East Ramapo: Supt. Klein will go; Trustee Ramirez resigns in first month on the job

Power of Ten Update

In This Issue:

1. Klein to be Replaced?
2. New Launch of Strong East Ramapo
3. Saturday Family Fun Day in Spring Valley
4. New School Board Member Resigns After Just One Meeting
5. September 12 – Save the Date

1) Klein to be Replaced?

According to the Journal News, Superintendent Klein will soon be removed by the East Ramapo School Board. One of the most important jobs of a school board is selecting the Superintendent of Schools. In 2011, the school board majority, a group with zero experience in public education, led by Aron Wieder, selected Dr. Klein over the objections of the public school parents, educators, and school board members. Trust us, they said, even though we have no experience and a glaring conflict of interest, take our word that we are acting in good faith

Four years later, our children’s educational system is reduced to wreckage. The state education department finds the administration performing at the lowest possible level in every parameter measured. Now the school board is hinting about parting ways with Supt. Klein, the same way they did with lawyer D’Agostino two years ago. Please join us in our continuing protest demanding that Klein resign (or be removed), and the public school community be involved in choosing a competent replacement:

Tuesday, July 28 at 7:00 PM
105 S. Madison Ave
Spring Valley, NY

2) New Launch of Strong East Ramapo

Many have written to Power of Ten asking when we will start working on next year’s advocacy strategy. Strong East Ramapo has taken the lead and wants YOU to be involved:

LAUNCH MEETING — After a month of surveys, conversations, strategic thinking and gathering feedback, it’s time to start the engines of Strong East Ramapo 2015-16. I am looking forward to meeting with everyone who is interested in helping to play a planning role in our efforts to secure an equitable education for the children of the district. We will be:
— Refining our goals for the year
— Planning our first major action of the new school year
— Mapping out our subsequent strategies for the fall
— Establishing roles, as well as ways to communicate ongoing
Date: Sunday, August 9 at 4 p.m-5:30 p.m.
Location: Please RSVP to strongeastramapo@gmail.com by August 1 to learn our meeting place.
Hope to see you there!

3) Saturday Family Fun Day in Spring Valley

“We The People – Rockland County” Presents
1st Annual Spring Valley Family Fun Day And Unity Rally
Saturday July 25th at Tigers Den Park, Spring Valley, New York
Time 11:00am to 5:00pm
Special Guest: DJ Juanyto of HOT 97 fm
Music* Food* Entertainment
Special Thank You to: Dannon, Frito-Lay, Hot97, S2SBB

4) New School Board Member Resigns After Just One Meeting

East Ramapo’s newest school board member resigned today. He told the Journal News he had misjudged the amount of time it takes to be a school board member. Perhaps he should have attended at least one complete meeting before he ran for the board? Perhaps the 6000 people who voted for him should have asked if he had ever sat through even one meeting?

At the heart of the dysfunction in East Ramapo is the passionate participation of thousands of voters whose ignorance of current events in public education is enforced by edicts against reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, watching TV, or going on the internet. School board members have even participated in rallies in support of banning use of the internet.

The result of enforced ignorance of voters has been election of incompetent or abusive school board trustees. Trustees who hold most sessions in secret. Trustees who call members of the public ‘miscreants’. Trustees who tolerate high level employees who verbally abuse students and parents. Trustees who sue the state education department. Trustees who authorize real estate deals with beneficial terms for their friends. They don’t have to worry about the electorate watching their misdeeds analyzed on the evening news, the voters are not allowed to own television sets!

Only now that NY State has beaten them in court and threatens to force them to share power are they dialing back the arrogance a little. But the civil rights of the public school children will never be safe as long as enforced ignorance holds unchecked power.

5) Save the Date

September 12 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM we will have the First Annual Power of Ten Picnic for Justice. We will have food, games, music and more. Details TBA in the next update. This year we will raise funds for Advocates for Justice, the Not-for -Profit Public Interest Law Firm that has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of East Ramapo parents, students, and taxpayers. However, you don’t have to wait until Septemeber 12 to donate, please do so today