Chaos, confusion, and sheer incompetence — that’s what parents and school administrators told Monsey Scoop the East Ramapo Central School District has once again delivered when it comes to busing private school children.
On Wednesday afternoon, the district blasted out a last-minute email summoning principals and administrators to an “emergency meeting” Thursday afternoon. By the time 30 to 40 school representatives gathered, the message from East Ramapo officials was jaw-dropping: the student data they had collected had been “corrupted,” and every school would now need to resubmit full lists of every child’s name, address, and contact information from scratch.
“They looked us in the eye and basically said everything we gave them is garbage and we need to start all over again,” one administrator told Monsey Scoop. “If this is how they’re starting the school year, how in the world are we supposed to believe it’s going to get any better in October or November?”
What makes the situation even more outrageous is that East Ramapo admitted they noticed problems with the new system back in June. “It’s now September 11th,” one furious school leader told Monsey Scoop. “What did they do all summer? Nothing. And now they’re suddenly saying they’re bringing in a consultant to figure it out? Where was this urgency three months ago?”
Meanwhile, the damage is everywhere. Students are left stranded without bus passes, buses are showing up long after school starts, and routes are so nonsensical that even siblings are being split up. One parent told Monsey Scoop, “My twins are going to the exact same school, they start and finish at the same time, and somehow they were assigned to two different buses. It’s beyond ridiculous — it’s insulting.”
Administrators said the scope of the breakdown is staggering. At one major yeshiva, more than 300 children are missing from the transportation roster. Other schools report that up to one-third of their students aren’t even in the system. “We literally have kids sitting on curbs waiting for buses that never come,” another administrator told Monsey Scoop. “Parents are missing work, children are missing class, and the district sits there shrugging. This is gross negligence.”
The frustration is compounded by the near impossibility of reaching anyone at the district’s transportation office. Parents complain of waiting hours on hold, and schools say they face the same problem. “We’re representing hundreds of kids and we’re stuck waiting on the phone for four hours like everyone else,” a school leader told Monsey Scoop. “We need a direct line, a real contact. Right now it’s like screaming into a black hole.”
Suggestions at the meeting — such as creating a simple ticketing system to track problems until they’re fixed — were brushed off. Instead, officials offered vague reassurances that if schools resubmitted their data, “things would hopefully improve.” Parents and administrators left the room unconvinced.
For families across Monsey and beyond, this circus is nothing new — it’s a recurring nightmare. “Every single September it’s the same disaster,” a parent told Monsey Scoop. “They tell us it will be better, and every year it gets worse. It’s not just incompetence anymore — it’s a total failure of responsibility. Enough is enough.”
Monsey Scoop will continue to monitor this situation closely, update the community with every development, and demand accountability. This must change — enough is enough.
(Names of parents and school administrators quoted in this article are being withheld so they don’t face issues with the district.)
Welcome to the “east Ramapo school district ” where they don’t give a Damn…
.
We pay such ridiculously high school.taxes, the only thing we get is the transportation, as we are not using the public schools, if its so dysfunctional , and has been for years, then lower our taxes and we will carpool like other communities.
The issue goes much deeper, when school started parents were told to contact the assigned bus company that was taking the kids to/from school, while some of the companies didn’t bother helping the parents, one company out there actually tried to help to add kids to the busses but then got heat from district officials for doing that, and they ended up taking those kids off the routes.
What a shame, and the board members (Most of them) are no where to be found.
East Ramapo budget is financed by school taxes where 90% of the taxpayers don’t avail themselves of a public school education. How can they not even handle budding?
Time to make a community wide message we ALL show up to register in public school Erev Yom Kippur. By Isru CHAG Sukkos bus issues will miraculously be figured out. I plan on emailed Senator Gillibrand about this.
East Ramapo is a failure of a district. The only things they provide to the majority of their taxpayer base are bussing and special education, yet these are the only two part of the budget that they cut funds to for this school year. The public school parking lots have been repaved, their playgrounds and classrooms have been redone, and our students are stuck waiting for busses and therapists that don’t come. What a shame. What a failure.
And they will have the chutzpa to beg us for a tax increase later this year
We all pay taxes and are entitled to the public school system. If every single yeshiva student signed up for public school at once, I’m willing the bet the bussing will be figured out within a few days.
It’s time the Monsey community collectively gathers for a protest at the East Ramapo building!
ענדליך מאנסי סקופ טיט עפעס וואס די ציבור דארף!!
קיפ איט אפ!!!
לאמיר איבערדרייען ביז זאכן טוישן זיך!!
I live in Monsey 51 years. 40 years ago we saw this coming.I suggested then, when the community was a fraction of what it is now register your child in public school. They don’t want our children. See how fast you’ll get want you want and need.