Rockland Legislature Votes To Support Monitor With Veto Power In East Ramapo Schools

The Rockland County Legislature has voted to support the placement of a monitor with veto power in the East Ramapo school district.

In August, the State Education Commissioner appointed a three-person panel to report on the district and its school board governance. In December, the panel issued a report, Opportunity Deferred: A Report on the East Ramapo Central School District, which included a recommendation for a monitor with veto power over A previous report had made the same recommendation.

Legislators Harriet D. Cornell (D-West Nyack) and Nancy Low-Hogan (D-South Nyack) said in a press release that the time to act is now.

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 some 8,000 students in its schools. However, another 24,000 school-age children live there, and go to private schools—mostly yeshivas.The public schools serve mostly underprivileged minority students, with 84 percent classified as economically disadvantaged.

The school board has been accused of diverting essential resources to private schools at the expense of the district’s public school students.

“The strong belief is that this monitor will assist the school board in improving finances, increasing academic opportunities for students, educating English language learners and improving school board governance practices generally," Cornell said.

Low-Hogan said the resolution serves as a public statement about where legislators stand on the issue of a full education for all Rockland County children.

“This resolution is a clear, straightforward, unequivocal statement on behalf of this body to the decision makers in Albany about how we feel about a school district in our county,” she said said.

The resolution’s sponsors also included Legislators Toney Earl (D-Hillcrest), Michael Grant (D-
Garnerville), Jay Hood Jr. (D-Haverstraw) and Aney Paul (D-Nanuet).

Chairman Alden H. Wolfe (D-Montebello) could not attend but provided a statement that was read at the meeting.

It read in part: “I'm a proud graduate of Ramapo High School and my position on this issue has not changed. I continue to support appointment of a monitor in the East Ramapo School District, to create transparency, rebuild trust and ensure that students receive the same education and opportunities as those elsewhere in Rockland County.”

Also absent were legislators Aaron Wieder, Philip Soskin and Ilan Schoenberger. They opposed supporting such a plan last year.

This was the second time the Rockland County Legislature voted to support placement of a monitor with veto power in the school district. The board also voted in favor last year. The most recent vote came Tuesday, with all 13 Legislators present voting in favor.

The Rockland County Legislature has no authority over school district matters at all. The board members who supported the memorializing resolution have taken a public stand on what they want to see happen for the betterment of East Ramapo and all of its students, said a spokeswoman for the lawmakers.

Several speakers during the public portion of the meeting said they planned to bring a copy of the resolution with them when they go to Albany to lobby the state Legislature for the monitor.

The resolution also specifically called upon State Senator John J. Flanagan, the Temporary President and Majority Leader of the Senate, and Senator Carl L. Marcellino, the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, to back the monitor with veto power. Both have publicly stated they do not support such action. They can block the issue from making it to the Senate floor for a vote.

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