Monsey

Five-year-old Hasidic girl in Monsey struck and killed by a Satmar school bus

Local activist Steve White said Ramapo school bus drivers often speed and use their phones while driving

Satmar school buses in Rockland County. Photo: Shtetl

By 

Lauren Hakimi

Feb 16, 2024 3:40 PM

A five-year-old Hasidic girl, identified by multiple outlets as Toba Ruchel Neuman, was struck and killed on Friday by a school bus driving her home from her Satmar school.

The girl had just been dropped off at her home in Spring Valley when the bus struck her, according to Yeshiva World News. Hamodia reported that Hatzolah members arrived within minutes, but could not save the girl’s life. 

In a press release, the Spring Valley Police Department said it traveled to the scene immediately after being notified at 11:15 a.m, and is investigating the matter.

The tragedy comes just weeks after eight-year-old Mordechai Pinchas Spitzer was struck and killed less than three miles away by a school bus right outside of his school, in the Hasidic village of New Square.

Steve White, a Ramapo resident who advocates for local public school students, said the two deaths — and many injuries that preceded them — are not a coincidence, but rather a result of years of poor choices by the East Ramapo Central School District, which contracts with private bus companies to transport public and private school students alike.

“I personally see these private bus companies whizzing through town at high rates of speed and cutting corners,” White told Shtetl. “I’ve seen a bunch of drivers on their cell phones while they’re driving the buses.”

White said the district should switch bus companies.

Clarence Ellis, the superintendent of the school district, was not immediately available to respond to White’s comments.