As concerned Jewish citizens, we appeal to you to respond to the brewing crisis in Rockland County. Efforts to improve the situation from local politicians have not been successful, and now the children of East Ramapo are suffering with school closures, class cancellations, activity cancellations, high teacher to student ratios, and much more with no relief in sight. That is why we are calling for your direct and immediate involvement. We are encouraged that you recently took similar action in the troubled Yonkers school system. We hope that you will do the same here.

Why are Jews speaking up about this issue?

The Talmud teaches that: “The world endures only for the sake of the breath of school children.” It is in that spirit that the Jewish people have valued education so highly for thousands of years. Education is the key to a healthy, productive society, and to individual physical, emotional and spiritual flourishing.

That is why it is so upsetting to hear about the disruption of educational services to children in East Ramapo public schools.

Reasonable people will disagree about the underlying reasons for these problems. Whatever the underlying issues, it has become clear that the current structure is not serving the needs of Rockland County’s children. We are concerned that the civil right to an equal and proper education is possibly being denied to some of our fellow Americans.

Concurrently, an equally alarming trend is brewing. We are alarmed at rising rates of anti-Semitic incidents and sentiment in Rockland County. We believe that these incidents are stemming from misunderstanding and anger at the situation, primarily in the schools.

As Jews, we cannot stand idly by while children suffer and while anti-Semitic tensions rise. Especially when our Jewish community, with a supermajority of the school board, is so deeply involved in this matter.

We are deeply troubled by this whole situation, and believe the immediate state oversight is required to preserve the peace in Rockland County and to provide a fair education for the children in East Ramapo Central School district. We also hope that situations such as this do not arise in other school districts.

Therefore, we call on you to:

1) Authorize immediate fiscal and administrative oversight of the East Ramapo Central School District concerning expenditures, budgets and financial and administrative policies; and to

2) Implement a study to revise the structure, governance and financing of East Ramapo Central School District, and similar school districts, in order to ensure that public school students have access to basic educational opportunities and resources as stipulated in New York State’s Constitution.

We are encouraged that you have already taken similar action in the troubled Yonkers school system. We trust that you will do the same here.

With hopes of a bright future for all New York’s schoolchildren, and communities free from hatred and persecution, the undersigned.