East Ramapo's Yehuda Weissmandl will fill Ramapo Town Board vacancy

Steve Lieberman | slieberm@lohud.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Ramapo Supervisor Michael Specht A conversation with new Town of Ramapo Supervisor Michael Specht.

RAMAPO - East Ramapo Board of Education President Yehuda Weissmandl said Monday that he will accept an offer to fill a vacant Town Board seat.

Weissmandl, the soft-spoken son of the late New Square village administrator Samuel Weissmandl, said he will remain on the school board but will step down as its president. His third, three-year non-paid school board term ends in the spring of 2019.

"I have been asked by Supervisor (Michael) Specht and the Ramapo Town Board to accept the appointment for the vacancy ..." Weissmandl said."We have been discussing this opportunity for some time and after a lot of thought and discussion, I have agreed to accept the challenge."

Specht said the Town Board will officially appoint Weissmandl in July.

Weissmandl would become the second current East Ramapo school board member to serve on a town or village board. School board member Bernard Charles serves on the Spring Valley Board of Trustees after being appointed by Mayor Alan Simon in December.

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The Ramapo seat has been vacant since Yitzchok Ullman resigned in January to become Ramapo tax assessor. Ullman had served for a decade. He led the town for six months in 2017 after Christopher St. Lawrence was forced to resign after being convicted of federal securities fraud and other charges.

The four Town Board seats pay $35,832 annually, not including health benefits, with Councilwoman Brendel Logan-Charles getting paid an extra $18,000 as the appointed deputy supervisor. Specht is paid $145,574 as supervisor.

Weissmandl's tenure on the East Ramapo school board has been one of controversy as public school parents contested many of the budget and educational decisions by the nine-member board, which is controlled by Orthodox Jewish residents who predominately send their children to private schools.

Weissmandl has seen multiple lawsuits filed against the district, budgets rejected at the polls, financial hard times, and three school superintendents.

He also worked against an attempt to name a monitor with veto power over the board's decisions — a move that failed on the state legislative level. The district does have a monitor who works with board and superintendent.

Weissmandl has defended the district policies, saying he's tried to build consensus with the public school community and with the state on getting more funding to improve the education for the district's predominately non-white public school students.

East Ramapo is a unique district as it boasts about 8,500 public school students and 24,7000 children attending more than 140 private schools, mainly yeshivas.

The board over the years slashed hundreds of jobs and programs to cut property taxes before rehiring personnel and restoring some programs.

The Town Board decided on Weissmandl after his name was floated and he showed an interest, said Mona Montal, the top aide to Specht and Ramapo Democratic Party chair.

The Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish bloc vote is powerful in Ramapo and can decide town elections.

Montal said Weissmandl had planned to run for what she called the Hasidic Jewish seat on the five-member board. Ullman also is Hasidic.

"His name had been floated," she said. "The board wanted someone who would bring experience and balance."

Specht said Weissmandl fit the profile for which board members were looking. He said he's met Weissmandl before and had been impressed with his sense of fairness and views on controlling development.

"He's a person who will represent his community and see the bigger picture for all residents," Specht said. "He will bring critical thinking to the board. If people in the broader community give him a chance, they will be pleasantly surprised at his views for the town."

Weissmandl will join a board dealing with financial losses from the tenure of St. Lawrence, who took money from different funds, including police and ambulance, to bulk up the town's operating budget to show positive balance.

Weissmandl works in the construction field and owns rental property. He's married with children and lives in Monsey.

"I have lived here in the town my entire life and I care deeply about the future of our town," he said. "I have watched the supervisor and the board work very hard to make this a greater town and I'm both honored and humbled at this opportunity to serve."

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