GCA Elementary School Will Move to Valhalla
Amid controversy over the fate of Good Counsel Academy High School and its campus in White Plains, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion announced through their public relations firm Thompson & Bender last week that the order’s elementary school situated on the same North Street campus is relocating to Valhalla.
The move to the site of the former Holy Name of Jesus School in Valhalla, which had been anticipated, was formalized last week. Good Counsel Academy Elementary School will open its doors at the new location in September, leaving the buildings at its current location vacant. Good Counsel Academy Elementary will remain a private Catholic school sponsored by the Sisters of the Divine Compassion.
The press statement announcing the move cited that the 16-acre GCA campus and all its buildings had become too costly for the Sisters of the Divine Compassion to maintain.
GCA High School, faced with a similar situation, has looked at various alternative spots for relocation, the most recent a possible lease agreement with the Archdiocese for the former Our Lady of Mercy academy in Port Chester. That possibility recently was removed from the table causing the principal of GCAHS to tell the parents of freshman students hoping to enter the school in September that it might not be open.
Parent groups have splintered from the school board, hoping to find a solution to save the school. One group, Save Good Counsel Community Now Inc. has sent word via a Facebook page that it is considering purchasing the GCA campus itself and has planned a meeting for all concerned to discuss the possibility this week.
According to people close to the bidding process for the property, a potential buyer that had agreed to lease the school and convent to the Sisters as part of a purchase deal has been left with no answers and the move out date of July 1, 2015 as defined by the order itself draws closer.
