A whole bunch of scholars, academics, mother and father and alumni cheered one another on as State Lawyer Common Letitia James listened to them discuss how closing Preston Excessive Faculty would irreparably hurt the group and the way forward for its present college students.
Credit score: Sadie Brown
A whole bunch of individuals flooded the auditorium of Lehman Excessive Faculty Tuesday evening, whereas a whole bunch extra watched on-line as New York State Lawyer Common Letitia James listened to over three hours of testimony from generations of ladies who’re preventing desperately to avoid wasting their beloved Preston Excessive Faculty, an all-girls Catholic faculty in Throggs Neck set to shut in June.
Present college students, mother and father, college and alumni instructed James that “The Bronx needs Preston,” at occasions turning into emotional whereas describing the friendships, help, management abilities, tutorial success and ethical compass all of them say they owe to Preston Excessive Faculty.
The listening to follows months of rallies, petitions and organizing from the group in Throggs Neck and an escalating dispute with the college’s landlord, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion. The sisters’ management group – who additionally make up 50% of Preston’s Board of Trustees – didn’t attend the listening to, however famous in a press release that it got here to the choice to shut the college as a result of declining enrollment, monetary instability and ageing infrastructure.
Amongst those that spoke was Katie Ann Gannon, a historical past trainer at Preston who started her place this tutorial 12 months however whose ties to the college run deep. She grew up listening to her mom’s tales about attending Preston within the Nineteen Eighties, later turning into a pupil herself and graduating in 2019.
“Preston is thriving,” Gannon stated, rejecting the board’s claims that the college is not viable. “It’s not just a school, it’s a feeling,” she added. “You feel it in every hallway, every classroom, every parent, every alum who begins with pride saying that they went here.”
Historical past teacher Katie Ann Gannon stated that she was devastated to be taught that Preston Excessive Faculty would shut on the finish of the 12 months and described consoling her college students as they cried about dropping mates, alternatives and experiences that had been distinctive to their all-girls Catholic Faculty. Credit score: Sadie Brown
The Lawyer Common’s workplace oversees nonprofit organizations just like the Sisters of the Divine Compassion in New York to make sure fiscal accountability, correct governance and that they continue to be true to their charitable missions. Addressing the packed auditorium James emphasised the significance of transparency and stated that boards must be speaking “clearly and frequently with their constituents.”
“We want to make sure that they exercise appropriate care in their decision making and consider the impact of their decisions on the people they serve,” James stated.
All through the evening, advocates for Preston Excessive repeatedly stated they felt blindsided by the February announcement to shut the college, claiming they’d by no means been made conscious of any considerations from the Sisters about declining enrollment, infrastructure points, or monetary instability. Twenty-five folks testified over the course of the night.
The Sisters, not desirous to be landlords and advancing in age, initially agreed to promote the property after prolonged negotiations to Preston Excessive Faculty. Nonetheless, a former board member stated {that a} dispute that delayed the college’s first fee led the sisters to stroll away from the deal.
In March, the college group was hopeful that it had discovered a method to keep open when elected officers helped negotiate a proposal to buy the college by way of Bally’s Basis, the charitable arm of Bally’s Company that operates the golf course at Ferry Level Park and hopes to construct a on line casino and resort at that location.
Bally’s Basis supplied to purchase the college for the Sisters’ asking value of $8.5 million and contribute an extra $1.5 million to restore any “aging infrastructure.” The inspiration additionally agreed to lease the property to Preston for 25 years at $1 per 12 months, with the choice for the college to purchase it sooner or later.
However the Sisters rejected the provide within the eleventh hour, with seemingly no rationalization and introduced that their determination to shut the college was closing.
However the girls of Preston Excessive Faculty, and the group that supported them pushed on, contacting James’ workplace and asking her to look into the choice. Their efforts lead James to carry Tuesday’s listening to.
James listened to over three hours of testimony of Preston Excessive Faculty college, college students, mother and father and alumni inform her they had been by no means given any warning concerning the potential closing of their faculty and have been lower out of the choice making course of. Credit score: Sadie Brown
Faculty directors disputed the claims of declining enrollment, explaining that the college’s capability was lowered after repurposing lecture rooms for one-on-one instruction and a media lab. They stated that in actuality, enrollment is near 100% of capability and rising.
Preston Excessive Faculty Principal Jennifer Connolly instructed James that the sisters listed “changing demographics” as considered one of their causes to shut the college and questioned what the time period was referring to and why it might even matter.
The sisters haven’t elaborated about what precisely the time period was referring to, however a number of individuals who testified linked “changing demographics” to race. Emily Marino, who graduated in 2011, stated that the variety at Preston Excessive Faculty was a energy.
“Sisters of Divine Compassion listed changing demographics as one of the reasons for the closure,” Marino stated. “The Bronx has experienced significant ethnic diversification through the Borough’s history, and that should be commended by the Education Board, not condemned.”
Andrea Donkor, a faculty alumni who helped arrange a bunch of Preston graduates known as “Preston Forever,” instructed the Bronx Occasions that “changing demographics” was not a justifiable purpose to shut the college, calling it a “superfluous point.”
“ Schools are supposed to serve the communities within which they lie and that is what Preston is doing,” Donkor stated. “Its enrollment is reflecting the changing demographics. It is not an indication of change in the academic rigor or capability of the young ladies that come through its doors.”
The scholars who shared testimony instructed James that different colleges couldn’t provide them the identical alternatives, glorious lecturers and monetary help as Preston and that transferring so late of their highschool years would derail their paths to a future they’d been working arduous to realize.
Cielo John, Junior Class President at Preston Excessive Faculty and member of its championship profitable volleyball group, instructed the Lawyer Common that closing Preston Excessive Faculty wouldn’t solely rob her of the chance to develop into Pupil Physique President subsequent 12 months, however that it might additionally break aside a group that had develop into a lot greater than that.
“We will lose our family and we would most likely not be considered in joining the same sport at a different school, as other young women have been working for those spots at their own school since they started,” John stated. “It is not fair to make those ladies pay for our own misfortune, but it is certainly not fair that we have to be put in a position to fight for their spots in the first place.”
