RAMAPO - A real estate appraiser has been charged with a felony in
the first criminal action to stem from the ongoing conflict over an
Orthodox-dominated school board in upstate New York.
Avi Vardi is charged with filing a false report in
connection with his 2010 appraisal of an elementary school owned by the East
Ramapo School District in Rockland County, the Journal News reported.
The reported on the conflict over the appraisal and
the attempted sale of the Hillcrest School in October 2010. Vardi valued the
property at $3.2 million, though an earlier appraisal found the property to be
worth $5.9 million.
Congregation Yeshiva Avir Yaakov bought the school for $3.1
million, though the commissioner of the New York State Education Department
later annulled the sale.
The East Ramapo School District includes the Orthodox and
ultra-Orthodox towns of Monsey and New Square. Climbing population and an
organized voting bloc have allowed the Orthodox community to win the majority
of seats on the school board, even though Orthodox students do not attend the
public schools.
Tension between the Orthodox and the large Haitian-American
and African-American communities in the area has been growing for at least four
years.
The charges against Varadi are the result of an ongoing
investigation by the office of the New York State Attorney General into the
district.
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