Former New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott was appointed monitor on Thursday for a suburban school district where there's a bitter dispute over control between the board, which is dominated by Orthodox Jews who don't use the public schools, and parents of pupils, who mainly are black or Hispanic.
"There is clear evidence that for many years the district has not adequately served the needs of its public school students," state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said in naming Walcott to oversee the East Ramapo district in Rockland County.
"The hardship these students have endured is reprehensible," said state Regent Judith Johnson.
Many parents have complained that the school board shortchanges the public schools while supporting Jewish yeshivas. The board blames state funding.
"We will work directly with the East Ramapo school board but we will not shy away from keeping the district accountable to the community when we identify areas of improvement," Walcott said.
"The board and I are eager to begin our work with Mr. Walcott and the monitoring team to identify and implement improvements in the district's educational programs and services," Board of Education President Yehuda Weissmandl said.
East Ramapo has 9,000 children in its public schools but 24,000 in private schools, almost all of them yeshivas. The Orthodox are not a majority of eligible voters, but they have become a powerful voting bloc in school board elections.
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In recent years, the board has cut hundreds of staff positions, including guidance counselors, social workers and arts teachers; dropped half the sports programs; and slashed kindergarten to half a day.
Public school parents, mostly poor and many of them immigrants, say those cuts endanger their children's success.
"I'm worried ... that the Education Department and the Legislature will just say, 'OK, we appointed a monitor, checked and done, now that's over,'" said Davis Curry of Spring Valley, the father of a fifth-grader and a high school senior.
"As long as they don't do that," said Curry, "this has a chance to be a step forward."
