Darcy Castellaro, former legislative staffer, urges support for East Ramapo schools and Hudson River safety

Darcy Castellaro, a Nyack resident and former chief of staff to Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffe, spoke during the meeting’s public-comment period about her career in education and environmental advocacy and urged officials to maintain funding and oversight for East Ramapo Central School District (Spring Valley) and to support safe storage of radioactive waste from the Indian Point nuclear plant.

Castellaro recounted that she graduated from New York University, studied theater at the Yale School of Drama and earned a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. She summarized a varied career that included teaching drama in Newark and Park Ridge, New Jersey, work in Westchester County performing-arts programs, and positions in legislative and advocacy settings.

Castellaro described her environmental work with Riverkeeper, an organization that advocates for protection of the Hudson River, and said she has continued to press for safe storage of radioactive materials after Indian Point’s shutdown. She also said she worked in media early in her career on the MacNeil/Lehrer Report and later with MoveOn as an organizer during the February 2004 Ohio presidential campaign.

On education issues, Castellaro said she helped secure approval of what she called the “Greenberg report,” which she said led to monitors being placed in East Ramapo schools; she characterized that work as part of efforts to ensure district funding serves public schools. She said that while retired, she continues to advocate for East Ramapo students and staff and believes “every student deserves a good education” and that districts need sufficient funding for teachers, principals and support staff.

Castellaro also described service on the board of the Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center, work on local zoning and flood-study efforts in Clarkstown, and involvement in after-school and summer-program funding. She noted personal details—she lives in Nyack, is married and has two grown children and five grandchildren—and closed by reiterating her request that officials sustain oversight and funding for schools and support safe environmental practices along the Hudson River.

The remarks occurred during public comment and did not include a formal motion or vote by the governing body on the items Castellaro raised.