“What happens when people who do not want to pay for the public schools take over the school board?” Ira Glass, creator, This American Life A quick guide to: the need for state oversight in East Ramapo, New York
Aug 16, 2015
“What happens when people who do not want to pay for the public schools take over the school
board?”Ira Glass, creator, This American Life
A quick guide to:the need for state oversight in East Ramapo, New
York
East Ramapo is a diverse community in which parentswho send their children to private school organized politically
to run the public school board.
The East Ramapo School Board has slashed all-day kindergarten, the arts, advanced classes, and social
workers to keep taxes low, send money to private schools for special education, and hire expensive lawyers to
defend its actions.
The board projected decreased enrollment in public schooIs, so they closed down two elementary schools and moved the kids, increasing class size. They then sold the
buildings to yeshivas—at bargain-basement prices.
In November, State Monitor Hank Greenberg found that the board is “blinded” to the needs of the entire
community and has “recklessly mismanaged” the district to “the brink of collapse.” He called for state oversight,
requiring a new law.
The interfaith Rockland Clergy for Social Justice, parents, alumni, and allies are now working to pass a bill
sponsored by our local lawmakers, allowing the state to oversee this dysfunctional system, just like Mr. Greenberg
recommended.
We need YOU and others across New York State to join a diverse coalition that is lobbying Albany, volunteering,
and donating funds to obtain strong, effective state oversight of East Ramapo: www.strongeastramapo.org