Talk:East Ramapo Central School District

Controversy removed by 38.117.215.147

How much of the "controversy" removed by 38.117.215.147 should be put back in?

• Revision 1
• Revision 2

WhisperToMe (talk) 04:50, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

"Schools"

What is meant here?

"All of the schools are in the Town of Ramapo. Some schools are also located within other municipalities."

which is

"All A are in B. Some A are also in not-B."

Is this intended to mean that parts of some of the schools' grounds are in municipalities other than the town of Ramapo? Are parts of the Town of Ramapo also parts of more than one other municipal entity? Or are these sentences victims of ruthless editing? Rt3368 (talk) 20:42, 20 September 2014 (UTC)

Clear Bias In Article

Having read through this article, everything related to the school board controversy (public opinion, legal issues, state actions) has been clearly sculpted in several ways in favor of the orthodox Hasidim community, in particular through non-neutral sympathetic language when speaking about them to portray them as some sort of victims and the public school community as 'agitators' to the reader, as well as how they're being wronged by paying taxes 'twice' because they choose private schools as well as making claims that are not the commonly accepted case, such as claiming several decisions criticizing the Hasidim community and board are biased and 'decried at all levels'. It is very clear the information about this controversy was doctored by someone sympathetic to the Hasidim intended to reflect more positively on them.

I'll give some specific pieces I felt best show my claims:    

From the last portion of the '21st Century' section-

"A fragmenting issue in the district is the placement of Orthodox Jewish special needs students in an environment geared towards their requirements; namely making blessings on food, Kosher lunches, reading the "Krias Shema" (declaration of faith in one G-d) and learning Yiddish, all of which were not being provided in the Public Schools programs where there was an underlying current trying to remove all vestiges of their faith if only by the secular status queue. More importantly, as parents viewed many of the S.E. students as special "neshamos" (souls), the lack of religions instruction for such a long stretch of the day was causing social angst, especially at their young age. The parents, many below the poverty line, opted instead to home school their children or to raise community funds for a religious school geared to their needs. In the past, the secular school board did nothing to allay parents trepidation or was simply not able to. From early 2000 on, a strong force combined of Orthodox school board members, Jewish parents, and community leaders pushed the powers that be to acknowledge holes in the public school system. Ever so slowly the board began sending children eligible for NY State Aid to local compatible programs that included instruction more in line with the children's scrupulous religious needs, with the State's blessing. When public school agitators were made aware of this slight shift, they did all in their power to discredit the board, eventually leading to The New York State Education Department ("SED") directing [the] District to post the following letter of non-compliance (Archive), sent to the District by SED on December 19, 2012.

In March 2013 the Associated Press reported that there is much tension in that school district, because the local school board is accused of favoring private schools at the expense of public schools.

In April 2014, the group Rockland Clergy for Social Justice, which includes clerics from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim groups, asked Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo to intervene in the district.

In September 2014 the radio show This American Life aired an hour long show on the school board in episode 534 entitled "A Not-So-Simple Majority". No private school parents were represented."    

From 'State Monitor'-

"The private school parents in the district, most of them of meager means with larger families than the public school parents; paying tuition "twice" - once to the school district and then to the private schools they send their children to; the over two-thirds majority in the district who voted; many of them third-generation community members -- we're simply ignored. Elected officials and community organizations at all levels rightly decried the State's biased report and infringement on voters sacred rights.

Many parents have even begun questioning the $176,000 paid to the state monitor thus far."    

From 'Sale of Hillcrest Elementary School'-

"In July 2010 the School Board of the East Ramapo Central School District voted to sell Hillcrest Elementary School—closed due to budget cuts—to the Yeshiva Avir Yakov of New Square. The sale was initially blocked by the state due to a dispute of the school's appraisal. According to reporting by This American Life, the school was initially appraised at $6 million (contradictory with above) and the district board accepted a bid of $3 million. The sale was blocked by the New York State government, a draconian measure, and a subsequent bid for $4.9 million was approved for sale." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.20.206.10 (talk) 21:21, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

Yes, this page has been shamelessly edited, under the nose of Wikipedia admins, no less. We'll restore the touchy information and request arbitration as soon as they remove it again. Viridium (talk) 00:58, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Outline must include Hassidic Jewish school board takeover controversy

"controversy—disagreement, especially when prolonged, public and heated"

The controversy surrounding the control of the school board by the Hassidic Jews—a sizable portion the population not invested in public education—and the actions taken by the board to reduce the school program are a crucial piece of information for people seeking information about this community. As such, that information must be displayed prominently on the page.

Why is this information relevant, one may ask? Why is it not sufficient to describe the current state of the public education enterprise in this district? Because people wishing to enter the East Ramapo community must be aware that their children may spend additional years in school to graduate due to delays induced by the system, and why this education system is atypical in this regard. This notwithstanding, people often select the community in which to live based on moral standards that they may feel are not met. The morality of having people not invested in public education deciding the fate of a public school enterprise is a central point of debate in this controversy, as seen in the radio show and parent interviews.

The headings of a document are signposts for the reader that reveal the structure of its argument. In its current form, the document under discussion here does a poor job of exposing the school board controversy. That content will be prominently added and the outline updated with a top level heading calling attention to the controversy.

As a note to the Hassidic Jews or supporters thereof editing this page: one must own up to one's actions. The Hassidic Jewish population in East Ramapo has chosen of its own will to take certain actions to alter the course of public education in that community. Those actions were performed publicly and with knowledge of their public nature. Subject to their relevancy to this topic—which, if debated, we will ask the Wikipedia community to judge, including through admin arbitration—said actions must be prominently advertised on the page.

Please outline any objections to this pending action at this time. :)

Viridium (talk)