Fundraising for East Ramapo Lawsuit Expenses

The fundraising campaign for the federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of children and parents in East Ramapo is fund-raising for ongoing expenses.

The district, which includes parts of the communities of New City, Pearl River, Nanuet, Spring Valley, Suffern, New Hempstead, Chestnut Ridge, Monsey and Wesley Hills, has 9,000 students in its schools. However, another 24,000 school-age children live there, and go to private schools—mostly yeshivas.

Parents allege that the trustees sold or rented district facilities to yeshivas at below-market rates; paid for religious textbooks for yeshiva students; and provided preferential special-education services for yeshiva students, among other things.

Advocates for Justice is a public interest, not-for-profit law firm handling the case for free, but has undertaken a fundraising campaign to raise $25,000 for ongoing court expenses.

The campaign on flipcause.com ends Jan. 15. So far they have raised $23,452.

RELATED:

• East Ramapo’s Legal Fees Excessive, Court Rules
• Parents v East Ramapo School Board: Another Suit

The lawsuit can be read here.

Among other things, it details years of budget cuts including decisions to keep budget increases far lower than the state tax cap would have mandated.

it also details the district’s unwritten policy using the special education process to get district money to pay for yeshiva educations.

The suit alleges that an increasing number of students purportedly eligible for special education services in the district were placed in private religious schools for the purported purpose of providing required services. Hasidic parents could simply write a letter stating they did not accept placement in a public school and private placement resolutions were then passed by the school board in lieu of an Impartial Hearing. Private school special education placement files lacked documentation.

The suit details how the state began to withhold reimbursement for many students because of the lack of documentation. The district lost millions in state money, instead paying out of its own budget. Repeated state audits found the district not in compliance with state law or with their previous recommendations.

And it details the surprise hiring of an attorney from Long Island (for double the cost of the district’s previous lawyer) whom the plaintiffs allege had experience in Lawrence, New York of developing methods to fund yeshivas using special education money.

The suit also lists many of the books bought by the district for nonpublic schools. Non-religious textbooks are reimbursable under state law. East Ramapo issued purchase orders for hundreds of religious books, the suit alleges, some written only in Yiddish. In one case the actual purchase order was written in English and Yiddish, the suit alleges.