Kiryas Joel: 3 of 9 lives gone so far   Print this Page Top Stories Kiryas Joel: 3 of 9 lives gone so far (10/18/99) Attempts to retain a special school district created for the residents of the Village of Kiryas Joel probably will continue despite an Oct. 12 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear an appeal of a state court decision that found the means used to create the district unconstitutional. The district can continue to operate because certain procedural steps must be completed before the high court's decision goes into effect, according to Jay Worona, NYSSBA General Counsel. And in August, before the high court's decision, the state Legislature signaled its unflagging determination to maintain the district. Lawmakers passed a new bill targeted at preserving Kiryas Joel that Governor George E. Pataki promptly signed it into law. "Theoretically this law (Section 83 of Chapter 405 of the Laws of 1999) would provide a means for the Kiryas Joel district to be reconstituted a fourth time," said Worona, who has guided NYSSBA's legal battle since it began in 1990. "We are not sure it would apply to Kiryas Joel, nor are we sure it is constitutional," he said. Asked by reporters if NYSSBA would sue if it determines the latest bill does not meet constitutional standards, Worona replied, "There is a good chance. Our board of directors is very wary of any type of legislation that places government in the position of religiously segregating children in the context of our public education system." The law allows a municipality with a population of 10,000 to 125,000 to secede from a pre-existing district as long as the latter would retain an enrollment of at least 1,000 children. The legislation also sets out certain procedural requirements and specifies that the reorganization must be approved by either a majority vote of the municipality's residents or a two-thirds vote of the locality's governing body. In order for Kiryas Joel to take advantage of the new law, its school board must petition the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District, in which Kiryas Joel lies. Approval could come with a majority vote of the residents of the Monroe-Woodbury school district or a two-thirds vote of the Monroe-Woodbury school board. The Kiryas Joel School Board has already voted to petition Monroe-Woodbury. The governor's office estimates that 29 communities would qualify for special school districts under the new law. The Assembly places the number at 25. While NYSSBA is still analyzing the law's constitutionality, Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer has criticized the measure for its potential to splinter communities along racial, economic or religious lines. The Kiryas Joel school district was originally formed in 1989 to accommodate the Hasidic community's preference for having its disabled children educated apart from non-Hasidic children. NYSSBA sued, alleging a violation of church-state separation requirements of the U.S. Constitution. A succession of state courts and, ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court, agreed. A second attempt by the legislature to re-create the district also was rejected by the courts. The third version of legislation authorizing the district met a similar fate, when the high court declined on Oct. 12 to hear an appeal of the state court ruling. Four of the nine justices must agree to take a case, but only Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor favored hearing the appeal.

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