Bishop Ford High School to close

whynot_31

The news: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/nyregion/a-catholic-high-school-abruptly-loses-its-fight-to-stay-open.html?from=nyregion

The speculation on what it might become....

Apartments?

A public school?

brooklynpotter

wondering if it will cause an influx of more students at 321 and 107 .


also, whynot, bishop ford is park slope not windsor terrace, half a block from methodist hospital.

whynot_31

Here is Bishop Ford

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/local/114089818764544435542/about?gl=US&hl=en-US

It is/was a high school.

salix

Bishop Ford HS is indeed Windsor Terrace. It is not near Methodist Hosp but across the street from the north side of Green-Wood Cemetery. A pity it is closing, but even when I lived in Windsor Terrace it was not the academic first choice of parents looking for a Catholic high school.

whynot_31

From my reading of the article, the diocese owns the property, and rents it to the school.

At present, the school is $4M in debt.     

However, this might not include the money they owe staff in terms of vacation accruals , etc.

So, I'd be ok with the diocese paying off that debt and then recouping its losses with the proceeds from the land.   

whynot_31

mugofmead111

Oh, that's where it is! It's next to the Prospect Expressway.

I've heard the name, but now just put two and two together. 

homeowner

The diocese is currently renting out half of the building to a charter school (my understanding is that school was in direct competition with Ford for students). I'd expect that lease will be honored, and perhaps they may rent additional space out as well. The diocese of Brooklyn has been pretty savy about holding on to its old school facilities and repurposing them for uses consistent with the church rather than selling them. They seem to have learned after getting rid of property in the early 90's that it was better to continue to own and simply pass on the O&M to tenants rather than to take a one time payout as property values rise.

Examples are the Waldorf School (formerly St. Peter Claver School) and Our Lady of Victory Church which rents out its former school space to a day program for the developmentally disabled.

whynot_31

Here's the website for the charter school:

http://www.bugsbrooklyn.org/

I guess the school facilities have more economic uses than the actual churches.

I presume that is part of why this church complex was recently sold: 

http://www.brooklynian.com/discussion/39022/south-of-ep-the-church-at-rogers-between-carrol-and-crown-is-next-to-go#Item_38

Yes, several public schools in the area occupy buildings that used to be Catholic.

...the large school for the deaf on EP and Classon comes to mind.