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Airmont Election Tuesday March 16: Support Andrew Dispensa and Jennifer Groff for Trustee

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Andrew L. Dispensa

Jennifer Groff


Visit  www.Airmontforall.org

Please support Andrew and Jennifer for Trustees.

Their bios appear below.

 

 

Andrew L. Dispensa, MBA

Andrew is a 36- year resident of the Airmont Village area. He has been here since before the Village was incepted and watched its birth, growth and struggles. Andy has a long history of service to this community including coaching for the Ramapo Little League, Soccer League, and was a Cub Scout Master. He continues his service as an Assistant Scout Master. Andy has been recognized for several community awards over the years including The Hidden Hero award from the Town of Ramapo, New York State Assembly, Haverstraw, and the Town of Clarkstown. [Read more…]

New push to give East Ramapo monitors veto power

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“In a move to strengthen state oversight of the troubled East Ramapo school district, Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski planned to introduce a bill Thursday that would give state-appointed monitors broad powers to reign in misguided school board decisions and ensure that the needs of children in the district’s public schools are represented.

Among those powers: the ability for monitors to override certain board decisions; scrap school board proposals and introduce their own resolutions for a board vote; and weigh in on decisions about hiring a new superintendent.

The monitor would also review the district’s budget and have the power to amend the spending plan to align with long-term academic and fiscal goals. [Read more…]

Chestnut Ridge law allowing residential houses of worship, a dream for some, is under fire

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“Elissa Berkowitz walked to synagogue with her parents while growing up on Staten Island.

Her dream has been to do the same with her children, raising them in the same Orthodox Jewish lifestyle.

“Growing up, it was beautiful to have a safe walk to synagogue with my mother and father to pray and be part of youth groups and a community,” the 33-year-old married mother of three said.

“I want that for my children,” she said. “I was in shock how this will become a reality for us.” [Read more…]

East Ramapo announces mid-year teacher layoffs, combined classrooms

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“While the district has touted staffing and programming additions in recent years, the district had 332 fewer staff positions in the 2018-2019 school year compared to 2008-2009, when cuts kicked in.

From The Journal News

East Ramapo interim Superintendent Raymond Giamartino Jr. on Monday confirmed that the district planned to lay off teachers and combine classrooms, an unusual mid-year move that adds even more disruption to a year that’s seen buildings repeatedly shut by COVID-19 cases.

Giamartino pinned the blame for cuts on the current contingency budget, which limits how the district can spend, and the millions of dollars invested in a legal defense on behalf of the district during a federal civil rights court challenge brought by the Spring Valley NAACP – a case the district ultimately lost. [Read more…]

East Ramapo Board of Trustees Voting Results

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Ward 1 – Ashley Victoria Leveille, 582 votes; term ending June 30, 2024

Ward 2 – Sabrina Charles-Pierre, 744 votes; term ending June 30, 2022

Ward 3 – Sherry McGill, 499 votes; term ending June 30, 2023

Ward 4 – Shimon Z. Rose, 880 votes; term ending June 30, 2024

Ward 5 – Yossi Weiss, 1,233 votes; term ending June 30, 2023

Ward 6 – Yehuda Weissmandl, 1,382 votes; term ending June 30, 2022

Ward 7 – Harry Grossman, 1,078; term ending June 30, 2024

Ward 8 – Mark W. Berkowitz, 1,832; term ending June 30, 2023

Ward 9 – Ephraim Weissmandl, 1,581 votes; term ending June 30, 2022

Newly elected board members must take the oath of office no later than March 2, 2021 and shall commence their terms once that is done. It is anticipated that board members will take the oath of office and hold the first meeting of the newly elected board on March 2, 2021.

CLICK HERE TO SEE RESULTS

Please visit www.ercsd.org/TrusteeVote for more information.

 

Finally, a choice for East Ramapo voters

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“After more than three years of litigation and millions in legal fees, voters in Rockland County’s East Ramapo school district finally get to choose.

And the choices they’ll make in Tuesday’s mail in election for nine seats on the district’s school board could alter the future of a community divided along racial lines, where dialogue is hard to come by and differences had become so entrenched it required a federal judge’s intervention. [Read more…]

What’s Ahead for Northeast Ramapo? Town Board Unanimously Approves Moving Forward to Change Code

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Rockland County Times

Ramapo residents’ pleas to halt zoning and building code changes to the northeastern quadrant of the town fell on deaf ears last Wednesday, Jan 20, during a hastily arranged Zoom meeting. After all was said and done, the Town Board unanimously voted to continue a process it began in 2018 that proposes to re-zone and re-purpose its semi-rural northeast corridor, making way for future development. [Read more…]

East Ramapo wants to cut NAACP legal fees to $1, if not teachers could be fired

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“NAACP lawyers say the East Ramapo school district owes them $4.3 million for winning a voting rights lawsuit decided in May.

The district says the tab should be $1.

If forced to pay the full award, the district might have to fire some 50 teachers, administrators, psychologists and others in a mostly-minority district already facing $5.4 million in unanticipated costs from the Covid-19 pandemic, interim district superintendent Raymond Giamartino says. [Read more…]

Appeals court backs NAACP in East Ramapo voting rights challenge

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“A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision declaring East Ramapo’s method for electing its school board violated the Voting Rights Act.

The lower court decision handed a victory to the NAACP in its decade-long battle to wrest board control away from a white, Orthodox Jewish voting bloc.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the East Ramapo school district’s claim that policy preferences like lower taxes – not race – had led to school boards dominated by Orthodox Jewish candidates.

They noted the nine-member board has pursued policies contrary to the interests of the the district’s 11,000 public-school students, nearly all of whom are Black or Latino. [Read more…]