What is it with the East Ramapo School System? As a parent of school age children moving into the area or living hear this is the ultimate question that seems to go unanswered. The negativity regarding this is either met with hushed tones or positive examples promoted by the school system itself, in an effort to prove itself worthy. I myself have ended up vascilating between ignoring all sentiments thinking its "gotta be ok" in an effort to have some trust in the system, to looking for answers on my own. The East Ramapo School District serves the following towns, Chestnut Ridge, New Hempstead, New Square, Spring Valley, Monsey, and a portion of Airmont. The district also serves the hamlets of Hillcrest and Monsey. That being said, who really attends the schools within the district? According to a New York Times article written in 1997, East Ramapo had 18,000 children in attendence and 10,500 were students of yeshiva private schools, 9,500 of which were from New Square and Monsey. This would mean that more than half of the students within the sending district do not attend district schools. Leaving Chestnut Ridge, New Hempstead, Hillcrest, Airmont, and Spring Valley as the towns that the East Ramapo School district truly serves. A closer look at the sending town of Chestnut Ridge shows that 82% of the students attended public schools, with a strong community following that attends the private Green Meadow Waldorf school. Ultimately leaving the town of Spring Valley with the strongest presence in the East Ramapo School district. Spring Valley is considered to be the most urban in Rockland with a large African American, Haitian, and Caribbean population, a growing Hispanic population. Although many Hasidic Jews live in Spring Valley many of the school age population do not attend the public schools. In addition, according to the "School Matters" blogspot the East Ramapo district serves a mostly poor and minority student population: nearly three-quarters qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program, and the public school enrollment is 56% black, 25% Hispanic and 7% Asian. Not only that it has been charactarized as having unique needs of East Ramapo - more than four dozen languages are spoken among students.
So, What is it with the East Ramapo School System? The population is urban and is predominately from Spring Valley. How this impacts the classroom experience weighs heavily on the teacher. In reviewing recent research on successful teachers in urban "poor" schools, three characteristics appear to relate most directly to teachers being effective in those schools. These characteristics are: knowing themselves, knowing the environment in which they teach, and maintaining high expectations. Which leads to the next question. Is this happening in the East Ramapo School District? If the School District is made up of a community of people that are to be described as urban, poor, and minority, does that put the parent at a disadvantage in even communicating their needs to a teacher regarding their child? Do teachers take advantage of this and lower the bar on the expectations placed upon the children?
A look further into the fact that more than half of East Ramapo school age children attend private schools show this information. As part of the 8,000-student public schools’ outreach, East Ramapo’s Office of Funded Programs arranges workshops for nonpublic educators throughout the year that offer concentrated training on specific topics. The educators who attend the seminars do so for free, with the nearly $12,000 price20tag for this year’s workshops being paid for with state and federal grants and aid available for teacher training and for schools with needy students, said Elie Wizman, director of Funded Programs for East Ramapo. This years annual professional development day for nonpublic-school educators had and attendance of over 600 from about 30 private schools - mostly yeshivas.
Major problems facing East Ramapo? The towns of Monsey and Spring Valley have over 1000 properties that do not pay into the East Ramapo school tax base. Also many of the members of the Board of Education happen to be Orthodox Jews, even though the Orthodox do not attend the public school. Why is that important? Well it is the school board sets the vision for district and they decide will be taught, and they choose which programs teachers must include in the school day. Which begs the question asking whether the representation of the school board being reflective of the public school community vs that of the private school community that it doesn't serve. We must also keep in mind that the private schools also use public services though - busing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech, health services, resource room, psychology, educational testing, etc.
Still wanting to know more takes me to the districts website that lists the following information:
Great Reasons to love East Ramapo: small class size, highly qualified staff, most supportive community, universal busing, school-age child care, outstanding programs, etc..This is followed by comments that relate to the excellence of education in East Ramapo - the education they received as students, and the education that exists today
"I associate my years with East Ramapo with good times and a great education."
"I loved going to school here, so I wanted to teach in East Ramapo."
"Best decision I ever made."
"Only fond memories."
"It always had a top-notch reputation."
"My fond memories have always kept East Ramapo close to my heart..."
"So many memories of the wonderful, influential teachers."
"Because it is an innovative district committed to educational excellence."
"I wanted my children to have the same excellent education."
"So many fond childhood memories of East Ramapo. What better place to come home to?"
"East Ramapo schools are the BEST!"
are mThe authors of these statements are listed as Nicole Plaviak, Lois Aferiat, Mary Ann Osborne , Joy Levy, Sherri Nahum, Andrea LaMantia, Wendy Rosen, Marlene Slackman, Rhoda Schaefer , Stephanie Blackoff, and Anna Goldfien.
Their commitment to the school district is to be commended, but are the quotes those of their experiences as employees of the district or the education they received there some 20 years prior.

commentary......
Being a parent of a school age child in the East Ramapo School District has basically left me dazed and confused. I was drawn to Rockland County for its beautiful country environment, and I had no clue on just how deep the problems in the school district actually could be. I took it on with a full blown positive attitude. Little did I know. Basically there are simply too many battles, and ultimately it is extremely sad and disheartening.