State Department of Education withdraws request for reinspection of some Hudson Valley schools
<p>Rockland County Executive Ed Day is demanding that reinspections be conducted at all schools slated to be checked after a Ramapo town fire inspector was accused of missing hazardous conditions.</p>
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Jun 8, 2016, 4:57 PM
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Updated 2,970 days ago
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Rockland County Executive Ed Day is demanding that reinspections be conducted at all schools slated to be checked after a Ramapo town fire inspector was accused of missing hazardous conditions.
The state Education Department had initially ordered the county to conduct immediate safety checks of 49 private schools, but has since withdrawn requests for 26 of them.
“You can't turn around on May 18 and say we don't trust the Town of Ramapo to do fire inspections, and then less than two weeks later say we accept them,” says Day.
Dennis Lynch, a lawyer who represents the yeshivas, claims that the schools were taken off the list because they made the grade with local inspectors.
Lynch has accused Day of grandstanding for political gain, which Day vehemently denies.
The county still has to inspect 23 other private schools. Ten have been completed in the last week.
While inspectors did discover worrisome conditions at several yeshivas, some schools passed.
The state Department of Education did not return News 12’s calls for comment as to why it withdrew some of the requests.
