By Kim Anderson, Reporter
East Ramapo Board of Education member Sabrina Charles-Pierre is raising new concerns about budget transparency, administrative turnover, and the effectiveness of New York State oversight in the East Ramapo Central School District, according to her appearance on the latest episode of the Bare Wires podcast hosted by Brion Hayman.
Charles-Pierre, a Spring Valley native and East Ramapo graduate, described herself as deeply rooted in the district. She said she attended East Ramapo schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, has one child currently in the district, and another who graduated from it. She said watching the district’s decline over the years pushed her to serve and advocate for students. Currently, she serves as:
- President of the Rockland County School Boards Association
- Vice-President of Rockland BOCES
- Trustee of the East Ramapo Central School District
- Current Member (at Large) – National Haitian American Elected Officials Network
Bare Wires Podcast Lays the Story Bare
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The interview focused heavily on East Ramapo’s long-running struggle over public school resources, in a district where Charles-Pierre said approximately 10,000 students attend public schools and about 30,000 attend private schools. She also described the nine-member board as divided between three members from the general community and six from the private-school community.
Charles-Pierre did not allege that she personally knew of a mechanism being used to move money from public schools into private schools. When Hayman asked whether there was another way money could be manipulated to “leave the public school and go to these private schools,” she answered, “Not that I know of. If there is a ”way’, I don’t know the way.”
Her sharper criticism centered on district administration and budget presentation. Around the 30-minute mark, Charles-Pierre said she questioned a recent budget presentation from the district’s director of business and interim superintendent. She said one item allocated $700,000 for a “high school support system,” but when she asked what that meant and requested a breakdown, officials were unable to provide one.
She said public funds should be explained in detail and, when they cannot be explained, should be reconsidered or repurposed.
Watch the full podcast here:
Charles-Pierre also said East Ramapo students were still without after-school programs in April, despite the need for those services.
She placed responsibility for that issue with the interim superintendent, cabinet, curriculum and instruction officials, or whoever was charged with implementing the programs, rather than the board itself.
In the interview, she framed the issue as more than a simple board split. While Hayman repeatedly pressed the idea that public school resources may be affected by the district’s large private-school population, Charles-Pierre said that, during her recent years on the board, the problem she has observed has been “a very administrative issue.” When asked whether that administrative dysfunction was “by design,” she responded, “I think so,” while also saying she could not speak to what happened behind the scenes before she joined the board.
Charles-Pierre pointed to instability in leadership as a major barrier. She said the district has lacked consistency, with changes in superintendent leadership and cabinet turnover. She said that after one superintendent’s contract was not renewed, the “entire cabinet resigned or retired,” forcing a later interim superintendent to rebuild a cabinet team. She said the repeated leadership changes leave the district “starting from scratch again” when trying to address known problems.
She also discussed claims made by a New York State monitor about the district’s financial condition. According to Charles-Pierre, the board was told the district would not be able to meet payroll or open schools in September. She said figures presented in public discussion shifted from approximately $90 million to $30 million to $70 million, and that she had asked for an exact number. She said the warning came from a New York State monitor, who later resigned in June.
New York State: Complicit Partners or Incompetent Fools
The state’s role was a recurring theme. Charles-Pierre said East Ramapo currently has two New York State monitors and has had more than ten monitors come through during her roughly 11 years on the board. She said the district’s continuing struggles make her question “the goal” of the state for East Ramapo.
Later in the interview, Charles-Pierre said she recently told the state education commissioner that while she understands the district needs monitors, she does not believe the monitors currently in place are producing meaningful change. She said she feels they are not listening and added that she believes they “may have their own personal agenda” that is “not to benefit our students or our district.”
Charles-Pierre also raised concerns over changes made after a budget is presented to voters and the board. She said the current year’s budget included funding to hire 12 deans, but the district has “no deans.” Instead, she said, the district moved toward “instructional coordinators,” which she said officials described as a different term for deans. Charles-Pierre said such changes should be communicated clearly to both the board and the community.
A Dystopian Result: Seemingly Inevitable
Despite her criticism, Charles-Pierre did not present a definitive solution. When asked what generally could be done to prevent public school students from losing resources or being caught in instability, she said she was not sure. She recalled asking a commissioner’s representative years earlier what the solution was, and said the response she received was that if there were a solution, they would not be having the conversation.
The interview ended with Charles-Pierre emphasizing the same theme she returned to throughout the discussion: public school students need services, stability, transparency, and adults in positions of authority who will follow through.
The podcast, nor Charles-Pierre’s account of some details of this ongoing issue, did not definitively prove diversion of funds to private schools, but it did place renewed scrutiny on East Ramapo’s budget process, administrative decision-making, and New York State’s oversight of one of Rockland County’s most closely watched school districts.
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