www.preserve-ramapo.com
“A federal judge today called an East Ramapo school board election for Feb. 2 using a ward system for the first time that would include three districts out of nine comprised mostly of minority voters.
The ward or single-member system would replace East Ramapo’s current at-large voting setup, which U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel declared in May violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [Read more…]
“The East Ramapo school board has appointed an interim superintendent to step in when Deborah Wortham leaves in October to head up the Roosevelt school district on Long Island.
Raymond Giamartino, most recently a top administrator for the Rochester City Schools, was chosen as interim superintendent for the 2020-2021 school year. His appointment was announced at the tail end of an Aug. 18 school board meeting via Zoom. [Read more…]
Deborah Wortham and Yehuda Weissmandl Photo: Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News
East Ramapo might have to fire dozens of teachers if the school district can’t find $9 million to pay the legal fees of NAACP attorneys for winning a voting rights challenge of the district in May, Superintendent Deborah Wortham said.
Wortham said “political, financial and practical” hurdles would need to be cleared to fund an award district attorneys say would be the largest ever in a voting rights case.
And if the money can’t be secured, Wortham said the district would be forced to consider cutting kindergarten, English, math and social studies teachers. [Read more…]
“East Ramapo schools Superintendent Deborah Wortham has announced that she will be leaving the district after being named superintendent of Roosevelt Union Free School District.
Wortham, who first became East Ramapo’s interim superintendent in 2015, had previously served as superintendent in the Long Island district from 2013 to 2015.
Her appointment was announced Tuesday night by Roosevelt. Around the same time, East Ramapo school district was holding its board meeting.
Wortham sent a letter of resignation to East Ramapo school board President Harry Grossman on Wednesday afternoon. [Read more…]
“East Ramapo voters rejected a $247 million school budget plan by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, the school board announced late Thursday, the latest setback in a struggling district riven by race and the competing interests of public and private school parents.
The 6,917-to-3,850 vote represented the only budget rejection among 53 school districts in the Lower Hudson Valley counties of Rockland, Westchester and Putnam, and was one of 10 budget defeats among 658 school districts statewide.
The district will decide in the coming days whether to hold another budget vote or adopt a contingency budget, which would require freezing the district’s tax levy and cutting spending. [Read more…]
A federal appeals court has turned back East Ramapo’s attempt to hold school board elections on Tuesday under an at-large voting system, which a lower court said is unfair to black and Latino voters.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday rejected East Ramapo’s request to stay U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel’s ruling in a voting rights case. The case was filed by the Spring Valley chapter of the NAACP.
The panel set Aug. 17 as the earliest date for when it could hear arguments in the district’s appeal of Seibel’s May 26 ruling. That means a special election to fill four open seats on the nine-member board would likely not happen until September at the earliest. [Read more…]
“A federal judge on Monday rejected East Ramapo’s attempt to hold school board elections as planned June 9, saying the district’s time would be better spent creating a system that’s fair to black and Latino voters.
U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Seibel turned back East Ramapo’s effort to stay her ruling from May 25, which gave the district 30 days to create a ward or neighborhood-based voting system with four districts in which minorities make up the majority of registered voters. [Read more…]
MAY 26, 2020 Press release from NYCLU (ACLU of New York)
EAST RAMAPO – A federal court today ruled that the East Ramapo Central School District’s at-large method for school board elections denies Black and Latinx residents an equal opportunity to elect their preferred candidates under the federal Voting Rights Act. Judge Cathy Seibel of the Southern District of New York ordered the implementation of a ward system and enjoined the district from holding further elections until this system is in place. [Read more…]
Sherry McGill, Ana Maeda-Gonzalez, Kerry Victor, Carole Anderson
Election Update from Power of 10
1. Mail-in Ballots Only!
2. Meet Our Candidates
3. Library Vote
1) Mail-in Ballots Only!
The Governor has cancelled all in-person voting for school board elections. School districts have been ordered to conduct the election by mail-in ballot only. There will be a very short window of time from when you receive your ballot until you must mail it to be received on time. The ballots must be received by June 9, but there is a potential for slow mail delivery due to the pandemic.
For this reason, PLEASE WATCH YOUR MAIL, PLEASE FILL OUT AND RETURN THE BALLOT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! [Read more…]
“Carole Anderson, a longtime public education advocate in East Ramapo, has been appointed an interim member of the school board.
Anderson fills the seat of Bernard Charles, who resigned his position as part of a plea deal with the Rockland District Attorney’s Office. Charles pleaded guilty in February to misdemeanor petty larceny; he was accused of renting out town property to pocket the fee. [Read more…]