An attorney, Schwartz was serving his first term as president on the scandal-ridden school board, appointed president in July of last year. An Orthodox Jew, Schwartz affiliated with the board’s Orthodox-haredi faction, which now controls all but one board seat.
East Ramapo School Board President Abruptly Resigns
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Daniel Schwartz, the president of the East Ramapo Board of Education has resigned as both president and a member of the board effective Monday, the Journal News reports.
“I did receive a letter of resignation. It’s not effective until Monday,” district clerk Cathy Russell reportedly said, adding that Schwartz said that the reason for his resignation was “personal.”
An attorney, Schwartz was serving his first term as president on the scandal-ridden school board, appointed president in July of last year. An Orthodox Jew, Schwartz affiliated with the board’s Orthodox-haredi faction, which now controls all but one board seat.
Schwartz is perhaps most known for abrasively bullying critics at school board meetings and for using unethical tactics – including intentionally breaking the board’s quorum in order to cut off critical public comment, and abruptly shifting the board’s student corner to the end of meetings held on school nights, forcing concerned students to spend hours waiting for the chance to officially comment, keeping them awake into the late evening. Schwartz often sneered at parents and children as he aloofly lectured them on their attitudes and behavior.
Like the other Orthodox and haredi board members, Schwartz has no children in the public school system that is under attack, not only from parents and local activists, but from state education officials and outside observers who see a string of questionable and controversial actions taken by the haredi-dominated school board that boarder on – and could be seen to cross into – breeches of public trust.
Board elections are scheduled for next month.