New York – There are times when action versus non-action is critical; when decisive leadership is necessary, rather than a mere statement of being “deeply troubled” and talk of “taking something under advisement.”
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The rapidly developing situation in the Ramapo school district has the worst elements of a political nightmare; the school board is faced with both a sudden crisis and a smoldering one. And the consequences and repercussions of them are anything but good.
The sudden crisis was brought about by the rapid decline of civility by the board’s lawyer, Chris Kirby. Indeed, Kirby’s behavior involved a misogynistic rampage of the worst kind, including abusive behavior, horrific language, threatening behavior and a bullying of a type that one saw in unguarded schoolyards in the 1950’s.
The smoldering crisis is that many people in the Ramapo District, in the media, and in a growing chorus of voices beyond Ramapo are appalled at what seems to be a lack of “perspective-taking” skills – the ability to consider the point of view and educational needs of many in the district’s constituency.
The confluence of both of these crises together is what the district’s leadership is facing now. The problem is that it is not just the district leadership which looks bad. It reflects negatively on the entire observant Jewish community throughout New York and beyond.
When observant Jews take public or elected office they must be fully cognizant of the potential for Chilul Shem Shamayim of an order that they may never have fully comprehended in the past. They must be fully prepared for every contingency, such as these two forms of crises. Their behavior when dealing with any issue, indeed, every crisis is reflective of Torah and our way of life. This is true whether we like it or not.
If they fail to act properly when faced with such an extreme lack of professionalism and basic human decency, it gives the impression that the Torah tolerates such behavior. And it doesn’t.
The leadership of the school district must act immediately and decisively. They need to show that there is zero room for tolerance of misogynistic behavior in education. This is both an American value as well as a Torah value.
Despite the difficult logistics of a holiday weekend, pushing off a meeting that calls for decisive action until 7:00 PM on a Monday is wrong. Much stronger action is called for. The board must make an immediate and public apology for what has transpired under their watch, and apologize for their silence during the incident. While one school board member did publicly state he regrets not taking a strong stance and publicly rebuking Mr. Kirby immediately after his offensive statements, the school board itself must publicly renounce Mr. Kirby’s deplorable behavior.
They must also issue statement that the law firm representing them will be dismissed unless it issues a strong statement of regret and apology or it places Mr. Kirby on an immediate leave of absence.
Until now, there has been a failure in leadership in the manner in which the school board elected officials have handled things.
They have not prepared for and prevented this type of crisis event. They have dealt with Mr. Kirby for some time, and could have seen this coming.
This is not to say that a member of the Ramapo board did not heroically try to diffuse the situation. He did try, but part of leadership means to see things coming – in the language of the Talmud to be “ro-eh es hanolad.”
The leadership of the school district should also use this incident to adopt a learning attitude. Heavy-handedness and not listening to the earnest pleas of the districts constituents is a violation of the idea behind the Torah’s command to judges to genuinely listen – “Shamoa Bain Achichem.” The Peggy Hattons of the world are people with genuine needs.
While it is true that the needs of observant Jews were ignored and perhaps even trampled upon in the past in the Ramapo district, this is not a reason to bear a grudge.
An emergency meeting should be declared and a statement should be issued immediately. The statement should be very strong and use the term “zero-tolerance for abusive behavior.”
Anything less will just further compound the ongoing Chilul Hashem that is happening in Ramapo.
Amen!
Luke.
We must take into account that there are Jewish children with special needs including those from observant homes in the school system, we have an obligation to see that they should not be ignored and neglected.
The smoldering crisis is that many people in the Ramapo District, in the media, and in a growing chorus of voices beyond Ramapo are appalled at what seems to be a lack of “perspective-taking” skills – the ability to consider the point of view and educational needs of many in the district’s constituency.
WHAT ABOUT OUR POINT OF VIEW ALL THE MONEY FROM OUR PAYING TAXES GOING TO WASTE WITHOUT CONSIDERING OUR NEEDS
there is a saying what goes around comes around and the frum jews got fed up with the school board not considering there needs and now they run it as they see fit until they are voted out.
While I applaud the editorial above, and its tepid rebuke of the inaction present by the religious leadership, the (in)actions witnessed represent a broader more insidious and callous approach to the general East Ramapo community.
The complete disregard for the needs of the public school community by these ‘askanim’, who have no stake at all in the advancement or success of the public school system there is appalling. Rather, the attitude seems to be one of arrogance, aloofness and cold detachment to the needs of the people. וְהִתְבָּרֵךְ בִּלְבָבוֹ לֵאמֹר שָׁלוֹם יִהְיֶה-לִּי–כִּי בִּשְׁרִרוּת לִבִּי, אֵלֵךְ.
Let’s not forget, that the Sanhedrin of old did not allow elders to judge capital cases, for fear they had forgotten what it was like to raise children and not display enough mercy or compassion ( Talmud:Sanhedrin 36b, RambaM Sanhedrin 2:3).
אין חכמה ואין תבונה ואין עצה נגד ה’ כל מקום שיש חילול השם אין חולקין כבוד לרב
Why is the discussion of the burden on taxpayers taboo? you can see comments of many people who have no pity with the E. Ramapo tax payers which were paying huge tax bills.
From my point of view the issue there is that being a district where 70% of the children don’t attend public school, taxes there should be lower then in any place else. I don’t think that government is obliged to sponsor private education, but there is no reason the people who send their children in public school, and public school employees should benefit by having so much more houses to tax to fund 30% of the population.
All i know about the E Ramapo school district is what i hear and read.
Even though Mr. Kirby was called with a profane name by a parent and was screamed at in the parking lot still as a professional he should know better and what he did was disgusting.
The term Anti -Semitic is being thrown around alot by Jews even when its not the case. In this case in E Ramapo if anyone reads about it in the last few years and if you watch some clips of the board meetings you will all see that most of the parents ARE VILE ANTI -SEMITES with the help of secular Jews they are being riled up against orthodox Jews.
Guess what you self hating Jews?
Orthodox Jews are here to stay.
The idea that “Orthodox Jews are here to stay” is extremely arrogant and naive. And I am writing as an Orthodox Jew. If there is one lesson of history, it is that the Jewish presence in any society is tenuous. While we will never be able to escape the wrath of the anti Semites who rise up each and every generation, we do have an obligation to go above and beyond the mere obligations and to represent ourselves, Torah and Hashem with dignity and with concern for our fellow human beings of every background. That’s how I see it. We are playing with fire and its time to put down the matches.
Jews have to behave in order not causing a chilul hashem.Although we are allowed to ask and fight for our rights it has to be done with respect and low keyed.
It seems to me that the squabble in E Ramapo is not so much with the “parents” as it is between Orthodox Jews (Jews who observe torah) and secular Jews(Jews who do not observe torah doing whatever their heart desires).
The venom and hate from secular Jews toward observant Jews is unbelievable.
Perhaps “Luke” can verify.
“The venom and hate from secular Jews toward observant Jews is unbelievable.
Perhaps “Luke” can verify.”
You could not be more wrong my friend. Just go look at my latest post in the previous article about Mr. Rotham. It is people like you that hide behind hate and refuse to see the actual picture, but in a moments notice circle the wagons and scream antisemitism or the old, self hating diatribe. Take a look at the tension level in Ramapo now v. ten years old. It’s grown exponentially.
If you would use that same energy you use to hate to help repair the situation, we would be light years ahead, but no, it’s easier to pontificate about us v. them. By the way, I am not a “them” but an “us.” Thanks for stopping by!
Enough of the hate, back to the pool.
Luke.
Would it shock anyone to know that the very same law firm is representing the Lawrence school district in the 5 towns ?
Anyone following “MonseyLuke” comments in general will notice how he is badmouthing the orthodox community in Monsey/spring valley at every opportunity.Any politician who was voted in by the majority of orthodox Jews MonseyLuke is on a campaign to bring down that politician.
Im almost certain that MonseyLuke was at the parking lot screaming match yesterday i wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one calling Kirby a derogatory name.
Seems to me, a system of fairness needs to be brought to the table. With the help of the local politicians, multiple tiers of tax brackets needs to be setup.
Tier 1: Over five kids in public school system.
Tier 2: Over three kids (up to 5 inclusive) in public school system.
Tier 3: One to three (inclusive) kids in public school system.
Tier 4: Zero kids in public school system.
With tier 1 paying the highest in taxes and tier 4 paying the lesser amount.
The tiers inclusions or/and exclusions can be adjusted accordingly as befitting the local population.
Under this type of system the parents clamoring for music lessons and foreign language instruction etc. can have it all, providing there’s money in the budget.
It’s just not fair to burden the many for the few!
If Chris Kirby is not held accountable for his behavior and fired, every schoolyard bully has reason to look at him and say, if he can do it, why can’t I?
And there are bullies at Yeshivas too…
How do you know anyone was wired? That is nothing but speculation. The ballpark was a farce, but there is no evidence of bribes, or wired individuals. These are merely rumors. And if he goes down, who is next up in his place? That is the real question of the hour.
There is an irony when reading all these posts about an educational issue: Many of the posters do not know how to properly spell or proper English usage. What does that say about the state of education and the need for improvement?
Chris Kirby had a nervous breakdown in public the other night.
Nobody seems to care.
Those ERCSD parents have no limits imposed upon their viscousness. Jewish people grow up with anti-semitism. We know how to ignore it. For a gentile to sit at thay meeting and be the victim of such ceaseless hatred must be very disturbing for him. He should have a refua shelaima, and sue them for treating him as if he were a charedei.
By the way, this law firm is getting 650 per hour, not 250. The former law firm was being paid 150 per hour. Daniel Schwartz fired the former law firm of 15 years and brought in the new firm from 5Towns. Travel expenses back and forth from Long Island are 150 per hour. Your taxpayers’ dollars are paying these exorbitant rates. Now you will have to pay even more because more attorneys need to be hired to investigate the “c” word episode. Is it worth it? I would rather have the gelt be paid for new books and security staff. Wouldn’t you?
I live in the Monsey area, been here almost 4 years. I’ve had just about enough of the acrimonious politics here – and will be moving out. I see both sides of this story, but it’s staggering to me how little the representatives of the Jewish community as a group think or care about just how badly these and other power grabs and machinations damage the reputation and good name of Orthodox Jews around Metro NY. Goodbye, Monsey. It wasn’t nice knowing you.
There is not even one newspaper article that says anyone wore a wire and taped Christopher St. Lawrence. Not one. I will believe it when I see it. Not to say the guy isn’t a shady character and it is a shame the frummies in Monsey got in bed with him, so to speak. They should be embarrassed to be involved with the man, but I have not seen one article that says he was wired and I follow it closely. If I am wrong, prove it.
As a Monsey resident for over 20 Years. I can tell you that Monsey has become a chilul hashem producing machine. and most old time Monsey’ers will agree. It s embarrassing to be a Monsey resident today.
Its time to stop listening to all the machers and askonim and vote the way we understand best.
MONSEY LUKE. You are a voice of reason for our community. keep up the great work. You save us a lot of time answering the real Self hating jews.
No doubt the machers will tell us to vote for CSL in the next election. Should we? Who should we vote for? Who is against him running?
“Still no answer! Trivia: There’s a street in Spring Valley that has parts of it in 3 different Election Districts & 2 zip codes. What is it?”
This is from mayoral hopeful Town Councilman Friedman.
Yes, Mr. Friedman. Still no opine on your thoughts on last Tuesday’s events at ERCSD’s meeting. I guess electoral trivia trumps under served school children. Good job! Pander for your votes.
Hoping you enjoyed the weekend at the stadium you voted blindly on.
Luke.
Luke.
Mr. Friedman : Is one awaiting the decision of the Rebbis before one can opine on the horrific events of last Tuesday’s ERCSD meeting? Do tell. BTW, How is the financial statement for 2012 looking for the ballpark? Can’t wait to share in the success!
Luke.
Oh, and Mr. Friedman, you commented here before so we know you access the blog. So please give us a ERCSD update and a stadium financial update. How cool is that!
Luke.
So I guess we have the answer. Under served children don’t vote and Mr. Friedman’s constituency doesn’t include under served children. So sad !