NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Word around City Hall is that Holy Family School building is off the table.
The School suddenly became available two weeks ago when the New York Archdioceses announced the closing of Holy Family School. Now District leadership is saying Holy Family is not interested in a deal.
The New Rochelle Board of Education began publicly discussing a proposal by Superintendent Dr. Laura Feijóo last month to move the Campus School – an Alternative High School — to the Family Life Center at Bethesda Baptist Church. That proposal was rejected. On July 7th, Feijóo proposed moving the Campus School to New Rochelle High School which critics contend entirely defeats the purpose of an Alternative High School.
As the public was told over and over (without explanation) that after 27 years St. Gabes is suddenly “not an option” it is worth noting the real — and highly debatable– reason for rejecting St. Gabes.
The claim that St. Gabes is “not an option” is, based on a discussion at the July 7th meeting of the New Rochelle Board of Education.
The reason is predicated on two publicly stated points: (1) Paul Warhit raised ADA compliance issues at St. Gabes; (2) a warning from Amy Moselhi that Ingerman Smith – the outside counsel for CSDNR – said the Board could only discuss ADA issues in executive session. There are 7 reasons allowed to invoke executive session under the New York State Open Meeting Law. Only one would apply: “pending litigation”.
There is no pending litigation pertaining to St. Gabes and ADA so this is more like using OML to create a mystery over a potential pending litigation not any actual litigation.