Reactions to New East Ramapo Monitor: Caution, Suspicion, Hope

New York Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced Thursday that a former NYC schools chancellor will head a monitoring team to keep tabs on the troubled East Ramapo school district and, in particular, its controversial school board.

Most reactions in Rockland County have been less than enthusiastic.

“An East Ramapo monitor team without veto power is not the answer we sought,“ said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. “ Time will tell if these positions have a positive impact on the children and families of the district. I strongly encourage Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia to continue to work toward a more potent solution.”

There is a bright side, pointed out Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski:

The East Ramapo oversight established today is a great step forward for this school district. There is no doubt that I prefer a monitor with the powers contained in our legislation that passed the Assembly. However, those powers needed a state law to be used, and with the bill failing in the Senate, we had to find an alternative method to achieve oversight and move this district forward.

Since session ended, I have called upon the State Education Department to utilize existing law to set up an oversight structure. Today, they did just that by appointing a team of independent educational experts that can change the downward trajectory of this district. I am hopeful that their presence, advice, criticisms and recommendations to the commissioner will be enough to change the behavior of this Board and give students and parents hope in their educational decisions. I will be requesting that this team have a consistent presence in the district and regular contact with the public. To be successful, there needs to be full access, independent studies and public reports. Not only does the team need to fix the district’s immediate problems, but they must also seek long-term solutions.

This oversight structure may not have all the powers we sought through our legislation, but it is certainly better than no oversight at all. At the end of the day, these kids need better opportunities, regardless of how we achieve it. Let’s all roll up our sleeves and do our best to try and ensure this process works.

Kristen Rabeler said on the Get Up Stand Up East Ramapo Facebook page: “So pretty much this is just a redo of Greenberg, as if Greenberg’s report wasn’t enough proof that more needs to be done. Do away with the whole board, the whole corrupt system before things get really out of hand. Fortunately we all have been very peaceful in this I’m afraid some are going to have a tough time keeping it that way.”

David A. Curry on the Power of Ten Facebook page said: “There’s a lot of politics being played here, and as they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows. ... but I had a few minutes with Chancellor Tisch after the event, and I’’m honestly feeling a little better than I was before I spoke to her. Still taking a “wait and see” stance, but now it’s a cautiously optimistic one that, while this isn’t going to solve everything, it may actually accomplish something.”

RELATED: East Ramapo Starts Superintendent Search; State Officials Visit Thursday

A fiscal monitor told the New York Education Department in November 2014 that he believed some form of state intervention was needed to repair school system and reverse bad decisions by the East Ramapo Board of Education.

“The district’s finances teeter on the edge of disaster,” Hank Greenberg wrote in his report, East Ramapo: A School District in Crisis.

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.

Legislation to appoint a monitor for East Ramapo passed the state Assembly in June but failed in the Senate, where Republican leaders work closely with the private-school and Ultra-Orthodox lobbies.

State Sen. David Carlucci, whose attempt to find a compromise the GOP would accept was unsuccessful, said:

I am very happy Commissioner Elia and Chancellor Tisch have responded to our requests, and used their legal authority to appoint Dennis Walcott as the monitor for East Ramapo. Mr. Walcott is extremely qualified for this role, and his team will have direct oversight and the ability to walk in the shoes of teachers and students to fully understand the unique challenges East Ramapo faces. Today we are taking a step in the right direction to develop specific solutions for our struggling district. I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Walcott and he confirmed his commitment to making sure the children of our district will receive the best education possible. I will continue to work with Mr. Walcott and his team, Commissioner Elia, and my colleagues in the legislature to develop a comprehensive, long term plan to ensure all students in East Ramapo have access to the education they need and deserve. Our community has been given hope for a better future and it is critical we continue to work together to provide our school district the tools it needs to succeed.

PHOTO/Robert Ward Kurkela