A look back
By RANDI WEINER
rweiner@thejournalnews.comTHE JOURNAL NEWS
What's next
Friedman leaves on Jan. 13. Board of Education members Steven Price, Dr. Susan Gordon and Richard Stone were appointed last week as an executive search committee to seek a replacement.
(Original publication: July 11, 2005)
SPRING VALLEY — Jason Friedman walked into his office one recent afternoon, uncharacteristically informal in shirtsleeves and with an easy smile on his face.
In six months, he'll leave the superintendency of East Ramapo schools, a job he's held for eight years. He told the Board of Education on Tuesday that he would be gone by Jan. 13, and the decision rests well with him, he said.
"I went to high school graduation this year and I knew it was my last graduation," the 59-year-old Friedman said. "To have some of the kids come up to me and hug me just gave me a warm feeling. I really knew them by name and by face, I knew their families, I knew that they succeeded and the obstacles they had to overcome, what's gone into their successes on the part of the staff — it was just a great feeling."
Friedman has been praised and reviled for his leadership of Rockland's most diverse district:
He's been involved in past contentious teacher contract negotiations but won easy agreement for a teacher contract extension earlier this year that got praise from the rank and file.
He's seen half the budgets he's created defeated at the polls but then pass on a second try.
He's championed staff and school programs in the face of poor state standardized test scores while lengthening the school day, changing curriculum and overseeing reorganizations of school programs at all levels.
"Jason Friedman made sure our students were always a priority. He never backed down from a challenge. In fact, I feel he's had the toughest job in the county because of the unique diversity of our community," said Eti Znamirowski-LeMoullec. "He's gotten our district through tough times. As a parent who has sent four students through this district, I cherish his strong commitment to children. As a PTA Council president, I respect his professionalism. The district will speak kindly of him for years to come."
A graduate of Yeshiva University's Ferkauf Graduate School, he's found his greatest critics among the religious Jewish residents of the district.
He's won the special ire of Kalman Weber, who heads the Southeast Ramapo Taxpayers Association and takes credit for the budget defeats and the election of school board candidates who have stronger ties to the private-school community.
"I cannot comment on Jason Friedman leaving the district because I don't know Jason Friedman," Weber said, explaining he has never been invited for private discussions before budget time as a way to court the private-school community's vote. He long has contended that Friedman misleads the public about the cost of education and creates budgets that cut programs that benefit private-school children, charges Friedman has just as consistently denied.
"I hope that the school board will appoint a (new) superintendent who is an experienced educator and not a manipulator," Weber said Friday.
Friedman shrugs his shoulders over the personal attacks he's weathered.
"I've chosen to ignore it; I've chosen to know myself, what I am, who I am; I know my strengths, I know my limits and frailties," he said. "I think it's the body of work that's important. I'm leaving on very good terms. I'm leaving happy and thinking that I have been able to contribute in some way to the success of our kids, and I hope the community feels the same way."
Friedman became a teacher in the mid-1960s. He found that education filled a need to serve the community and make a difference, especially in children's lives, he said.
He became an administrator after only three years of teaching, when he was named an assistant principal at P.S. 182, Community School District No. 19 in Brooklyn. The work gave him a chance to expand a talent to motivate people and help more children, he said.
"Administrators back then tended to be very paternalistic. I became an administrator when I was 24 or 25 years old and I thought there was a different way to do that work, to do it through professional relationships, collegiate contacts and working toward the greater good through problem-solving," he said. "New York City back in the late '60s, early '70s — we were all in our early 20s and there was this great energy."
He was courted by East Ramapo schools and joined the district in 1976 as supervisor of compensatory education. He and his wife moved into the district, raised their two sons there and continue to live within district borders. Friedman's wife, a teacher, retired from Nyack schools two years ago.
The greatest change he's seen in nearly 40 years of education has been in how districts treat children of diverse backgrounds and abilities. Forty years ago, the watchword was opportunity, he said — giving all children the opportunity to have a good education.
"Opportunity is not the issue anymore," he said. "It's about acknowledging achievement for all kids. I'm seeing that energy again over these last years in teachers and administrators and our community of educational support staff. People are looking to solve problems, get answers to 'how do we do this better?' "
He had high praise for staff, from the custodians who keep the buildings in reasonable repair despite years of budget cutbacks to the people who have managed the district's intricately interwoven transportation needs, getting more than 25,000 children each day to more than 100 schools.
Friedman sees the district as still in the throes of learning how to get along, especially the private-school and public-school communities.
"We have had some modest success," he said. "It's not where I would like it to be. I would like it to be where we could join together. I'm hopeful that this is a year where that could be done."
For the near future, Friedman has no plans. He turned down a job two years ago in a New Jersey district and one in Connecticut earlier this year, he said. After three decades, he wants a break from school administration.
Two of his close friends died within two years of retiring, a message he heard loud and clear, he said. He wants to enjoy his family, his two dogs and his options while he can.
Friedman said he may find his way into foundation work, approaching education from another standpoint. He may write.
"People were great to me here. I've been treated well. I've been given an opportunity to grow and to learn and to exercise my creativity," Friedman said. "I will forever be in debt to this district, which has allowed me to fulfill my life's work."