FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Yeshivas Agree to Fire Inspections

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2016
Contact: Jane Lerner, Director of Strategic Communications
Office of the County Executive (845) 638-5645

 

Yeshivas Agree to County Fire Inspections

NEW CITY, N.Y. –  Rockland County Executive Ed Day announced this afternoon that yeshivas in Ramapo and Spring Valley have agreed to be inspected by county fire inspectors.

“We received word through their attorney that these schools that initially refused to be inspected have acquiesced to our demands,” Day said.

Inspections will begin again at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Inspectors were not allowed to conduct inspections in any of the 13 schools that they visited today (Monday).

Lawyers for Rockland County were prepared to go to court to get warrants to enter the premises when the attorney representing an organization called the School Religious Freedom Coalition said the group had changed its mind.

“The real winners here are the children who will now be going to schools that are safe,” Day said.

The county will follow up on the results of the inspections to make sure that any violations are corrected.

“This victory shows that the rule of law will be applied to all in Rockland,” Day said. “No one is above the law.”

The county was empowered by the state Department of Education to conduct inspections at 49 schools, mostly yeshivas in Ramapo and Spring Valley, that either never filed required paperwork showing they had inspections or schools that were inspected by a Ramapo employee whose work was shown to be inaccurate.

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia provided Rockland with the list of schools and deputized the county to perform the inspections.

A team of current and former fire chiefs certified by the state to perform inspections will be doing the work.

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BLOCKBUSTING – Alive and Well in…

CHESTNUT RIDGE:

 

Block busting is alive and well in Chestnut Ridge. Someone stopped me while I was cutting my grass on Monday and asked if I wanted to sell my house. A van was slowly driving up and down my street this afternoon and I received this letter in the mail. Feeling a little pressured to move these days.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/134531280019582/?fref=nf

 

We are covering this topic because while “blockbusting” an illegal practice, social media has created loopholes in its enforcement. We recommend that you be diligent, warn you neighbors and say unequivocally, “NO.” when someone approaches.

We welcome personal experiences of our readership.

 

 

Politico on Eva’s Cancellation of Pre-K Program — Diane Ravitch’s blog

Here, in an article that is not behind a paywall, is an account of Eva Moskowitz’s first defeat in her battle with Mayor de Blasio. Success Academy has officially canceled its pre-kindergarten program for next year, after losing consecutive fights with City Hall and the State Education Department over a contract dispute. Success CEO Eva […]

via Politico on Eva’s Cancellation of Pre-K Program — Diane Ravitch’s blog

Montreal Protect Its Youth – Hasidic Yesiva Raided

 

CBS News Montreal

Illegal Hasidic school targeted in youth protection raid

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/batshaw-youth-protection-raid-petite-patrie-1.3610608

Raid comes as representatives from Batshaw youth services seek access to school

An illegal school in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough was the target of a youth protection operation on Wednesday, led by Batshaw Youth and Family Centres with the help of the Montreal police.

The school is operated by the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, apparently operating without an Education Ministry permit.

About 60 students attend the school, a three-storey brick building featuring a storefront with covered windows on Parc Avenue at the corner of Beaubien Street.

There was a heavy police presence at the school on Wednesday.

Dozens of Hasidic boys were seen exiting the school, using their hats to cover their faces.

• Outremont moves ahead with controversial ban on places of worship

Earlier, police escorted a group of a dozen women out of the school and to their cars. Some of them were holding folders, but neither they nor police would confirm if they were teachers in the school.

Negotiations for access to school

Youth protection officials had been attempting to arrange a visit to the school to assess the children and came with police Wednesday to gain access.

Officials from the school says they had been in negotiations with Batshaw about scheduling that visit when the raid occurred.

A community spokesperson told CBC the school never refused access to youth protection officials but could not say how long those negotiations had been going on.

Hershber Hirsch, a member of the school’s board, said the visit will take place “in the coming weeks.” He said the raid was not required.

“We are certainly not very happy with the trauma caused to the kids, which was not in any way necessary given our co-operation with the [youth services] up until now,” he said.

“We will surely continue to cooperate with them,” he said.

Continue reading: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/batshaw-youth-protection-raid-petite-patrie-1.3610608

Finally, Someone is looking out for the Children…

“State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has authorized Rockland to send fire inspectors into private schools to ensure conditions are safe for students, teachers and other personnel.”

 

With Senator Flanagan ignoring the plight of abused children (of any religious affiliation) and refusing to endorse the CVA in favor of protecting his voting base. With Flanagan’s decision to vote against installing a monitor with veto power into the East Ramapo School District, MaryEllen Elia should get something of a hero’s welcome for her creative and rational approach to solving problems within the East Ramapo Central School District. She is focusing on the code violations.

While it is not everything we would like to see happen, which would include inserting a monitor with veto power, demanding “substantially similar” education with enforceable parameters that are not overlooked or ignored and denying non-complying schools State funding, it is certainly a start. We remain cautiously optimistic.

 

Officials to announce game plan for inspections of private schools at news conference today at Fire Training Center

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2016/05/26/rockland-fire-inspectors-private-schools/84963542/

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has authorized Rockland to send fire inspectors into private schools to ensure conditions are safe for students, teachers and other personnel.

Plans to inspect dozens of schools will be announced today during a noon news conference by Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, and County Executive Ed Day. They will gather at the Rockland Fire Training Center.

 

Rockland officials have telegraphed their desire for a state order allowing massive inspections of schools. Zebrowski previously has said the state education commissioner has the authority to deputize inspectors in Rockland for the task.

Last month, Zebrowski and Day said during a news conference at the training center that the state was poised to take action to enforce fire and safety codes in Ramapo.

Both the Department of Education and the state Department of State’s Division of Building Standards and Codes have issued critical reports on fire and safety enforcement in Ramapo and Spring Valley. Both agencies have inspected buildings across the town as part of the reports.

To read further: http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2016/05/26/rockland-fire-inspectors-private-schools/84963542/

 

 

Video:

http://bcdownload.gannett.edgesuite.net/westchester-mobile/201604/153/37861007001_4847591792001_4847521408001.mp4

 

 

 

 

 

TACHLIS – NO VACCINES….

The Chicken Pox Outbreak May be the Result of the Ultra-Orthodox Propaganda Machine – Tachlis

Contributors – May 20, 2016

Tachlis is a word used in Hebrew and loosely translated into English which means to get down to the heart of the matter. It implies efficiency, getting to the point, avoiding flowery verbiage and leaving out unnecessary details. It does not imply honesty. You can use it even if you are lying or telling untruths, provided that you do so directly and to the point. The magazine “Tachlis” does just that, getting to the point [of the lies and propaganda] we mean. 

Admittedly, some of the recipes look interesting…

Thanks to one of our followers, we discovered that there is a concerted effort within the utlra-Orthodox community to convince parents to not vaccinate their children. Why? Because vaccinations cause autism, contain aluminum, are risky. You name the possibilities, they are included in the reasons to avoid these vaccinations.  For example, according to the magazine there may be aluminum in vaccines and the “Amount of alulminum recieved by fully faccinated eighteen month old babie: 5000 mcg” “Number of studies providing safety of injecting aluminum into human infants 0.” See page 67 of Tachlis (https://issuu.com/tachlismagazine/docs/issue__33)

It might be time for a voice of reason within the community to understand that it only takes one child to cause an epidemic in an unvaccinated population. It is just a matter of time before tragedy befalls. The chicken pox outbreak was more relevant than initially contemplated.

 

 

 

Senator John Flanagan, Why is the CVA Not Inalienable?

 

WHAT IF YOUR CHILDREN HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, WOULD YOU NOT WANT THEM TO BE ABLE TO PROSECUTE THOSE REPONSIBLE?

May 20, 2016

We have previously reported on what we view as the compromised moral compass of Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan. From where we sit, he undeniably puts his political career a mile ahead of the lives of children in New York. In East Ramapo he voted against a monitor with veto power, effectively destroying the lives of public school children, both religious and secular.  With his consistently floundering position on the Child Victims Act Senator Flanagan seems to be putting his political career ahead of victims of sexual assault.

We are left dumbfounded that he does not see the absolute necessity of removing the Statute of Limitation on childhood sexual abuse. The ultra-Orthodox communities of the Jews and Catholics alike, have a history of enshrouding sexual abuse in secrecy. They comprise the Senator’s largest electorate and they argue, amongst other things, that civil suits would shutter schools both Yeshivas and Churches; and removing the Statute of Limitations on prosecution would open the doors (kiss the Mezzuzah on your way out) to endless civil suits.

Senator Flanagan, are we to protect the organizations that allowed the abuse to continue, ignored it, covered it up or even fostered it over the permanently scarred lives of the childhood victims? We know. The bloc support you will lose if you agree to bring the CVA to a vote might cost you a career as a politician. Do you not realize that abused children will likely have nightmares every night for the rest of their lives? Do you not realize that their souls will be forever tortured?

We believe that if you refuse to bring the CVA to a vote and further fail to wholeheartedly support it you are a disgrace to your community, your constituents (which include the children who are abused) and your family.

Setting your political career aside, as a parent should you not want this vote to pass, if nothing more than to protect your own children and their children?  

 

From Facebook’s Clarkstown- What They dont Want You to Know: