East Ramapo oversight supporters rally in Albany

Hundreds of parents, students and community members from the East Ramapo school district are in Albany Tuesday, pushing lawmakers to support a bill that would provide rare state oversight of the East Ramapo Board of Education.

About 350 advocates, along with the three state legislators from Rockland who authored the bill, were holding a rally on the steps of the state Capitol at 11 a.m.

Andrew Mandel, a spokesman for an alumni group that helped organize the event called East Ramapo Strong, told the Journal News that Rockland elected officials and Judith Johnson, who represents the region on the Board of Regents, would join the rally.

Mandel said the rally is a chance for lawmakers from around the state "to see the faces of the people affected by the crisis" detailed in a report from a state fiscal monitor in November 2014. The report, which was used as a blueprint for the bill, cited school board fiscal mismanagement and a tendency to favor the interests of the district's large private school population over the public schools.

"This is an incredibly powerful moment for a large group of folks who are directly affected by these issues to speak directly to Albany," Mandel said. "We're hoping that this will be a big turning point, to be face-to-face with the legislators to help them see that the people of East Ramapo have really put their faith in Albany."

The bill would authorize the state education commissioner to appoint a monitor to oversee East Ramapo school board decisions and come up with a five-year improvement plan for the district.

After the rally, the group plans to hold smaller meetings with legislators whose influence could steer the bill toward — or away from — passage, including Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, D-Queens, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, and Sen. John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

The school board and its supporters, including Rockland County Legislature majority leader Aron Wieder, D-Spring Valley, oppose the bill. Their own lobbying efforts focus on the fact the bill would give rare authority to an appointee to override, or veto, school board decisions deemed detrimental; the board could appeal any veto. Opponents argue the override mechanism would undercut voters' rights to elect board members.

New City resident Evelyn Bautista-Miller, a social worker for the New York City Department of Education who formerly worked in East Ramapo schools, said she's taking a rare day off from work to bring her three oldest children to the event.

"I told all the teachers that my children are not going to school (Tuesday) because they're going to learn how a bill becomes a law," said Bautista-Miller, who has two daughters, ages 5 and 6, and a son, 8, attending Hempstead Elementary school.

Several organizations representing East Ramapo's public school community raised more than $10,000 for the buses and supplies, Mandel said. Sponsors include Rockland Clergy for Social Justice, Strong East Ramapo, the Spring Valley NAACP and The Power of Ten.

Registered participants have maxed out the capacity on seven buses. Organizers said anyone who is interested in attending should find other transportation. For more information, go to http://www.strongeastramapo.org/april28.

Twitter: @MareesaNicosia