.]

Related articles

In Ramapo, Haredi Housing Violations Are Common

Lawyer For Haredi-Controlled Scandal-Ridden School Board Reported To State Grievance Committee For Cursing At And Threatening To Fight Student

Scandal-Plagued Haredi-Controlled School Board Sues NY State Over Special Ed Yeshiva Placements

How Haredi And Orthodox Jews Gutted East Ramapo's Public Schools

Orthodox President Of Scandal-Ridden School Board Abruptly Resigns

Massive Haredi-Run Special-Ed Fraud Exposed

Haredi Man Busted For Trying To Board Plane With Concealed Weapon

Comments

[You called us miscreants, but we are honest Jews who value an education]

Danny Boy, hopefully we will learn the TRUE reason why you resigned so abruptly.

[Sarek]

I wonder if some documents will mysteriously disappear?

[yehudis]

Mazel Tov.
I don't expect D'Agostino to be forthcoming with any documents.

[Luke]

Sarek:

" will "

I think its a given they already have. Remember the book receipts? I am told that e-mails will be the most d*mning evidence.

Luke.

[Luke]

Yehudis:

"I don't expect D'Agostino to be forthcoming with any documents."

I hope he is forthcoming with a new suit for the trial. I am tiring of this one. :)

Luke.

[ruthie]

i hope the parents and students of east ramapo get justice

[Luke]

Ruthie:

"i hope the parents and students of east ramapo get justice"

I too.

Luke.

[You called us miscreants, but we are honest Jews who value an education]

Somewhere I had read that thousands of the emails were "missing."

[You called us miscreants, but we are honest Jews who value an education]

Many emails were destroyed, mysteriously.

[Luke]

You called us...:

I heard the same, but e-mails can be recovered. However, it all depends how the ESCSD IT Department cataloged them. I also heard that group e-mails among the Haredi Board members have become the focus of scrutiny. I guess time will tell.

Luke.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Schwartzy would look cute in an orange jumpsuit.

[Luke]

Dovid:

"Does anyone have hard or approximate figures of ..."

PearlofWisdom would probably know.

Luke.

[Pearl of Wisdom]

The Federal case is going forward, despite the $650.00 per hour lawyer that the board hired to cover their asses. The board members constantly complain about this suit and the costs, however, they don't want to talk about the cost for hiring the same firm to launch a lawsuit against the StTe of NewYork. What this lawyer is doing is trying to burry the paret's lawyer with paper..thousands of documents that were not asked for that are already available o. Line. Funny how the Board that won't allow a meager budget increase for teachers to make copies for the classroom has no problem paying this outrageous law firm to make useless, unwanted copies!

As for emails being lost...they better be very careful, there are non-Hasids who have emails too! That could come back to bite someone in the ass!

The same firm is also handling the AG investigation into the sleazy real estate deals to sell Colton and Hillctrest. The only non mandated budget increases were legal fees and Private school tuition....everything else is gone.

No sports, clubs, instrumental music, band, plays, 7th grade Spanish, no BOCES Career/Tech for any ER kids, more cuts to security, shortening the elementary day, gutting of the public school special Ed program, cuts to nursing, librarians, etc.

This board has no conscience! There's no cut too small to overlook for the public school kids and no cost they won't approve for their own community.

As for Schwartz, glad he's gone. The only moral man on the board is Yonah Rothman. At least he appears to give a crap....the others are merely following orders. Nathan Losman wants out and has been here for a month...I don't blame him. I wonder if it is illegal to approve a budget that is not fiscally sound?

Below, you will find a link to Preserve Ramapo's article about legal expenses....since this was written, I am told the leagal bills have escalated to $7,000 per day. The board deserves only the best defense, too bad they don't think the kids deserve even a modest education! Our kids will be getting a Yeshiva education, minus the religious studies. Problem is that there will be 9,000 kids on the streets with nothing to do. I expect lots of kids getting into trouble next year.

The blame foe this goes to Supervisor St. Lawrence, the greedy Board and the Rabbi's giving the orders to destroy public schools.

http://www.preserveramapo.org/East%20Ramapo/legal_fees_to_defend_east_ramapo_files/East%20Ramapo%20surtax%20update.htm

[Luke]

Pearl:

Thanks. You always come through! Take some solace in that just because you delete an email, it does not mean it is erased from cyberspace. I guess the Board will need to hire a PR consultant. No need to worry about his fee though, Social Services already pays for his ride. Good Shabbas.

Luke.

[ruthie]

Pearl of Wisdom,

thank you.
again, i pray for justice for these children and their parents.

[Pearl of Wisdom]

Luke, Ruthie, Devorah and all if the other righteous Jewish supporters, happy Shabbos! We send you good wishes back a thousand fold. The public school parents understand the long Jewish civil rights legacy, including the formation of the NAACP. It is wonderful to see alive and well in most of Rockland Co.

[Pearl of Wisdom]

Oh...and last but not least, thanks to Shmarya for keeping the story alive here on FM!

[Rocky]

Pearl of Wisdom, allow me to add my support all the way from California to your search for educational justice. I would encourage you to collect all of the comments that have been posted at FM over the past months to help you in your case. After reading FM for the past year, I am convinced that the country has gone way over the top in allowing religious fundamentalists to get away with all manner of community abuses.

It is not healthy for any democracy to turn out functionally illiterate "graduates".

[Pearl of Wisdom]

Thanks Rocky. As Condi Rice said...I'm paraphrasing....you should not be able to tell what kind of an education a kid will get based on their zip code. In the town of Ramapo alone, you have the haves and have nots....ER kids are on the losing side of Town. It is very sad that the Governor cares more about the bloc vote than the poor kids in ER.

[Luke]

The trial should be a lesson in the " Theater of the Absurd." Just think of the cast of characters. It was bad enough when some gave statements to the press for the September JN piece. I guess there will be a lot of pretrial coaching and remedial English lessons. It may be worth a few trips to White Plains for this yid. Hope they hire a good PR person.

Actually, it is quite sad and I truly hope justice is served and all the wrongs corrected.

Luke.