Thanks Rev. Richardson for getting Black People to support Separatist Astorino

According to Webster’s dictionary a Separatist is one who is an advocate for racial or cultural separation. Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino has refused to adopt any legislation that will ban discrimination against residents who pay their rent with government vouchers. The Astorino administration has not strategized how to eliminate local zoning laws that make it impossible for some Black and Latino families to find housing in the county. The media has now reported that the county was notified that it would lose $5.2 million in federal community development grants from 2012 if it didn't reverse its long-standing contention that local zoning is not an obstacle to diversifying Westchester communities. An analysis of local zoning is a requirement of the settlement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Astorino’s response was, " the $5.2 million, or any amount of money, wasn't worth giving up local control over zoning.” In essence, the Astorino Administration has promoted and are willing to maintain a Separatist mentality in our county and no amount of lost money in governmental grants will changed his mind. Unfortunately, Astorino’s opposition to HUD or supporting a segregated Westchester didn’t stop Rev. Richardson a resident of Scarsdale or many other black pastors in Westchester from supporting him this last election. According to news reports, Richardson’s reason why he supported Astorino  wasn’t social justice or equity in government or even fiscal responsibility. He noted that Astorino had made available $45,000 for Grace Freedom School (Taxpayer money) Now that Astroino has been reelected as County Executive and has basically abandoned his post to campaign for Governor. The Democrats of Westchester with no direction from party boss Reggie Lafayette have no game plan to hold Cuomo to a win in Westchester in November. The Westchester Democratic Party who has executed one of the most embarrassing campaigns and loss with Noam Bramson by losing many of the so-called influential black vote now call on Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network to go on attack. Unfortunately, there is a little flaw in their strategy. A little talked about fact is that Rev. Richardson is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Al Sharpton National Action Network.

Rev. Richardson was conveniently  absent when Al Sharpton first called out Astorino at Grace Baptist Church. He was also absent at the recent press conference. Rev. Richardson has never had any problem standing with Sharpton in the past.

What Al Sharpton and Rev. Richardson are doing is sending mix messages to the Westchester community, Westchester County Democrats, the black community and the Westchester membership of the National Action Network. How can your Chairman support Astorino and months later Al Sharpton condemn him? If the Democratic Party really wants the Westchester Community and the black community to really think that they are sincere and not just another political ploy. Next time have Rev. Richardson and Al Sharpton stand together and condemn Astorino and then we might think the Democratic Party is really serious and not just another photo op! As  Democrats, we are opposed to any win by Rob Astorino and he should be held accountable for failing to abide by the housing settlement.  As Independent Democrats we demand our Democratic leadership to stop sending confusing messages that only discourage the masses of Democrats from participating in the process of elections.

Thanks Al Sharpton for the HUD support but what about our Black men being killed by Police in Westchester???

Thanks Al Sharpton for the HUD support but what about our Black men being killed by Police in Westchester???

It has been reported today that Rev. Al Shaprton was in Westchester to protest  the lack of the Westchester County govermet in settling the HUD agreement. As  Democrats, we do believe in dismantling the county's pattern of segregated housing in Westchester. As Independent Democrats, we question the the motive and reason on why Rev. Al Shaprton will come to Westchester now? It is well known in the grassroots circles within Westchester that Rev. Sharpton has been asked repeatedly to come to Westchester County by families of victims of police shootings to address the many unjust killings of Black men by the hands of law enforcement in Westchester. To this date Rev. Shaprton and his National Action Network has yet to have one march, one rally or protest to demand "No Justice- No Peace" in support of the families of the victims. For Rev. Sharpton to stand with many Democrats that are co-conspirators of failed police and use of force legislation is political hypocrisy at best. If we are going to ask for Justice, fairness and morality. It is incumbent on us as leaders to have the courage to demand it at all levels and not pick and chose are battles for political reasons. We hope the next time that Rev. Sharpton is asked to speak in Westchester he will address the need for accountability of our Justice System for the many victims and their families in Westchester County who are saying in their own way "No Justice No Peace".

The Three Kings That Are Responsible For Turning Mount Vernon Students Into Prison Inmates

Helena Mattis 

The Three Kings That Are Responsible For Turning Mount Vernon Students Into Prison Inmates

Dr. Reverend W. Franklyn Richard, as President of the United Black Clergy, Reginald (Reggie) LaFayette, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Mount Vernon and Mayor Ernest (Ernie) Davis, Mayor of the City of Mount Vernon

In a 6-2 ruling, yesterday, April 22th, the Supreme Court made it crystal clear that RACE will not be given consideration in admissions at the state universities in Michigan.  The trend against Affirmative Action in college admissions has been gaining ground for quite some time now.  States like Florida and California have already banned Affirmative Action in college admissions and they have experienced a significant drop in enrollment of Hispanics and Black students.  No doubt, this trend is going to continue and a number of other states, including New York, will eventually follow suit.

For those who believe that New York is too liberal a state to change, they ought to take a note that California, one of the most liberal states, has had this ban on Affirmative Action before the State of Michigan.  The implementation of Common Core in all States will make it very easy for Affirmative Action to be banned in every State.  Common Core provides the basis for a national and international standard to educate children so that they can compete with the best.  The children are taught how to think and support their arguments. Some opponents feel that the measures are too difficult for certain districts that have “special issues” and that those children are going to be left behind.  However, the trend is clear, that merit, rather than skin color will be the measure for admissions into the best schools and ultimately obtaining the best jobs.

School districts like Mount Vernon, which is 75 percent Black, will have to start thinking “outside of the box” to find solutions to the problems that are preventing it from competing on the same level with students in other districts like Scarsdale, Bronxville, Pelham, Yonkers and New Rochelle. It currently cost about $30,000 to educate a child in Mount Vernon.  The cost to educate a child in Yonkers and New Rochelle is about $22,000 and to educate a child at a private Catholic school is even cheaper.  At Good Counsel Academy Catholic School in White Plains the cost is a mere $8,000.  All of these schools with cheaper cost have been experiencing a much better success rate in educating children.  Therefore, the problem in Mount Vernon is not a lack of money.  It has to be something else. 

After Mayor Ernest Davis was elected to office in 1995, there was an objective for the Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy, which at the time was headed by Dr. Reverend W. Franklyn Richardson, to gain control of the school district.  These two bosom buddies formed a coalition called CEPAA.  CEPAA means Coalition for Empowerment of People of African Ancestry.  From the name, the idea is that the organization’s focus was to EMPOWER people of African Ancestry.  How can you argue with that?  Everyone who is alive today, unless they have been living under a rock somewhere, knows the history of slavery and how it has adversely affected Black people in America.  Black people have not been empowered because of racial discrimination and other forms of racism that has held us back.  Therefore, the objective to empower people of African ancestry is an exceptionally great one, so you would think, right?

Well, the question that got lost in our excitement for empowerment is, which people of African Ancestry are supposed to be empowered?  Is it all people or just a handful of people?  Well to answer this question, let us look at the historical facts.  About the late 1990s, CEPAA gained control of the school board.  The rulers of the Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy took over control of the Mount Vernon School District. The three kings of Mount Vernon:  Dr. Reverend W. Franklyn Richard, as President of the United Black Clergy, Mayor Ernest (Ernie) Davis, Mayor of the City of Mount Vernon and Reginald (Reggie) LaFayette, Chairman of the Democratic Party in Mount Vernon became empowered. The Board of Education and the Mount Vernon School District were stacked with individuals who owed allegiance to these three empowered Kings. For example, on The School Board, Mayor Ernie Davis had very close relatives in his sister-in-law, Frances Wynn and his brother-in-law, Gerald Coleman (whose wife Helen Coleman is the sister of Frances Wynn and the Mayor’s wife, Bettye Davis).  Dr. Reverend W. Franklyn Richards had several of his fellow ministers or clergies that were members of the United Black Clergy and Reginald LaFayette had warriors like Gloria Coleman and others.

Under the control of these three kings, The Mount Vernon School District has experienced a rapid and continuous decrease in students’ performance and a rapid and a continuous increase in the budget, which the poor, overburdened taxpayers of Mount Vernon have had to pay.  When CEPAA wanted control of the schools in Mount Vernon, its main argument was that the majority of students who are of African ancestry were failing due to racism.  They alleged that the Italian Civic Organization (ICA), which at the time controlled the school system was racist in that the schools on the north side of Mount Vernon, which they claimed were predominantly white were out performing the schools on the south side of Mount Vernon that had a predominantly Black student body.

Today, when we look at the scorecard, we see that ALL schools in Mount Vernon have continuously suffered decline in students’ performance, but the Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy are still singing the same song, “a significant number of Black children in Mount Vernon can’t read.” I was told that Dr. Reverend Franklyn Richardson announced to his congregation recently that the performance of the Black students in Mount Vernon is dismal, but what he didn’t tell them was that himself, Mayor Ernest Davis and Reginald Lafayette are chiefly responsible.  The United Black Clergy and the Democratic Party must really be convinced that the people in Mount Vernon are just absolutely stupid. Well, Helena, why would you say a thing like that? Do you have some other explanation as to why these three kings, who have successfully moved the Mount Vernon School District from good to terrible would still be asking the Mount Vernon people to support “their candidates?”  Yes, their candidates! 

After these three Kings took over the Mount Vernon School System and became “EMPOWERED,” there was no need for CEPAA anymore.  It had fulfilled its mandate, so it retired. The 75 percent students of African ancestry still were not empowered, but the CEPAA had completed its mission. It had successfully completed its mission to EMPOWER The Three Kings of Mount Vernon: Dr. Reverend W. Franklyn Richardson, Mayor Ernest Davis and Democratic Party Chairman, Reginald Lafayette.  Recently, candidates not under the control of these three kings have been gaining a foothold on the school board in a desire to turn things around from this dismal failure that the schools have experienced. 

To combat this and maintain control, an attempt to revive CEPAA under a new name was made.  Mayor Ernest Davis’ Ethics Czar, a lady with questionable ethics herself, Ronnie Cox, and her side kick, a former School Board Trustee who couldn’t get reelected, Deliah Farqharson as well as other members of the Democratic Party and United Black Clergy have formed a new organization called Mount Vernon Board Campaign Action Committee, Inc.  This organization in a rather unethical way (ironic) endorsed three candidates, Omar McDowall, Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearson. However, there was a disagreement among the three kings regarding this endorsement.  The three kings were told that Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearson are too independent. They have the disability of seeming to want to do their own thinking.  That is a “no, no” with these three kings.  They NEED individuals that do not think, but follow a script. Therefore, the three kings have decided to support three other candidates: Omar McDowall, Kathy Brewington and Marc Stucky. It is good to note that Omar McDowall is a keeper.  The three kings love him.  Kathy Brewington and Marc Stucky are former school board trustees who failed to make any positive changes in reversing the dismal performance of the Mount Vernon School District.  They too couldn’t get reelected. Yet, these individuals are the candidates that these three kings are offering to the Mount Vernon voters as a solution for our failing schools.

It should be clear that the mission of these three kings is now to remain “empowered.”  The students of African ancestry were never empowered by this coalition. CEPAA did empowered people of African ancestry, namely, Dr. Reverend W. Franklyn Richardson, Mayor Ernest Davis, Democratic Chairman Reginald Lafayette and all of their minions.  It has come to my attention that they are telling people in Mount Vernon not to vote for me, Helena Edwards, because, I am crazy. Apparently, these three kings are not only bad at running the school district they are also bad at History.  If they had any sense of History, they would know that every single individual who was able to impact positive changes in the world was at one point or another called crazy.  So, the fact that they are calling me crazy should be an endorsement of my competence and effectiveness.  Voters of Mount Vernon, how many times are you going to allow yourselves to be fooled?  Why would you continue to empower three kings in Mount Vernon to the disadvantage of the majority of people of African ancestry?  

These three kings have demonstrated that they are successful at one thing: turning students into prison inmates.  It is time to dis-empower these three men who for the longest while have abused our good nature with their schemes for personal enrichment at the expense of our children’s education.

 Read about the Supreme Courts Decision on Affirmative Action in Michigan: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html

You can read more from Helena on her blog Strait Talk in Mt. Vernon 

Corruption And Greed Are Killing Mount Vernon School System

Corruption And Greed Are Killing Mount Vernon School System by Helena Mattis

As I wrote yesterday in my earlier article, last night, April 14th, the Mount Vernon Board Campaign Action Committee, Inc held their little charade at the Mount Vernon Heights Congressional Church, where they selected candidates for the group to endorse. There was absolutely no surprise; everything went just as expected with the same three candidates whom the group previously selected winning their nomination.  The group which is a highly political group masking as an impartial facilitator had previously endorsed Omar McDowell, Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearon. However, some of their associates, namely the United Black Clergy and the Mount Vernon Democratic Party do not like the endorsement of Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearon. Therefore, the group decided to stage a charade by having community members come out to vote for the candidates the group should endorse. The stage was already set for this master puppet show. Any individual with a half of brain could see what was going to happen.  They told their members, supporters and associates who they wanted them to vote for namely Omar McDowell, Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearon and those were the three that were selected in the charade.  The members of this group are all political players in Mount Vernon.  Some of them hold offices within the Mount Vernon Democratic Party, The United Black Clergy and some are former School Board Trustees or candidates.  These are the people who have been involved in the process forever, yet Mount Vernon keeps sinking deeper and deeper into the toilet. The United Black Clergy and the Mount Vernon Democratic Party are still unhappy with Darcy Miller and Charmaine Fearon.  Therefore, members of the Mount Vernon Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy are running their own slate of candidates:  Omar McDowell, Kathy Brewington and Marc Stuckey. Marc Stuckey and Kathy Brewington are former School Board Trustees.  They have served, but they never made any difference in turning the failing school system around or curtailing the wasteful spending that is rendering Mount Vernon homeowners homeless. But, they are great candidates for Mount Vernon Democratic Party and The United Black Clergy, the two political forces in Mount Vernon that are solely responsible for the demise of the socio-economic and cultural structures in Mount Vernon. These two bosom buddies are not interested in the progress and restoration of Mount Vernon.  They are only interesting in sustaining power and control so that they can continue to ravage Mount Vernon with their greed.  The Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy joined forces in making unscrupulous deals with politicians in other areas throughout Westchester to send all of the families in crisis to Mount Vernon.  They continue to build senior citizens buildings and low income housing to import all of the “undesirables” from other communities into Mount Vernon in return for personal payoffs. These families require more and more social services assistance and this creates an extreme burden for the already overtaxed Mount Vernon homeowners.  It also places a strain on the already limited resources within the school system. Many of the supporters of the Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy are the individuals that are most adversely affected. Their children are in the Mount Vernon Public Schools that are performing poorly due to the overwhelming population of children with “special needs.”

The Mount Vernon Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy fool these poor people into thinking that they are helping them by inviting them to come to reside in Mount Vernon.  But, they are actually harming them and the other children from poor families that are already within the school system. The end result is that these children are dropping out of school is mass numbers and they ultimately ending up in the prison system. The United Black Clergy and the Democratic Party fought with the Italian Civic Association (ICA) in the mid 1990s for control of the Mount Vernon School System and they gain control because the majority of the people in Mount Vernon are of African descent.  These two bosom buddies convinced the majority black population that the ICA was racist and was not educating our children.  However, since the United Black Clergy and the Democratic Party got hold of the School System performance levels have significantly dropped while at the same time the cost of educating students have skyrocketed.  In Mount Vernon, the cost of educating a child is $30,000.  In New Rochelle and Yonkers, the cost is about $22,000 and the cost of educating a child at Good Counsel Academy in White Plains is $8,000. Student performance at Good Counsel Academy, New Rochelle and Yonkers are superior to the performance of the students in Mount Vernon.

Straight Talk in Mount Vernon has learned that only 17 percent third graders within the Mount Vernon system read at the third grade level.  It is obvious that lack of money is not the problem as we can see that Yonkers, New Rochelle and Good Counsel Academy all do a better job at educating their students with less.  The School Board keeps coming to the overtaxed Mount Vernon homeowners for more money.  “More money” has become their motto. Yet, taxpayers are at a lost as to where the money that is invested within the school system disappears to. A few years ago, it was discovered that about 20 percent (in excess of 2000 students) of the students in Mount Vernon school district did not live in Mount Vernon.  People who lived in the Bronx were smuggling their children into the Mount Vernon Schools.  These children were removed from the Mount Vernon School system, but amazingly, the budget cost never experienced the same 20 percent reduction.  The budget cost actually increased.  Thus, taxpayers in Mount Vernon are of the opinion that the Mount Vernon School District is a bottomless bucket where money goes in and out without any sort of reckoning. There is no accountability and no proper oversight.  The Mount Vernon School System is in desperate need of an audit. However, the Mount Vernon Democratic Party and the United Black Clergy which currently control the school system do not want to have an audit. Therefore, they will never support candidates like me and Samuel Rivers who have made it clear that we will work on having the school system audited. It is important for all people who have a vested interest in Mount Vernon to understand that Mount Vernon is at a very critical crossroad and you are the ones to make a difference.  My candidacy is not about race. It is not about politics. It solely about educating all the children of Mount Vernon, the 17 percent Hispanic, the 75 percent black and all others. My candidacy is also about ensuring that that the taxpayers of Mount Vernon are not taxed out of their homes due to wasteful spending and corruption within the school system.  I am a straight talker with a disability for telling the truth. Those people who have something to hide are not going to like me, but I want to believe that there are more good people who love truth than bad people who hate truth living in Mount Vernon.  Thus, I am in this race to become elected and go to the school board and make a real difference in returning accountability, respect, transparency and excellence in academics to the city that was once known as “money earning Mount Vernon.”

The Four Horsemen of Westchester Politics

The Four Horsemen of Westchester Politics  As we get closer to the election for New York State Governor we will have more conversation of the diabolical plans of the Four Horsemen of Westchester Politics. The failed hijack of the Independence Party by Doug Colety the Republican Party aided by Democratic Chair Reggie Lafayette and supported by District Attorney Janet Difiore. read here

Astorino, a Republican now running for governor, lost the chance to get the party line in August when his primary election write-in bid was invalidated by Judge DiBella. DiBella ruled that the petitions were filed late and also agreed to disenroll six members of the Independence Party who filed the petitions, rendering them invalid. Astorino lost again on appeal. Click here for audio of Astorino discussing the planned takeover of the Independence Party or his "Insurance to hold the Independence line" Janet Difiore, who had much to gain from a Independence Party takeover and was the beneficiary of a sweetheart deal between Lafayette and Colety. She was terrified that Mayo Bartlett a predominate Defense Attorney and former Westchester Assistant District Attorney would run against her in the last election.  read here It is also known in Mt. Vernon Political Circles that she assisted Reggie Lafayette and the Democratic City Committee in derailing an opposing City Council Candidate, who has had a history of criticizing her office on failure to prosecute police brutality cases with a bogus signature investigation and intimidating supporters throughout Mt. Vernon looking for Elmo! Yes, Elmo! read here and read here Now to secure any voices against her, Lafayette and Colety are obsolete. She has now conspired with the Feds to take out the owner and publisher of the Westchester Guardian Newspaper Sam Zherka  read here The influence of Reggie Lafayette and Janet Difiore was the force behind prominent Westchester Black Pastors supporting a Republican candidate that politics has adversely affected people of color in Westchester County. Read Al Shaprton doe what Westchester Black Pastors fail to do; Call out Astrino

The Global Roots of the Common Core State Standards

The Global Roots of the Common Core State Standards

(redmal/istockphoto)

By Heather Singmaster and Anthony Jackson

The education system of the United States was built, in part, by utilizing the best ideas from abroad, mainly from Germany and Scotland. But after achieving the leading education system in the world, and the first country to achieve mass secondary education, and the first to promote higher education broadly, we stopped looking abroad for new ways to improve.

In contrast, other nations, especially in Asia, built superior pre-collegiate education systems through relentless investigation of what works to educate students well wherever good ideas could be found.

As a result, while education in the United States hasn’t necessarily gotten worse, education systems elsewhere have improved. For example, if reading, math, and science scores for each of the 65 nations or provinces taking OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2009 are averaged to create a single composite ranking, the United States would rank 26th.

Eight of the top ten entities on that composite average are from the Asia-Pacific region, led by Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Japan. The rise of education in Asia is no accident. It reflects policies and national investment strategies that recognize the tight link between the quality of education, growth in the economy, and stability within society. Importantly, Asia’s rise also reflects benchmarking of effective approaches and systematic efforts to integrate best practices within their own cultural and political contexts.

To remain competitive in a global economy, the United States must improve its education system.

Fortunately, the tide appears to be shifting toward a renewed American interest in learning from—and in collaboration with—high-performing and rapidly improving countries.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS reflect an understanding among American educators that the highest performing countries create high, consistent expectations for student learning. Moreover, wide discrepancies in state standards are seen as one of the reasons that the United States is not as competitive as it once was on international tests.

In 2008, National Governors' Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve, Inc. convened an advisory group consisting of governors, state commissioners of education, business leaders, researchers, former federal officials, and state and local officials. Their task was to investigate what states would need to do to have standards that rival those of top-performing countries.

Their report, Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education, called on states to upgrade their standards by “adopting a common core of internationally benchmarked standards in math and language arts for grades K-12.” William Schmidt, University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, laid out in the report the key elements of standards in high-performing countries: focus, rigor, and coherence.

Meanwhile in the United States, it is commonly said that standards are “a mile wide and an inch deep.” In other words, the old standards strived to cover too many topics, which are repeated across various grades, leaving American students lagging years behind their counterparts in other parts of the world.

The OECD agrees. It found that the high expectations and standards set by high-performing countries are helping to:

•  “Establish rigorous, focused and coherent content at all grade levels

•  Reduce overlap in curricula across grades

•  Reduce variation in implemented curricula across classrooms

•  Facilitate coordination of various policy drivers, ranging from curricula to teacher training

•  Reduce inequality in curricula across socio-economic groups.”

Singapore and China are two good examples of countries with rigorous standards. Each has a strong early focus on math and science. Singapore also ensures students have a strong foundation in world languages. In both countries, teachers receive strong subject-matter preparation and continuing professional development opportunities.

In most, but not all high-performing countries, a central curriculum accompanies the standards. This helps to ensure consistency in teacher training and implementation. For instance, Australia has recently developed national standards and curriculum, along with a range of resources available online to support implementation.

Along with standards and curriculum, the third leg of the stool for creating high expectations for student learning is rigorous assessments. The form assessments take vary widely in high-performing countries: from Finland, which primarily uses school-based assessments with periodic sample testing from the national level, to South Korea, which famously places all emphasis on the end-of-school exam. Increasingly, the leading education systems are creating opportunities for more open-ended and performance-based assessments to provide students more authentic ways of demonstrating mastery of disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and skills.

Now, less than four years after the Benchmarking for Success report was finished, Common Core State Standards in Math and English Language Arts have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.

How do these new standards compare to those in high-performing nations?

William Schmidt did a comparative analysis of the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice, finding that they resemble those of high-performing, or “A+ countries” (defined as those that had their 8th grade students placing at the top of NAEP), and have more rigor, focus, and coherence than the standards they replace. In fact, he found a 90% overlap between the CCSS and the standards of the A+ countries.

The CCSS emphasize the 21st Century skills of creative, problem-solving, and critical thinking, needed to succeed in today’s world, a focus shared by the world’s highest performing education systems. In Hong Kong, the strategy is called “Learning to Learn” and focuses on moving away from memorization toward liberal studies, problem solving, creativity, and critical thinking. In Finland, learning goals focus on “21st century citizen skills, including problem-solving, teamwork and entrepreneurship skills, participation and initiative.” And in the European Union, there is a focus on innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, self-direction, and motivation.

Let’s hope that the American revival of adapting best practices from other nations will restore our education system as the envy of the world.

Domino's to pay $448G for underpaying workers in Westchester

ALBANY – State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday a $448,000 settlement with 23 Domino's Pizza restaurants for underpaying employees.

The restaurants are owned by six Domino's Pizza franchisees, some of which located in Dutchess, Erie, Rockland and Westchester counties. The Attorney General's Office found Domino's Pizza underpaid about 750 minimum-wage employees from 2007 to 2013. The employees were paid as little as $5 per hour, below the $5.65 tipped minimum wage in the state, Schneiderman contended.

The involved employees are expected to get back between $200 and $2,000 depending on the violations.

"The violations in these cases demonstrate a statewide pattern of Domino's franchisees flouting the law and illegally chiseling at the pay of minimum-wage workers, who struggle to survive as it is," Schneiderman said in a statement. "My office will be relentless in pursuing fast-food employers that underpay the hardworking people who are the backbone of their operations."

John Cilmi, who owns eight Dominos restaurants in the Hudson Valley, operating as JMC Holdings Inc. is to pay $100,000, the Attorney General's Office said.

The Domino's corporate office declined comment, saying it is an issue regarding its franchisees. A woman who answered the telephone at JMC Holdings Inc., based in Eastchester, said Cilmi was unavailable for comment.

Along with underpaying employees, Domino's admitted in the settlement to failing to pay adequate overtime to employees. The franchisees also admitted to not reimbursing employees for job-related expense and failing to pay an additional hour at minimum wage when employees' daily shifts are longer than 10 hours.

In agreement with the settlement, Domino's Pizza franchisees will now be required to institute complaint procedures for employees and provide bilingual written handbooks to employees. They will also have to train supervisors on the labor law, post a statement of employee's rights and submit quarterly reports to the attorney general's office for two to three years on their progress.

For a full list of the franchisees and stores involved, visit here.

Ashley Hupfl: ahupfl@gannett.com; www.twitter.com/ashleyhupfl.