WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 15, 2018 15
Middle Village Prep gets another small victory in court
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Middle Village Preparatory Charter School on the Christ the King High
School campus won another small battle on Feb. 14 in the lawsuit
between the school and the Diocese of Brooklyn.
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BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
The Middle Village Preparatory
Charter School (MVP) will be
allowed to enroll new students
for the 2018-19 school year aft er another
small victory in February in its
ongoing legal battle with the Diocese
of Brooklyn.
In a Feb. 14 ruling, the Supreme
Court of the State of New York Appellate
Division denied a motion put
forth by the Diocese that would have
prevented Middle Village Prep from
bringing in a new class this coming fall.
The motion was the latest eff ort to
stop the charter school from operating
during the pending lawsuit fi led by
the Diocese against Christ the King
High School (CTK), which houses the
charter school on its campus.
Josephine C. Lume, chairperson for
the board of trustees at MVP, wrote a
letter to the parents and members of
the school community to thank them
for their continued support.
“Your support and activism throughout
this ordeal with the Diocese have
been invaluable – whether attending
rallies or making your voices heard
in other ways,” Lume said in the letter.
“We have accomplished great things
together for your children and our
community, including mitigating the
massive overcrowding in our local
public schools.”
The 2017 lawsuit claims that CTK’s
trustees violated the terms of a 1976
agreement that supposedly mandates
that the Middle Village campus be
strictly used for Christ the King
High School functions. The Diocese
contends that the CTK trustees never
asked for permission to open MVP on
its grounds in 2013, and it views the
school as potential competition to several
Catholic middle schools in the area.
Since its founding, MVP has grown
into one of the top-performing middle
schools in New York state. At the time
the lawsuit was fi led, there were 380
students from sixth to eighth grade
currently enrolled and 250 more families
on a waiting list for the upcoming
school year.
The success of the school sparked
outrage over the lawsuit from the
parents of MVP students, who immediately
organized to figure out
how they could help keep the school
open. They spent the summer of 2017
forming rallies at the Queens County
Court and the offi ce of the Diocese
with the students, and their activism
has led to many more small victories
along the way.
In a letter to the Christ the King High
School community, Board of Trustees
Chair Serphin R. Maltese said that
while the latest court decision marks
more progress, there is still plenty of
work to be done.
“While the news is good, it’s just
an interim step, unfortunately,” Maltese
said in the letter. “The Diocese
remains dug in on the matter and
has so far declined our off ers to sit
together with us and focus on all the
good things we are accomplishing
and on how much more we can do
together. We are still ready to join in
that spirit of reconciliation that will
allow everyone to succeed.”
In a statement sent to QNS on March
7, a spokesperson from the Diocese of
Brooklyn said that the organization is
remaining steadfast despite the court’s
rulings.
“Unfortunately, the Appellate
Division is unwilling to expedite the
hearing of the appeal and, therefore,
the charter school’s future operation
at the high school premises remains
uncertain,” the spokesperson said.
“As the Diocese has stated before, it
remains open and willing to resolve
this dispute amicably. We urge Christ
the King to agree to the same terms
as every other regional high school
within the Diocese.”
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