GCA HS Principal Says School Will Close
In an emotional announcement last week in the Chapel of the Divine Compassion, White Plains, the students and faculty of Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy High School were told by their principal, Sr. Laura Donovan, RDC, that the school will close at the end of the semester in June 2015.
This announcement follows news just over a week ago that the GCA Elementary School had found a new location and would open in that spot in September.
Both schools are located on the 16-acre campus at 52 North Broadway, adjacent to Pace Law School, which was put up for sale last spring.
The campus holds numerous historic buildings including the Chapel of the Divine Compassion, the convent and motherhouse of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion (RDC, Religious Divine Compassion) and the Mapleton House, currently base for the RDC Counseling Center.
Parents and staff of GCA Academy have fought an aggressive campaign to save their school. The school’s board was disbanded last month as a letter was sent to prospective Freshman students that events for the incoming class were being cancelled.
Efforts to find an alternative location each turned up negative as the school tried to work with the Catholic Archdiocese in New York to locate rental space for the full to capacity and functioning all-girl Catholic high school. The academy currently educates about 400 students.
Rumors that could not be substantiated because of nondisclosure agreements required by Stamford, CT-based real estate company CBRE, the broker handling the property sale, indicated that a bidder had come forth in the fall and had offered cash for the property with the understanding that the school could remain on the campus. It also indicated that the 20 or so nuns still living in the convent would remain and that the Chapel of the Divine Compassion, though possibly under ownership by another religious organization would still be accessible by the RDC.
A not-for-profit group formed by parents, GCA teachers, members of the RDC, alumnae of the school and others called Save Good Counsel Academy High School also claim to have found a backer and presented a bid to CBRE.
It is not clear if this bid piggybacks on an offer already made and presented within the bidding deadline schedule or if it is a completely new bid.
That organization claims through emails and Facebook posts that the leadership team of the RDC, in particular the president of the order, Sr. Carol Wagner, will not consider their offer and has refused to speak with them and that CBRE offers them no answers as well. At this time the group does not appear to have the charter to run the school if it does manage to purchase the property.
Angered by the lack of communication supporting groups have committed to continue to push to save the school despite last week’s closure announcement.
A letter writing campaign initiated on Monday proposes faxing a form letter to go over everyone’s head and directly to the Pope’s office in Rome.
