NYS Department of Ed Leaves School District in the Lurch After Vetoing ERCSD's Unanimous Choice for Superintendent

by M. C. Millman 

Last week, the East Ramapo Central School District (ERCSD) Board reached a milestone by unanimously voting to hire a new, highly qualified Superintendent of Schools, yet, Dr. Shelley Jallow, New York State Department of Education's Monitor for Academics at ERCSD overruled that decision while the fiscal monitor recused himself. 

The ERCSD has two state-appointed monitors, the financial monitor and the other Jallow, the academic monitor. Only Jallow had an issue with the appointment, which was only expressed after the board vote. Despite having every chance to raise her concerns before the vote, she never brought them up. Yet, it was her lone protest that derailed all of the ERCSD's vigorous efforts to keep the ERCSD firmly on track toward serving all of the children in the ERCSD.

The veto was applied even though the highly qualified candidate was chosen after a rigorous process of interviews and review. As she worked with the school district in the past, she has experience working within the District and has the respect of the populace, making her a tremendous asset for the cash-strapped, far-from-restful District.  

"The most important job of a board of education is selecting and appointing a superintendent of schools," ERCSD School Board President Shimon Rose shares exclusively with Rockland Daily. The East Ramapo Board of Education is pleased with the comprehensive process of selecting its next superintendent. We hired a well-qualified, seasoned search firm, engaged the community, involved the State monitors at every step, and received tremendous feedback from stakeholders about the type of school leader best suited to move the District forward. Through that process, we proudly selected a candidate. The candidate is very familiar with the District, is bilingual, and has a proven record of success as a school leader."

"None of the people we interviewed who made the final cut were currently superintendents in New York State," ERCSD Trustee Harry Grossman tells Rockland Daily in response to Jallow's flimsy excuse for her veto, which was that the candidate lacked superintend experience. "They were all assistant superintendents at best."

Jallow's backward and unprecedented veto of a unanimous decision of trustees voted in by the ERCSD  endangers the entire District, which is already rocked by deep rifts and major budget issues.

The near-impossible task of conducting interviews to find another equally qualified candidate at this point is next to nill and only adds to the troubles of the District that already has too many vacancies, including Assistant Superintendent of Transportation, Assistant Superintendent of Business, Assistant Superintendent of Special Education, and Assistant Superintendent of Buildings and Facilities.

"The candidate could have filled these positions easily," says Grossman. She has experience running those roles, and she would have been able to manage things until new candidates could be appointed. But at this point, there is no time to conduct a new interview, and so we will be left without a superintendent until the long and tedious process can be started again. Meanwhile, the District's children will suffer the consequences of one monitor usurping an entire elected board." 

Realizing the chaos that will ensue from Jallow's veto, the ERCSD board reached out last weekend to Commissioner of Education Dr. Betty A. Rosa to appeal to the Commissioner that she cancel the veto and give the ERCSD a fighting chance to right its trajectory instead of leaving it in extreme limbo and chaos. 

Instead, as per an email received this morning, Rosa, who has a history of allegedly targeting the Orthodox Jewish community, refused to cancel the veto and had thereby given her rubber stamp of approval to the forced failure of the ERCSD. 

"Regrettably, the state-appointed monitor and commissioner rejected the board's unanimous choice," Rose says. At this point, the Board is evaluating its legal options and the best next steps in this process. These include re-engaging the search process and possibly appointing an interim superintendent."

"The entire board recognized that the goal of filling the supervisor position is to put someone in place that the entire community can trust so we can pass the budget and build relationships," Grossman says. "If the State wants to put someone in that position that comes with backing and a checkbook to help provide solutions, then I'm on Board, but not if you're going to put someone there without backing and not after the State has short-changed our District twenty million dollars a year for decades according to our fiscal monitor. We need someone who can build a relationship with the entire community, or we won't pass budgets, and this person we were looking at already had a relationship with a community, which was completely ignored."

"I have been fighting on behalf of the families in East Ramapo for years, and during my time in the Senate, I voted for more than $30 million in additional state funding for the district," former Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick shares with Rockland Daily. "That's why I am furious to hear that the State Education Department is preventing the East Ramapo School District from hiring a new superintendent who is supported by every member of the school board and by the most experienced of the two monitors overseeing the district. At a time when the district is confronting a profound fiscal crisis, East Ramapo desperately needs strong leadership. Instead, the State Education Department's decision will leave the district without a permanent superintendent for an extended period of time. Going forward, I will continue to seek solutions that can unite the community, put the district on solid financial ground, and allow for the kids there to get the excellent education they deserve."