www.preserve-ramapo.com
That headline is not a misprint. At this Thursday’s Village Board meeting (July 18, 8pm–Village Hall) the Mayor and Board will consider allowing residents to bury human remains on their property with little more than an application to the Planning Board, such as you might submit for putting up a shed on your property.
The following letter was sent out by CUPON explaining the proposed change to the municipal law and also recent controversies created by local school buses. [Read more…]
State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Photo: Carucha L Meuse/The Journal News
“As the state Education Department begins accepting public comments Wednesday on proposed regulations for private-school instruction, state officials are staying quiet on key components of the regulations that concern advocates for “substantially equivalent” academics in private schools.
The regulations lay out instructional ground that private schools must cover at each level of schooling, from math and science to health education and the visual arts to citizenship and the U.S. Constitution. They are intended to clarify how private schools can comply with state law, which has long required that academic instruction in private schools be substantially equivalent to what’s taught in public schools.
But the proposed regulations include possible concessions to religious schools, particularly Hasidic yeshivas, that have faced criticism for offering limited academic instruction to male students who are focused on religious studies. [Read more…]
“The Suffern school board elected Matthew Kern as its new president and Paul Shapiro as vice president Tuesday evening meeting, before naming Lisa Weber, the district’s assistant superintendent of instruction, as acting superintendent.
Lisa Castaldo, who served as acting superintendent since Superintendent Douglas Adams’ suspension in March, was named the new assistant superintendent, effective July 15.
Kern and Shapiro, who were the only board members nominated, were unanimously elected. Two of the seven board members, Donald Cairns and Angus MacKenzie, were not present for the votes. [Read more…]
DA Candidate Thomas Walsh Photo: LoHud
“Retired Judge Thomas Walsh rode a powerful wave of Ramapo’s Orthodox Jewish votes to win Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary for district attorney, establishing him as the favorite to win in November with the Democrat, Republican and Conservative ballot lines.
Walsh garnered 8,900 total votes amid low turnout, according to unofficial returns on the Rockland Board of Elections website, with election watchers estimating 6,000 of those votes came from districts in Ramapo’s Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods. [Read more…]
(Totals reported by the Journal News at midnight Tuesday)
District Attorney
Thomas Walsh 8,900
Ken Zebrowski 4,375
Patricia Gunning 2,727
Victor Alfieri 1,264
Legislature District 13
Aron Wieder 773
Vivian Street 454
Mirlene Millen 129
Legislature District 14
Aney Paul 664
Agin Antony 167
Antonine Amsial 93
Legislature District 1
Mari Morrison Rodriquez 275
Michael Parietti 246
Legislature District 8
Toney Earl Sr. 426
Rudy Laurent 194
Claude Jean-Louis 105
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Ken ZebrowskiRockland District Attorney All districts |
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Michael PariettiRockland County Legislator District 1 |
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Rudolph (Rudy) Schneider LaurentRockland County Legislator District 8 Spring Valley |
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Vivian StreetRockland County Legislator District 13 Spring Valley, and parts of Ramapo |
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Agin AntonyRockland County Legislator District 14 Chestnut Ridge, Spring Valley, Hillcrest, New City and Nanuet |
Information, bios, and platforms follow. [Read more…]
NY Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski
Ken Zebrowski has served in the New York State Assembly for the past 12 years and is well known throughout Rockland County. He is the very model of what a public servant should be. He is smart, remarkably hardworking and proactive with the capacity to bring people together and make things happen. He always does his homework and seeks out common sense solutions to problematic issues. His forceful personality along with the determination and vigor to take the bull by the horns and clean up the corruption that rules the roost in Rockland, make him the most compelling choice for District Attorney. [Read more…]
“The New York State Education Department announced proposed regulations Friday for academic instruction at nonpublic schools, less than two months after its guidelines with similar goals were blocked by the State Supreme Court.
The issue focuses on enforcing state law requiring that secular studies at private schools — like math science, English and history — be “substantially equivalent” to what’s taught in public schools. Concern has been most focused on certain ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish yeshivas that advocates have reported fail to meet the law or prepare their students for employment and a solid economic future.
State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia initially issued new guidelines in November that were meant to update previously issued guidelines for enforcing the law. But the court ruled in April that the Education Department failed to follow its own procedure for such specific changes. [Read more…]
“As Rockland County government marked the fourth year of its crackdown on slum housing, Jennifer Rivera said Friday that she pays $520 a month rent for a tiny bedroom inside a rundown, violation-plagued house on Fairview Avenue.
As Health Department inspectors walked through the house with hopes of forcing the landlord to clean it up, Rivera said she and 11 other people live with rats, mice, and other animals entering though the attic and wood flooring softened by moisture.
Inspectors have cited the manager/owner Moshe Landau for 48 violations of the county sanitary code, including operation of an illegal boarding house, exposed piping and wires, mold and chipped paint, and garbage on the front lawn.” [Read more…]
