Month: November 2014

JOurnal News 11-19-14 – Greenberg's Report is a Call to Action in E. Ramapo

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Editorial: East Ramapo monitor’s report a call to action

A Journal News editorial 11:16 p.m. EST November 19, 2014

East Ramapo’s state-appointed fiscal monitor Hank Greenberg says any entity would need the power to override, “in real time, unreasonable decisions by the Board and Superintendent.”

East Ramapo needs money. But it needs strong oversight even more. That’s the takeaway from the state’s fiscal monitor, Hank Greenberg, who has focused laser-like on the beleaguered district since June.

Greenberg gave the state Board of Regents a detailed accounting of the multiple levels of dysfunction in the East Ramapo district on Monday. The former federal prosecutor made clear that East Ramapo’s problems are deep, multifaceted and very, very troubling. “At the heart of this district’s problems is a governance problem,” Greenberg told the Regents as he outlined the missteps of the nine-member East Ramapo school board that is dominated by men from the Orthodox and Hasidic community that sends its children to private yeshivas.

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Journal News 11-23-14 – Pressure is on E. Ramapo Legislators to Craft Bill

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Crafting East Ramapo ‘watchdog’ bill no easy feat

Gary Stern and Mareesa Nicosia, gstern@lohud.com 12:51 p.m. EST November 23, 2014

Rockland County legislators must satisfy Cuomo, Silver, Skelos with East Ramapo watchdog bill

Early support is building for state oversight of the East Ramapo school district, but pressure is on Rockland County’s legislative delegation to craft a plan that New York’s most inscrutable politicians will get behind.

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Journal News 11-24-14 – E. Ramapo Recommends Diversity Training for School Board

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East Ramapo monitor’s report: Diversity training

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy svenugop@lohud.com 10:17 a.m. EST November 24, 2014

One of the recommendations by a state-appointed monitor was for the East Ramapo school board to undergo diversity training.

SPRING VALLEY – One of the recommendations from the monitor appointed by the state to investigate the East Ramapo school district is that the Board of Education undergo diversity training.

Monitor Hank Greenberg told the state Board of Regents that the school board had favored the Orthodox Jewish children who attended private yeshivas over the public school children in the district, the vast majority of whom are black or Latino.

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Journal News 11-19-14 – State Monitor Cites Brown v. Bd of Ed in E. Ramapo Report

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East Ramapo monitor invokes Brown v Board of Ed

Randi Weiner, rcweiner@lohud.com 10:52 p.m. EST November 19, 2014

State fiscal monitor, Regents, cite historic civil rights case in East Ramapo report.

 

Hank Greenberg’s scathing report on the East Ramapo school district gave substance to the long-held belief that the mostly Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish school board favored private school students in spending decisions and that part of the problem was the board’s lack of understanding and respect for the public schools and its advocates.

He then used the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the idea of a separate but equal school system based on race, in a comparison to East Ramapo.

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Huffington Post 11-21-14 – It's Time to March vs. Racism in E. Ramapo

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The Blog
 

Social studies educator, Hofstra University, my opinions, of course, are my own

Racism in East Ramapo, New York: It’s Time to March

Posted: 11/21/2014 1:47 pm EST Updated: 11/21/2014 1:59 pm EST
 

I do not make accusations of racism lightly. I am not talking about personal biases. I am talking about institutional practices that appear to be condoned at the highest level in New York State government. Read the post; look at the evidence. It will be hard to disagree.

Nine thousand Black and Latino children attending East Ramapo, New York public schools are warehoused in over-crowded, under-funded failing schools because a school board controlled by a White religious group is using public school dollars to subsidize their own children who attend religious schools.

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Wall Street Journal 11-19-14 – Fiscal Monitor Criticizes E. Ramapo School Board

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NY Schools

State Monitor Says East Ramapo Schools Mismanaged

State-Appointed Monitor Says the State Should Oversee the School Board

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Leslie Brody

A state-appointed monitor said Monday that East Ramapo schools in suburban Rockland County are reeling from years of reckless mismanagement and that the state should oversee the school board.

The board is made up mostly of Orthodox men whose children attend private religious schools. The monitor, Henry M. Greenberg, said the district’s finances “teeter on the edge of disaster”..

NY Times 11-17-14 – Fiscal Monitor Says E. Ramapo Schools Are Mismanaged

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N.Y. / Region

East Ramapo School Board Is Criticized by New York State Monitor

By NOV. 17, 2014

A monitor appointed by the state to investigate the East Ramapo School District in Rockland County delivered a sharply critical report on Monday, saying the board had shown favoritism to the Orthodox Jewish students who attend private schools in the district and calling on the Legislature to give the district additional money while overhauling its governance.

 
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Journal News 11-19-14 – Fiscal Monitor Calls for State Watchdog in E. Ramapo

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State calls for East Ramapo watchdog

Mareesa Nicosia, mnicosia@lohud.com 3:38 a.m. EST November 19, 2014

 

Hank Greenberg, East Ramapo School District’s state-appointed fiscal monitor, talks about his report on the district at the State Education building in Albany

Schools need long-term entity with veto power over board decisions, plus more money to restore student programs, staff

 

ALBANY – The state-appointed fiscal monitor of the East Ramapo school district wants a legislative intervention that would give an appointee veto power over the board’s “bad decisions.”

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Journal News 11/19/14 – Ken Feinberg Comments on Fiscal Monitor's Report

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Ken Feinberg, 9/11 master, on East Ramapo ‘watchdog’

Peter D. Kramer, pkramer@lohud.com 9:55 a.m. EST November 19, 2014

Ken Feinberg knows what it’s like to help entrenched parties come to consensus. He calls it “reaching yes.”

Feinberg was special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, an experience he wrote about in his 2005 book, “What is Life Worth?” He then ran the compensation fund after the Gulf oil spill and the Boston Marathon bombing.

Who better, then, to discuss the qualities that will be required if the New York state Legislature follows through on Hank Greenberg’s plan to name a watchdog over the troubled East Ramapo schools?

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