Opinion from Gary Stern The Journal News

“It was clear that state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia was going to have a hard time producing private-school curriculum guidelines that would meet state law and satisfy the Orthodox community, especially those protective of Hasidic yeshivas.

But who could anticipate the wrath directed at Elia and her updated guidelines for enforcing that academic instruction at private schools is “substantially equivalent” to public schools? The timing of the release, just before Hanukkah, fed numerous comparisons of Elia and the state Education Department to the Syrian-Greeks, who tried (and failed) to Hellenize the Jews in the Hanukkah story. [Read more…]

Wait … What?

Yes, you read right. You have heard of The War on Poverty, The War on Terror, The War on Drugs, but … The War on Education???

Former East Ramapo school board president Wieder was once accused (by Asst. Supt. Joe Farmer) of starting a war on public education

Now he has formally declared war on the NY State Education Department. This is in response to the updated guidelines on equivalency of education in non-public schools. [Read more…]

The following is a letter by John H. Lang published in The Journal News Aug. 29, 2018:

“Re “Rockland: How good are the high school graduation rates?” July 5 article:

There was a time when the East Ramapo School District was academically at its very peak in Rockland County.

All that changed with continued downzoning and a rapid change in the population, as East Ramapo has come under the domination of an ultra-Orthodox community that does not use public schools and has shown no interest in ensuring fair funding. [Read more…]

Spring Valley Grads     Photo: John Meore/ The Journal News

Letter published in the Sunday Journal News
Re “Dire times for East Ramapo as budget fails,” June 21 Perspective:

The state and its monitors will continue their dedicated efforts to ensure quality programs in East Ramapo. But the article ends with the statement: “District taxpayers have to show the state that they share such a commitment.” [Read more…]

From The Journal News:
“East Ramapo was one of 16 budgets across the state that were defeated, according to the New York State School Boards Association. Within the Lower Hudson Valley, the only other proposals that failed were in New Rochelle and Brewster.

About six percent of registered voters came out in Clarkstown and North Rockland. South Orangetown saw about nine percent of its registered voters and Suffern Central had a turnout rate of about 14 percent. In East Ramapo, the participation rate was 16 percent. All numbers were lower than 2017.

Statewide, fewer people voted Tuesday, a trend the state school board association has been tracking over the last few years. Since 2012, when New York implemented a tax-levy cap on school budgets, fewer people are hitting the polls each spring.”

The following table from The Power of Ten demonstrates how the bloc vote once again defeated the budget. The data linked to polling sites show how Proposition #1 (the budget) fared:

Power of Ten Election Results by Polling Place

Please support the approval of the East Ramapo School Budget. To find your correct polling place, check here.