Letter to the Editor: Requesting Federal Probe in East Ramapo

An Open Letter to:

The Honorable Preet Bharara
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorneys Office
Southern District of New York
86 Chambers Street
New York, New York 10007

August 20, 2015

Dear Mr. Bharara:

I am extremely active in the Civil Rights crisis that exists in the East Ramapo Central School District in Rockland County, New York. The Civil Rights Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office received my Complaint concerning the East Ramapo Central School District in December 2014. I also have case #02-15-1140 with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR). This case is currently being investigated inside East Ramapo.

My position so close to the epicenter of the crisis has brought with it efforts by school district officials to silence my advocacy on behalf of the public school children. It also provides me unique opportunities to observe and interact with public officials in a very personal setting. One week ago I had one of those unique opportunities. Unfortunately, what I witnessed was extremely troubling.

Dr. Merryl Tisch, Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, came to Rockland Community College on August 13th with Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia. They arrived from Albany to share the Department of Education’s “Plan” for the East Ramapo Central School District. Both were mingling in the lobby of the Cultural Arts Center prior to entering the auditorium. Chancellor Tisch was only a few feet away from me when she said unabashedly in the presence of others she did not know:

“We’re waiting for Yehuda.”

There was a sense of familiarity in her voice that was very disturbing. I went inside and took a seat. I then turned my head to watch Chancellor Tisch and Board President Yehuda Weissmandl calmly walk in together and down the aisle. They both had seats on the stage. East Ramapo Trustee Bernard Charles was mingling on the stage but did not take a seat.

Several weeks ago, Mr. Charles and his wife, Ramapo Town Councilwoman Brendel Charles, were on the news. Video showed them cursing at protesters and in the presence of children. Mr. Weissmandl and Mr. Charles should not have been on the stage. This was an affront to the public school community which has been victimized by both of them.

After the meeting began, I was approached by members of the Rockland County Sheriffs Department. I was escorted into the lobby. Mr. Charles alleged that I was not allowed to be present and he asked that I be removed. Bernard Charles and his wife, Ramapo Town Councilwoman Brendel, filed trespassing charges against me in December 2014. I was actually serving Mr. Charles with the Hillcrest Elementary School Appeal by Petitioners Betty Carmand and Steven White. For six months I had to attend court sessions to fight the false charges.

My lawyer from Advocates for Justice, Laura Barbieri, came into the lobby at this point to inform the Sheriffs that Mr. Charles was wrong in his allegation. The Sheriffs confirmed the same with the court over the phone and I was allowed back inside the auditorium. The Charleses were trying to silence me in East Ramapo when they filed the trespassing charges against me. It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened to me.

One year ago, Superintendent Joel Klein sent me a cease and desist to stay away from the East Ramapo public schools. I was exposing the dangerous physical conditions and health department violations at the schools with my iPhone. False charges and cease and desists, all of which I brought to the media’s attention, only enlightened a wider audience about the Civil Rights crisis the public school children are currently enduring in East Ramapo.

As the event continued, Commissioner Elia stated that she can’t remove Board of Education members. I immediately interrupted her and read her Education Law from my iPhone:

“Education Law §306 allows the Commissioner of Education to remove a trustee, member of a board of education and certain other school officers for willful misconduct or neglect of duty.”

The Commissioner continued on but my friend seated next to me wouldn’t let her get very far:

“Stop lying to the public!”

Commissioner Tisch stood up and scolded my friend. Then Commissioner Elia confirmed that she did, in fact, have the power to remove Board members. I believe that the two of them were trying to keep the audience uninformed. Commissioner Elia is new in her role. However, Chancellor Tisch has been the only Chancellor of the Board of Regents since 1996. Her outburst startled me. She lost her composure and chided an activist in the public school community. One would expect her to act in a more professional manner and with greater respect for individuals who are advocating for the public school children.

Chancellor Tisch became vocal on East Ramapo in a letter dated December 31, 2014 to Jim Malatras, Director of State Operations for Governor Andrew Cuomo:

“We propose a focus on the issues of school SEGREGATION and local school district MISMANAGEMENT such as we have seen recently in East Ramapo, New York.”

“In June 2014, in an attempt to address the serious fiscal issues facing the East Ramapo Central School District, the Department appointed Henry M. Greenberg to serve the district as a Fiscal Monitor in an advisory capacity in order to ensure that the district is able to provide an appropriate educational program and properly manage and account for State and federal funds received. On November 17, 2014, Mr. Greenberg delivered his findings and recommendations to the Board and the Department, which made clear that a FISCAL, SOCIAL and HUMAN CRISIS exists in the district. His findings and recommendations, particularly those involving fiscal oversight and available resources, require the engagement of the Governor and Legislature, and the Department continues to work with the Legislature on this issue.

Mr. Greenberg recognized that additional State funds are needed to avoid future budgetary crises and to put East Ramapo on a path to long-term fiscal stability. However, he also recommended that any additional funds must include an enforceable mechanism to ensure that resources are allocated fairly. Specifically, Mr. Greenberg recommended that ‘[a]t a minimum, there must be a vehicle to override, in real time, unreasonable decisions by the Board and Superintendent and ensure that the District conducts its affairs in a transparent fashion.’ The Board and Department fully support this type of multi‐ faceted approach to the complex problems facing East Ramapo and hope the Governor will propose such an approach in his Executive Budget.”

Chancellor Tisch identified serious issues in her letter to Mr. Malatras:

SEGREGATION

MISMANAGEMENT

FISCAL, SOCIAL and HUMAN CRISIS

The monitor in the current “Plan” for East Ramapo has no veto power. The monitor can attend executive sessions by invitation only. That’s not transparency. The issues, especially SEGREGATION, demand immediate attention. I contacted the Federal Government as a citizen to report the SEGREGATION which has fortunately led to an investigation inside the district. What has Chancellor Tisch done about the SEGREGATION she mentioned December 31, 2014?

Someone contacted me recently and asked me if I recalled something that Chancellor Tisch said during Hank Greenberg’s presentation on November 17, 2014 to the New York State Board of Regents. I decided to watch the entire presentation again for the first time. I focused solely on Chancellor Tisch:

https://vimeo.com/121396419

I was astonished at her mannerisms. She had one elbow on the table. She rested her head on her hand. On several occasions her eyes actually closed and she appeared momentarily to doze off until conversation brought her back. The most revealing, though, was while Mr. Greenberg was discussing long term solutions in East Ramapo. For an entire minute the Chancellor was looking straight down and messaging on her iPhone and was completely oblivious to what Mr. Greenberg said.

It was right after she was on her iPhone for that minute that Chancellor Tisch said the words the person who contacted me wanted me to listen to:

“You know a political solution is very easy: Get out the vote. People who live in the community need to come out and vote for their school board members. And that would be part of the political solution: using your vote.”

Mr. Greenberg discussed the demographics of the public school population. The multiple, diverse communities that comprise the public school population in East Ramapo cannot simply “get out the vote.” Some parents in East Ramapo cannot vote because they are not legal United States citizens, even though their American born children are. Some parents have no vehicles and rely on public transportation. Do they take taxis to the polls? Also, “getting out the vote” in minority communities has never been an easy task anywhere in the United States. Chancellor Tisch is speaking from the perspective of an Orthodox Jewish upbringing which is extremely insular and where voting is almost a sacred obligation. This is not the case in the minority communities in East Ramapo.

I have been informed that no Hispanics were involved in the creation of the “Plan.” How is that possible when Hispanics are approaching 50% of the public school population? Shouldn’t at least one representative from the Hispanic community been involved with the “Plan?”

Chancellor Tisch has very publicly called for Superintendent Klein’s resignation. Two nights ago at the East Ramapo Board of Education meeting, Luis Nivelo came to the podium to speak. He said in English before he began speaking that he wanted to talk in Spanish so his community in the bleachers could understand him. He provided ample time for the Board members to put on their headsets to hear the translation. Yehuda Weissmandl didn’t put his on. Mr. Nivelo and the crowd were naturally upset when they realized this. Newly appointed Monitor Dennis Walcott witnessed this.

Why hasn’t Chancellor Tisch called for Mr. Weissmandl’s resignation? He disrespected a father of children in the public school system by refusing to listen to what he had to say. It could not be more obvious that Chancellor Tisch, as evidenced by her own actions, inactions and words, favors the private school children in East Ramapo.

Mr. Bharara, I have shared with you how attempts have been made by East Ramapo school officials to silence me. If this is what an activist faces outside the schools, imagine what it must be like for the teachers, students and staff inside the schools. They are heroes. They are all bearing witness to institutional racism and violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

What is being done to the public school children is being done deliberately. It is being done against Children of Color. All those involved in crimes against children must be held fully accountable and they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Albany has completely failed the public school children of East Ramapo. Albany has been complicit in the district’s destruction. The only hope left for the public school children of East Ramapo is the Federal Government. Hank Greenberg invoked Brown vs. Board of Education in describing East Ramapo. He couldn’t have been more accurate.

Violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allow for Federal Intervention in public schools. May these hallowed words inspire your office into action soon as we continue on with the protests at meetings and in the streets:

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In Peace,

Robert Ward Kurkela