August 28, 2013
Dear Governor Cuomo:
Today marks 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the public school children in the East Ramapo Central School District in Rockland County, New York are not living the dream that Dr. King envisioned.
I resided in the East Ramapo district from 1995 to 2003. After my first daughter was born in 2001, it was clear that a religious segment intended on seizing control of the public school system so I moved to the adjacent school district of Clarkstown. However, I have refused to sit idly by while my neighbors and friends in East Ramapo have education stolen from their children.
The demographics of East Ramapo are unique. Two out of three children in the district attend non-public schools, most going to yeshivas. The 8,300 students that do go to the East Ramapo public schools are:
Asian 7%
Black 52%
Hispanic 33%
White 7%
(Data from New York State Board of Education)
Governor, I know you are aware of the inconceivable actions of the East Ramapo Board of Education, led by President Yehuda Weissmandl. The Board doesn’t want transparency and accountability. The Board has a newsletter printed for private school parents but not one for public school parents. At Board meetings, the public can only speak after the Board returns from intentionally lengthy executive sessions, which has sometimes lasted hours. They force angry members of the public to “wait it out.”
School starts in one week, Governor. The public parents aren’t part of a bloc vote. Some are single parents. Some are foster parents. Some are parents who entered this country illegally. Many parents aren’t registered to vote. Many parents aren’t eligible to vote. Votes should not matter. We have a crisis on our hands and as Governor of the great state of New York I implore you to intervene in the district immediately. As a white man, like myself, I ask you to intervene on behalf of the less fortunate Asian, Black and Hispanic children of East Ramapo.
The “I Have a Dream” speech was Dr. King’s call to end racism in the United States. Governor, racism…segregation…civil rights violations…it’s all happening in East Ramapo FIFTY YEARS after Dr. King spoke his immortal words. Now that the school board has taken away ART & MUSIC from the elementary school children, they are also denying children creativity and free thought.
NOW is the time, Governor. Please, help the beautiful girls and boys in the public school children of East Ramapo. May Dr. King’s words, spoken on that glorious day 50 years ago, inspire you to action:
“We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of NOW. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. NOW is the time to make real the promise of democracy. NOW is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. NOW it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. NOW is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.”
In Peace,
Robert Ward Kurkela
Clarkstown Parents to Save our Schools
