New Rochelle Superintendent Yanked Students out of St. Gabes then Abandoned $100,000+ in Equipment, Supplies, and Confidential Files

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — For reasons that were never fully explained, New Rochelle School Superintendent Dr. Laura Feijóo made pulling the Alternative High School out of its longtime home at St. Gabes School one of her biggest priorities when she arrived on November 1, 2019.

After a highly questionable deal to move the Alternative High School to the Bethesda Family Life Center was tabled by the New Rochelle Board of Education and a move to New Rochelle High School on July 22nd was approved, Feijóo formally notified the Archdiocese of New York on July 23rd that she would not renew the lease on St. Gabes which was set to expire on August 31st. The property was listed with a real estate broker and the 28 year chapter of the Alternative High School at St. Gabes came to an end.

Or so it seemed.

Feijóo was in such a rush to leave St. Gabes that she left behind over $100,000 in equipment and supplies. Legally, when a tenant abandons items in a rented space those items become the property of the landlord.

The area formerly occupied by the Alternative High School at St. Gabes has been left unsecured, with every classroom, closet and office wide open. The space has been readily accessible from other parts of the building for weeks, making for “easy pickings”.

Left behind were 5 Promethian boards and 3 smart boards costing thousands of dollars a piece, dozens of now-coveted Google Chromebooks, musical instruments including a piano, electronic keyboards, guitars, art supplies including a kiln, over 1,000 books, classroom supplies, desks, tables, chairs, computer monitors, overhead projectors, cleaning equipment, sports equipment including free weights, resistance machines, an elliptical trainer, kitchen supplies including refrigerators, medical equipment, scientific lab equipment including microscopes and scales and much more.

Most disturbing of all, file cabinets, filled with student records including medical records, psychological records and special education records all of which are privacy-protected under federal laws such as HIPPA and FERPA.

Talk of the Sound notified school officials of this treasure trove of unsecured, abandon material over the weekend as well as our intention to publish this story at 9:00 am on Monday so the District would have time to secure the equipment, supplies and confidential records before the site turned into a free for all for looters.

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