School Parents In NY's Rockland County Seek Ouster of 7 Orthodox Jewish Board Members

According to today's New York Times, in Rockland County (NY)'s East Ramapo Central School District, 14 Black and Hispanic parents of public school students have petitioned the State Education Department seeking removal of 5 Orthodox Jewish members of the school board.  Even though very few Orthodox Jews send their children to public schools, 7 of the 9 school board seats are held by Orthodox Jews because of their well-organized turnout in elections.  The state education commissioner can remove local school board members for willful misconduct or neglect of duty. Petitioners want a special monitor appointed to oversee the district after long-running disagreements between public school parents and the school board.  The parents claim that the school board is favoring the Orthodox Jewish community by using state resources to place students with disabilities in private schools, and in attempts to sell two former school buildings to yeshivas at below-market value. The district has laid off 25% of its teachers in recent years. School board president Daniel Schwartz charged that suggesting Orthodox Jewish board members could not deal with the needs of non-Jewish children is offensive and anti-Semitic. (See prior related posting.)