Administrative Regulations gw Review Commission I commences- NY Codes Environments? Conservation Ethics and Guidance amateur P. - Governmental Employees Assembiyman 86?? District Judiciary cunl pr; Fiochiatd canny, Labor June 3,2016 Commissioner MaryEllen Elia New York State Education Department 89 Washington Avenue Albany, NY 12234 Dear Commissioner Elia: I am writing with regard to correspondence Attorney Dennis sent to your of?ce regarding the private school inSpections. Let me ?rst thank you, and your of?ce, for responding to the troubling lack of inspections of certain Rockland County private schools. I feel compelled to remind your of?ce of the steps you have taken since we ?rst started meeting about this matter. The law absolutely requires that all private schools conduct an annHal ?re safety inspection and ?le it with the State Education Department. As a result of a ?re, several years ago, we began to investigate and revealed that over 60 private schools in Rockland had not been inSpected. Worse, a large percentage of these 60+ schools had not inspected in the past three years, if ever. Fire safety inspections are not a super?uous government requirement. They are essential to ensuring that the structures children learn in every day are safe and appropriate. Subsequent to identifying the lack of inspections, your of?ce sent out a notice, statewide, to ensure that every private school was aware of this requirement. As a result of this notice numerous schools complied with the law. Unfortunately, some schools continued to ignore your notice. Your of?ce then sent out a second notice, again clearly stating the inspection requirement, and warning the schools that action would be taken if they ignored the law. Unfortunately, some schools continued to ignore this directive. Furthermore, your o?ce found speci?c evidence that an inspector signed off without noting any issues on schools with egregious violations. At this point, your of?ce took the necessary steps to protect the safety of Rockland County students. The County Fire Coordinator is speci?cally authorized by State Education Law to conduct these inspections and your of?ce directed him to do sol. 1 Education Law Section 80 7~a[3] [20(5) ALBANY OFFICE: Room 537, Legislative Office Building, Aihany. New York ?22.48 518455635, FAX: 518455-6561 DISTRECT OFFICE: 67? North. Main Street, Floor, New City, New ?dork 10513555 FAX: 8456341"? 091 k. my. ass - The clear and unequivocal fact here is that certain private schools in Rockland County have ignored your notices and the law. These schools are putting the safety of children at risk and the State of New York is taking appropriate action. Accusations by Mr. seek to create a lot of noise in order to obscure that fact that his clients have refused to follow a clear safety inSpection law. His unfounded accusations against the County Executive are not only without evidence, but are irrelevant. The County Executive is the chief executive of the County, and the County Fire Coordinator works for him. The press that covers Rockland County has seen some of the dangerous conditions in these schools over many years of reporting. They are interested in the fact that these schools continue to ignore the law. The fact that the County Executive held a press conference, in order to answer their consistent questions, is neither inappropriate not unprecedented. The County Executive stated that children could be taken out in body bags if a ?re were to transpire in a dangerous, un-inspected school. While this statement may be disturbing and uncomfortablewould depict the situation, it is unfortunately true. Furthermore, the County Executive suggesting that administrators could face penalties for refusal is hardly an outrageous statement. Penalties of course are decided by a Judge or an appropriate regulatory agency. Mr. and his clients could have avoided this entire scenario by following the law and facilitating an inspection. I understand that they have requested a meeting with your office. I am unsure what a meeting would produce. There should be no room for negotiation over the clear law that requires inspections. I request that your office continue to protect the safety of students in Rockland County and insist that the County Fire Coordinator conduct fire safety inspections of private schools that are violating the law. For those schools that refuse to be inspected, I believe your of?ce must look into withholding taxpayer funds and preventing these schools from operating. If our safety laws are to be respected, it is imperative that the law be enforced. Sicerely, Kenneth P. ZebrOwski Member of Assembly