August 23, 2009 As unlikely as it might sound, the man who is the director of the East Ramapo School District is paid more than Joel Klein, the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. In fact, Ira E. Oustatcher has a contract with the East Ramapo taxpayers that gives him almost $100,000 more per year than Arne Duncan. Duncan is the United States Secretary of Education. At more than a quarter-million a year, Oustatcher is paid more than the man running the largest city school system—and even more than the director of schools nationwide. So is he worth what homeowners are asked to ante up each year? On a number of levels, the answer, sadly, is no.

The contract that was given to Ira Oustatcher has to be read to be believed, so here’s a copy of the actual document. Print a copy to look through the next time you receive your school tax bill.

Here are the numbers in a nutshell:

The East Ramapo Board agrees to pay Ira Oustatcher--

$252,000 for years 2008-2009

$260,820 for years 2009-2010

$269,949 for years 2010-2011

$279,397 for years 2011-2012

$289,176 for years 2012-2013

"The Board agrees to provide health insurance benefits to the Superintendent and his spouse with the Board paying 100% of the total premium."

"The Board agrees to pay the Superintendent the sum of $1,000.00 during each year of this agreement which shall be used by him solely for the purchase of life insurance."

"Board of Education agrees to pay the Superintendent the sum of $300.00 a month as an allowance to cover expenses incurred by him for using his automobile while carrying out his responsibilities as Superintendent under the terms of this agreement."

"The Board shall pay the annual dues for membership by the Superintendent in professional organizations as provided by the School District’s budget."

Home, lunch, car, club, and insurance money. Not exactly an austerity package. And there are numerous other perks—see the rest of what your Board drew up in the pages of the document.

It only takes a few comparisons to show how out of line this agreement really is. In Ramapo, we have a Superintendent of Schools who makes more than the Governor of the State (Spitzer or Paterson). Here’s how our Superintendent compares with a few other public servants.

That’s not a mistake. East Ramapo’s Superintendent collects a larger salary than the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ($217,400) and the Vice President ($221,000).

When Oustatcher was asked about, or rather confronted by a parent concerning the size of the contract numbers, he smiled and explained, "I’m a good negotiator." Curiously, he didn’t say something like, I’m going to prove to you and the students in our schools that I am worth what I’m being paid. The first thing that came to mind was not the kids, not the schools, not the desperate need. Just a smile and, "I’m a good negotiator." Could be an indicator of the man’s focus.

But what about the Board? Why would they shovel this kind of money at an unproven candidate? In politics, you might have observed that big money purchases both gratitude and loyalty. It’s the golden rule of patronage. Is that part of what’s happening here?

In history, the problem with the notorious Star Chamber was, that as a court, the process degenerated into sessions held in secret, with no indictments, no right of appeal, no juries, and no witnesses.

Consider these recent proceedings in Ramapo.

In June of 2008, Superintendent Oustatcher formed a reorganization committee that excluded the community and consisted of district employees. This committee, under his leadership, rather than attempt to reverse years of decreasing enrollment, or even ask why parents were avoiding the district, it instead, chose only to consider closing a school—or perhaps several schools. Those working on the committee to investigate the school closing(s) were bound by formal non-disclosure agreements that prevented real public dialogue. They were to talk to no one outside their group.

Superintendent Oustatcher refused to honor a FOIL request for information about this committee. He held hearings in which hundreds attended, ostensibly to have a dialogue with the public, but he ignored the public input.

Residents have also charged that the Superintendent has illegally tried to prevent employees from speaking at BOE meetings.

In the most recent major move by the Board, the group terminated a decade-old contract with Child Care Resources, replacing the agency with a consultant. The Journal News reported on the move. "Schools Superintendent Ira Oustatcher said the decision to cancel the contract with the countywide organization was made by the board and was an ‘issue that we have no public comment regarding.’"

"Jane Brown, executive director of Child Care Resources, said she did not know why the district chose not to retain the organization to administer a program that it set up 12 years ago and has overseen for East Ramapo since then. The organization also has overseen the state program for most of the county's other public schools since the program expanded to every district several years ago, she said."

"Brown said the district didn't explain its decision."

"The board meeting before the one that I spoke at, they just discussed it in executive session," she said. "I have a staff member who's a parent, and ... she called me and told me they voted to terminate our contract. I called the superintendent the next day and said, ‘Why?' and he said the board has their reasons."

The Board has their reasons, but you’re not going to hear them. The Superintendent has closed the issue as one about which "we have no public comment." Is this the response of a "dutiful spouse of the board" that the parent recently warned against?

Child Care Resources will be replaced by Arnie Warmbrand who has worked as a pre-kindergarten teacher at several yeshivas. The Board approved his pay at $473.94 per day from Aug. 6 through Dec. 1, not to exceed $100,000. He will be receiving a New York State pension at the same time.

The last two Ramapo Board of Education elections were anything but models of democracy. In each election there were stealth candidates who refused to meet with The Journal News editorial board, refused to be photographed or to provide basic information to the press or the voters, and were ultimately voted in by an autonomous bloc.

The first time this happened, I called Dr. Oustatcher and complained that it should not be tolerated. The voters at least had a right to know who the candidates were. In addition, the ER Administration should know whether any of the candidates were vendors supplying the school system, or worse, people with criminal records. He sympathized with me and even mused on his background in Civics going back to the time when he was a teacher. Well, that was apparently long enough ago that he had seemed to have lost sight of the principles that make the system work. The old Social Studies teacher in him was silent in that first election, and when the same disgraceful process was recreated for the second consecutive election, he again had no public comment or proposed solution. He either didn’t care, or he was keeping his mouth shut as was expected of him.

And there are other issues that go beyond this Board and Supervisor’s comfort level with secrecy. One that I found especially troubling had to do with building security at Ramapo H.S.

For a number of years, teachers in Ramapo High had been instructed to lock the classroom door at the beginning of each class. Part of the reason was to create interior security in the building to prevent a Columbine-like incident. It also served to cut down on kids wandering in late. The classroom doors in the school are sturdy with narrow windows and are reasonably secure.

Mr. Oustatcher recently sent instructions to the school that all classroom doors were to remain unlocked during class sessions so that he would not be inconvenienced fumbling with keys as he wandered the building when he came to visit. Several teachers complained to the union, but apparently Mr. Oustatcher’s convenience prevailed over the security concerns. Another insight into the man’s focus.

East Ramapo School District has a Superintendent who will receive one million, three hundred fifty-one thousand, three hundred forty-two taxpayer dollars ($1,351,342) over the five years of his contract. So far, Mr. Oustatcher has shut the public out of a process that ended up closing the Colton School. He has contributed his silence to two of the most undemocratic elections in recent Ramapo history. Neither he nor the Board has felt any need to include or even explain to the public why an agency (CCR) that has served the district for 12 years was terminated. For that matter, they felt no obligation to even explain it to CCR.

The public school board is now stacked with members whose focus seems more directed to the private school systems, and the Superintendent—well, his focus seems clear as well.

Michael Castelluccio