The Bill

This bill (http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/A5355-2015), introduced by Ellen Jaffee, Ken Zebrowski, and David Carlucci on February 18, 2015, provides for a monitor to oversee the East Ramapo Central School District, develop a strategic improvement plan for the district, supervise the fiscal and operational management and academic programming of the district, and override problematic decisions of the school board.

The Facts*

Demographics:

• According to the 2010 Census, there were 31,116 school-aged children (5 – 19 years old) in the East Ramapo Central School District.
• Henry Greenberg’s November 2014 report on the district, titled “East Ramapo: A School District In Crisis” estimates 33,000 school-age children
  • 9,000 students attend public schools, of which 91% are from African American, Latino and Haitian backgrounds and 78% qualify for free or reduced lunch
  • 24,000 students attend private schools, of which 23,778 are believed to attend Yeshivas
• According to a 2013 Trulia.com survey, the Hamlet of Monsey (located in the East Ramapo Central School District) has as many as 86% of its school-aged children enrolled in private schools.

Public School Ratings and Test Results:

According to real estate site, Zillow.com,  East Ramapo, once a thriving school district, receives a Great Schools rating of 4, while the nearby Nanuet, Clarkstown and Pearl River school districts receive ratings of 9. Ramapo Central, which is also part of the Town of Ramapo, received a rating of 8. Driving down the average for East Ramapo are the high schools, which both receive ratings of 3, or “Below Average.”

Hank Greenberg’s November 2014 report on the district, titled “East Ramapo: A School District In Crisis” identifies the following test results for East Ramapo and surrounding schools for the school year 2013 - 2014:

The number of students testing below or well below proficiency in ELA and Math since the school year 2010 – 2011 has risen substantially. In 2010 – 2011, 61.7% of students tested below or well-below proficient in ELA and 55.7% of students tested below or well-below proficient in Math.  

Budget, Budget Cuts and Allocations Provided to Private School Students:

School districts nationwide receive funding for budgets from three sources – Federal, State and Local. According to the National Center for Education Statistics , in school year 2010 – 2011, the breakdown for the National and New York State averages, respectively, were as follows:

As you can see, New York State relies less on State and Federal funding than the national average. 

For school year 2013 – 2014, Mr. Greenberg’s report found that the East Ramapo Central School District relied more heavily on local revenue (see below). In 2013 – 2014, the average district in New York State received 40.4% from state revenue. It is likely that the state gives East Ramapo less money, at least in part, because it determines funding based on many formulas, including property values (which are high in East Ramapo) and public school enrollment, which is low relative to the entire school-going population. Essentially, the money is allocated for ~8,000 public school students, but certain line items that benefit private school students are being split over 33,000 students. 

Non-public school students are entitled to some publicly funded services, including Health Services, Homebound Instruction, Textbook Loan Program, Computer Software Loan Program, School Library Materials Loan Program, Transportation (students must reside within 15 miles of the nonpublic school), Special Education Services, Dual Enrollment Programs, and Mandated Services Reimbursement. 

The Budget Allocation numbers below were provided in Henry Greenberg’s November 2014 report on the district, titled “East Ramapo: A School District In Crisis.” The 2013/2014 Budget is split accordingly: 

Transportation: 

• From school year 2006-2007 to 2013 – 2014, transportation costs in East Ramapo increased by 48.1%, while the state costs increased by 21.9% during the same period of time.
• Specifically, transportation costs for public school students increased by 76.6%, while the statewide average increase was 24.1%. Such increases are due in large part to the fact that there are:
  • No mileage limitations on transportation for K-12 students. Although the state caps transportation provisions at 15 miles, it is possible to provide transportation beyond specified limits by voter approval. 
  • Over 300 active bus routes to 14 public schools and more than 140 private schools where students are enrolled. The district provides gender-segregated bus routes to private school students, despite the fact that at least some of the Yeshivas in the district are co-ed. 
• Given the projected increases in the public school population, transportation will likely consume an even larger portion of the budget in coming years.

Special Education:

• Special education costs have increased by 33% from school year 2010 – 2011 to 2013 – 2014, when Mr. Greenberg found $60MM was being spent on special education services for 2,423 students. 
• Federal and state law requires that special education students are served in the “least restrictive” environment, preferring to mainstream students as much as possible as long as there exists “Free and Appropriate Public Education” (FAPE)
• Many members of the private school community would prefer their special-needs children be educated with other students from the community so that everyone speaks the same language, eats kosher food and shares the same values and points of reference. 
• In June 2014, the State Education Department said that East Ramapo lost out on state reimbursements for 63 cases over the past two years, for placing special education students in private schools when FAPE placements were available.  According to Mr. Greenberg’s report, the statewide average for reimbursements for special education students was 36.8%. East Ramapo received only 27.9%. Mr. Greenberg remarked, “My hypothesis is that one reason why the district receives less is because they are not seeking reimbursement for claims that they at least believe the department won’t reimburse.”
• An Education Department spokesperson has said that East Ramapo has a pattern of placing students in private schools without properly documenting the decision making process.  The board prefers settling with parents rather than litigating against them. As legal discussions, the board is empowered to handle such matters themselves.
• Although the majority of special education students come from the public school population , private school students received special education services, paid for by the district, from ~40 different Yeshivas and the Kiryas Joel Union Free School District. 
• While we have not been able to pinpoint exactly how much is spent on private placements for the ultra-Orthodox or Hasidic community, students who attend Kiryas Joel Union Free School District do so at a cost of $72,500/year . Busing to Kiryas Joel occurs at a cost of $30,000/student.  Students that attend Rockland Institute for Special Education (RISE), do so at a cost of $26,000/year.  There are 62 students enrolled in RISE. 
• A pilot program is underway to educate special education students in a separate area within Elmwood Elementary school, one of the district’s public schools. Next year, enrollment will grow from 14 to 36 students. 

In school year 2009 – 2010, the East Ramapo School District had $12.5MM in an “unreserved” fund, to be used for unforeseen expenses. Today, there is a deficit of -$7MM. Mr. Greenberg, in his remarks, stated “The heart of the academic program in this district suffered a grievous blow. At the same time, however, programs that benefited the private school community increased.” 

Cuts to Public Education:

• Beginning in 2009, the board has made significant spending cuts to public school programs in order to balance its budgets. These include, but are not limited to:
  • Elimination of 400 positions, including 168 teaching positions (93 at the secondary level), all social workers, and all deans
  • Cuts to programs and academics, including the reduction of kindergarten to a half-day, elimination of summer school, elimination of gifted and talented programs, reduction in Advanced Placement classes, reduction of high school electives, athletics and extra curricular activities reduced by 50%, and the elimination of transportation for field trips.
  • Other cuts, including supplies and materials
• Cuts are so substantial, that in Ramapo High School, former principal Jean Fields indicated there were conversations about letting seniors go halfway through the day. A student activist at Spring Valley High School, Olivia Castor, collected schedules from classmates, illustrating that students were spending more than half of the school day in non-academic classes like lunch and study hall. New York State does not require how many hours of instruction a student must receive throughout the day.

Questionable Conduct by the School Board and Constituents:

The East Ramapo public school community has a number of grievances with the school board for their treatment of parents and students, stemming from when the board was overtaken by a Hasidic/Ultra-Orthodox majority in 2005. Mr. Greenberg’s report Among them:

• Violation of the open meetings law
  • According to the Committee on Open Government, “It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that the public business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens of this state be fully aware of and able to observe the performance of public officials and attend and listen to the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. The people must be able to remain informed if they are to retain control over those who are their public servants. It is the only climate under which the commonweal (sic) will prosper and enable the governmental process to operate for the benefit of those who created it.”  
  • Openness in public meetings is supposed to be the rule, not the exception. Mr. Greenberg’s report estimate that 60 – 70% of East Ramapo school board meetings take place in executive session. With regard to executive session, the Committee on Open Government states that “Every meeting of a public body shall be open to the general public, except that an executive session of such body may be called and business transacted thereat in accordance with section one hundred five of this article.”  
  • In fact, executive session may only be conducted upon majority vote of its total membership AND only for the below purposes: 
    • Matters which will imperil the public safety if disclosed; 
    • Any matter which may disclose the identity of a law enforcement agent or informer; 
    • Information relating to current or future investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense which would imperil effective law enforcement if disclosed; 
    • Discussions regarding proposed, pending or current litigation; 
    • Collective negotiations pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law; 
    • The medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation; 
    • The preparation, grading or administration of examinations; and 
    • The proposed acquisition, sale or lease of real property or the proposed acquisition of securities, or sale or exchange of securities held by such public body, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value thereof.
  • Further compounding the lack of transparency is that public participation is limited to comments at the end of meetings, which routinely occurs after 10 or 11 pm.

Legal representation

• On November 18, 2009, the School Board, in executive session, abruptly dismissed their legal counsel, Stephen Fromson – a local attorney and district graduate – for Albert D’Agostino, an attorney from Long Island. D’Agostino’s firm charged fees of $250/hour to Fromson’s $120/hour. 
• Since that time, legal fees incurred by the school district ballooned 668%, from $383K to $2.9MM. Over that time, $7.3MM was paid to 13 law firms.
• D’Agostino was known for his work in Lawrence, LI, where among other things, he helped the school district place ultra-orthodox and Hasidic students in private schools and arranged the sale of public school buildings to Yeshivas. East Ramapo parents were warned against D’Agostino’s firm by the Lawrence school district parents. 

Mistreatment of parents/students

• Parents and students are routinely mistreated by the Board’s legal counsel. 
  • In 2013, after a widely-publicized incident where an attorney from D’Agostino’s law firm verbally abused a public school parent, the Board announced it would seek to replace the firm. After a rigorous search, the Board reversed this decision in the summer of 2014.
  • D’Agostino himself has also repeatedly attacked students and alumni, calling one “ignorant” and another a “piece of shit.”
• District officials resort to name-calling and attacking the integrity of parents and students, often branding their critics as anti-semitic. Former School Board Chairman, Daniel Schwartz, likened a student’s criticism of the board to that of Saint Augustine, which ultimately “paved the road to Auschwitz and the crematory at Treblinka.” He went on to tell the audience, “Let me tell you right now, you don’t like it, find yourself another place to live.

Reaction of School Board to State intervention:

• In June of 2014, Governor Cuomo appointed a Fiscal Monitor, Henry Greenberg, to report on the district. Yehuda Weissmandl, president of the School Board, responded by writing, “They assume – based on our religion alone – that we have stolen from the very children we have been elected to serve. This is nothing but hateful bigotry.” 
• Also in June of 2014, the School Board elected to reject a $3.5MM state aid advance because of a condition that an advisory committee would direct how the money would be spent. Superintendent Joel Klein stated, “The board feels – and I agree with them – that this is the responsibility of the Board of Education and they are both affronted and insulted … that an outside group of people could determine how the money is used.”  

Closing and Selling of Public School Buildings to Yeshivas:

• The East Ramapo School Board commissioned the Western Suffolk BOCES’ Office of School Planning and Research to conduct a study of enrollment projections. Three reports were generated and results were presented publicly in November 2008. The study concluded that enrollment was declining and would continue to decline. 
• In May of 2008, the Board Superintendent formed a Long Range Planning Committee on Restructuring and Reorganization, which was expanded to include parents, teachers and community members. The group reviewed demographic data, transportation simulations, building capacities and Special Education/ESL needs. Three public forums were also held for input. 
• After all of these activities, the Superintendent recommended closing Colton Elementary School on April 1, 2009. About a year later, the Superintendent recommended also closing Hillcrest Elementary School. 
• According to the New York State Education Department, enrollment between 2008 and 2012 actually increased +3%. 
• Regarding the schools specifically:
  • The sale of Colton elementary school was announced on July 24, 2014 for $6.6MM, less $1.5MM of rent already paid on the property.  The school was appraised for $6.8MM on March 17, 2010. A second appraisal was obtained by the same appraiser, estimating its value at $6.6M. The sale was originally halted for a year and a half due to a petition by a parent, who claimed the school was actually worth $11.9MM, based on an appraisal by the Town of Ramapo. The petition was dismissed for a number of reasons, including an acknowledgement that there was a lack of information indicating that the Town’s appraisal was an accurate assessment of the fair market value of the school. 
  • The sale of Hillcrest elementary school was completed on November 21, 2014 for $4.9MM. Hillcrest was also the subject of several appeals and controversy..   The original sale, for $3.1MM was annulled in 2010. The school was originally appraised for $5.9MM in May 2010, but a second appraisal for $3.1MM was submitted on July 26th, just two days before the attempted sale. Education Commissioner Steiner annulled the sale, finding that the board acted hastily and questioning the dismissal of the first appraisal.   Separately, but related to the original appraisal, the board’s appraiser plead guilty to fraud for taking a $5,000 bribe to falsify his appraisal. The school board has not been charged related to the deal. 

*All data, information and quotes were collected through public sources. For information on the facts as presented, please contact strongeastramapo@gmail.com.