Public education became an afterthought. Schools were closed and sold off or rented to yeshivas, at sweet discounts. (An appraiser was indicted last year, accused of taking a handsome bribe for a low appraisal.)

Oscar Cohen, white-haired, Jewish and a local resident in his eighth decade, has rallied the opposition, including secular Jews, Central Americans and blacks, among them Betty Carmand, who will gather at a news conference on Tuesday to call for state action. He acknowledges their conundrum: The forms of democracy have perpetrated what looks a lot like injustice.

He tried to talk with the ultra-Orthodox school board. “Early on I figured we needed trust,” he said. “We had a few meetings and they essentially said, ‘We have the power and you don’t.’ ”

Dissent became another flashpoint. After blacks, Latinos and secular Jews complained loudly, perhaps rudely, at public meetings last year, the board chairman at the time, Daniel Schwartz, peered dourly at the audience.

“It’s become apparent to the board that there is a group of miscreants in the community,” he said.

From now on the board, he said, will allow comment only at meeting’s end, often past midnight. “It pains me greatly to have to treat the community like errant children,” he said. “But people in his community have chosen the tune and the piper will be paid.”

An ultra-Orthodox developer, Yehuda Weissmandl, recently took over as chairman of the board. He is more circumspect. In an interview, he blamed poor state education funding formulas and said he wished well for every child, “white, purple or green.”

To blame the ultra-Orthodox, he says, treads into anti-Semitism. This is a well-honed move. Board members often invoke the names of concentration camps.