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12-30-12

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Power of Ten Update

In this Issue:

  1. Over 2000 people have signed the petition!
  2. Please support the class action civil rights lawsuit
  3. End of year message from Power of Ten

1) Petition for state oversight of East Ramapo now over 2000 signers:

There are now over 2000 signers to the petition at www.poweroften.us/petition which was created only 10 days ago.

Please share the petition with all your email contacts, Facebook friends and Twitter followers. There are share buttons for Facebook and Twitter right on the petition. The link to email your friends is www.poweroften.us/petition

There is a Facebook event page at: http://www.facebook.com/events/342604792513847/ Clicking “Going” to the event is another great way to show your support and also an easy way to spread the word.

Please confirm your signature: If you have not confirmed already, expect to get a confirmation email for your petition signature. Please add steve@poweroften.us to your “safe sender” list, (aka contact list, friend list or address book) to ensure that the confirmation goes to your inbox.

2) Please support the class action lawsuit:

Advocates for Justice, a New York based, non-profit, public interest law firm, has filed a class action, civil rights lawsuit on behalf of East Ramapo School District parents, students, and taxpayers.

Advocates for Justice is not charging us a fee for this action, but they are in need funds to continue this fight. They are asking us to contribute what we can. Monthly amounts are especially helpful (and easier on tight family budgets!)
Be part of the solution, contribute online, or mail a check to:
Advocates for Justice
225 Broadway, Suite 1902
New York, NY 10007

3) A very eventful year:

A lot has happened this year in the struggle for public education in East Ramapo. There have been a lot of hard knocks for the staff who lost their jobs, the parents who are worried about their kids education and who feel disrespected by the school board, and especially for students who have to deal with the loss of many programs, overcrowding, lack of materials, dirty classrooms, aging school buses, and even smaller meals (yes, they even cut portions in the cafeterias). Many staff members have gone above and beyond to try to keep up services, including spending money out of their own pockets. The district suffered a terrible blow to morale when they laid off Michael Smith, who had led the marching band to so many joyful awards and celebrations. This year Mr. Smith took the Nyack marching band to their first state competition, and they won first place. Videos of the East Ramapo Marching Band can be seen here: http://poweroften.us/video-gallery/marching-band/

However, there have also been several hopeful developments which lead me to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

  • Advocates for Justice, a non-profit public interest law firm, has committed to seek relief for us in court. The class action civil rights lawsuit they have filed on behalf of 845 students, parents and taxpayers from our community is a direct confrontation of the cause of our problems: a school board which has diverted funds to promote their own religion and private religious schools; discriminated against and segregated students on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, and religion; gutted the funding of the public schools; and damaged the quality of education of our children.
  • The State Education Department has become increasingly critical of the governance of the district. They have been particularly concerned with the illegal diversion of public funds to private religious schools and the illegal deficit which has started to affect Rockland BOCES and thereby all districts in Rockland County.
  • Increasing community involvement, including over 500 parents and students who came to the last school board meeting and over 2000 who have signed the online petition so far.

You can read more about the events of 2012 in the Power of Ten archives at http://poweroften.us/updates/

 

11-11-12

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Power of Ten Update

In this Issue:

  1. Urgent: Your contribution is needed!
  2. Insurance coverage denied for board members and employees alleged “wrongful acts”
  3. Appeal filed to block use of school funds to pay for lawyers

1) Please support the class action lawsuit:

In 2009, East Ramapo parents first got together to chant “Save Our Schools”.

Over the years, we have worked hard to protect the students’ right to an education and the investment that taxpayers have made in their homes and in a first quality education system for our community. However, powerful interests which seem to be indifferent or even hostile to our students and our taxpayers investments have caused the quality of education to suffer and resulted in loss of value to our multimillion dollar school system and our home values as well.

Today, we have formed the Save Our Schools Coalition, and we are fighting back with a class action civil rights lawsuit!

Advocates for Justice, a New York based, non-profit, public interest law firm, has filed this lawsuit on behalf of East Ramapo School District parents, students, and taxpayers.

Advocates for Justice is not charging us a fee for this action, but they are in need funds to continue this fight. They are asking us to contribute what we can. Monthly amounts are especially helpful (and easier on tight family budgets!)

Be part of the solution, contribute online, or mail a check to:

Advocates for Justice

225 Broadway, Suite 1902

New York, NY 10007

 2) Insurance coverage denied for board members and employees alleged “wrongful acts”:

The New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal (“NYSIR”), has declined coverage to the school board members and employees named as defendants in our class action civil rights lawsuit : “For all the reasons detailed herein, we write … to inform you that NYSIR hereby denies coverage to … ERCSD Board members … (and employees) … with respect to all of the claims asserted in the (class action lawsuit).” “the NYSIR policy precludes coverage to the insureds above regarding the “fraudulent, dishonest, malicious, criminal or intentional wrongful act(s) or omission(s)” alleged by the (class action lawsuit), NYSIR hereby disclaims coverage …” “In addition, the (class action lawsuit) alleges that ERCSD Board members … (and employees) … have violated and/or have failed to comply with state and federal special education laws. The NYSIR policy excludes coverage for any claims arising out of the failure to provide “an appropriate individualized education program or related facilities or services”, including but not limited to any cause of action under relevant state or federal statutes or other laws, administrative rules or regulations. Therefore, NYSIR hereby disclaims coverage.”

3) Appeal filed to block use of school funds to pay for lawyers:

School officials and employees may be represented at district expense when lawsuits arise from acting in their official capacity. However, the law does not allow the district to pay for counsel to officers or employees acting outside the scope of their public employment or duties. The actions of the board members and employees named in the class action lawsuit have been intentional, reckless, and borderline criminal. They have already been cited by NYSED, the New York State Comptroller and the Commissioner of Education as in violation of law. They have also used district funds to sue the NY State Attorney General, who is investigating their real estate dealings. As NYSIR noted, EACH and EVERY action is alleged to be “fraudulent, dishonest, malicious, criminal or intentional wrongful act(s) or omission(s)”. These are actions already found to be violation by the NY Education Department itself or by the NY State Comptroller. Nowhere does the law provide for the board members to approve expenses proactively suing the NY State Attorney General on their behalf. For the same reasons that hey have been denied insurance coverage, and more, the defendants should be denied the use of district funds. NY State courts have stated that coverage under public officers law is analogous to an insurance company’s contract. We have requested an Emergency Stay from the Commissioner to stop the board from further abusing public funds.

Tell your friends: “Justice is coming to East Ramapo!” … and WE can make it happen!

 

– Steve White, editor

 

1-4-12

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In This Issue:

*|MC:TOC|*
School Board Meeting Wednesday
There will be an informational session on the ESL program.
Wednesday, Dec 6, 7:30 PM
105 S. Madison Ave, Spring Valley

Official Announcements
This section reserved for official announcements.  No Announcements at this time.

School Board Campaign News
The 2012 campaign has begun. Visit http://poweroften.us/new/2012-campaign/ for more information

Message from the Editor
Several years ago, the makeup of the East Ramapo School board changed.  The majority of the members of the school board became people with strong family and community ties to private schools, specifically private religious schools for the ultra-orthodox Jewish community.
Many people were concerned that this school board would use its authority to shift the priorities of the district more toward those schools and the segregated community that they serve.  Others felt that the new board could faithfully serve both communities. Any citizen of the district has the right to run for school board, by law.
Over the years there have been many confrontations over issues such as budget items and school closings. The non-public school members of the public school board have maintained that their main goal is fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers which necessitates controlling spending.
However, several of their actions have been contrary to that cause:

  • They created a paid position (treasurer) for a close friend, Israel Bier. This job had previously been performed by a district employee at no extra cost.
  • They replaced an attorney for one that cost about 4 times as much per hour.
  • They sold a school (Hillcrest) for a fraction of the appraised value (fortunately the State Education Department halted the sale).  Another school sale (Colton) is being held up by the state for similar reasons after a taxpayer complained that they were selling public property without doing their fiduciary duty to get the best return for the taxpayer.
  • They fired the most effective administrator the district has ever seen (according to staff, students and parents).
  • The latest news is that while many of our buildings are in need of millions of dollars of repairs, the two schools that the board voted to sell to non-public schools were the only ones that the state says need no money for repairs over the next 5 years.
  • One of the most powerful of the non-public school board members, Nathan Rothschild, who was president of the board, has been sentenced to federal prison for fraud involving a real estate transaction for another public agency (he was a fire commissioner).

All of this evidence points to the conclusion that what seemed to be a conflict of interest, is indeed a conflict of interest.  The people most directly affected (students and parents) have tried every avenue available to them to protect the quality of education in the district.  They have written to every elected and appointed official. They have filed formal appeals with the state.  They have raised funds and run coordinated elections bringing out triple the voter turnout of any nearby district.  While there have been some achievements, the underlying problem- conflict of interest- has not been resolved.

– Steve White, editor