Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy High School to Close

Despite efforts over the past year to find a new location for Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy High School, the school will close in July, Sisters of the Divine Compassion announced Thursday.

The closure is due to the order’s decision to sell the property that the school sits upon, to use the money that’s been subsidizing the schools to instead take care of the sisters, who are mostly in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.

“Pride is indeed what we feel as we reflect on the privileged role we have had in your daughter’s life,” wrote Sister Laura Donovan. RDC, the principal of the high school. “We know we have been blessed beyond measure with the quality of life that ’our girls’ exhibit.”

Parents, students and alumni tried appealing to Timothy Cardinal Dolan earlier this month to stave off the closure, but they were unable to stop it.

The school is not part of the archdiocese. However, the archdiocese did help the Good Counsel Academy Board of Trustees explore relocation possibilities. In a letter to parents Feb. 6, Cardinal Dolan wrote, “As you know, we were successful in reaching an agreement with Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Valhalla for the Good Counsel Elementary School, thank God.”

School officials are now seeking to find placements for the high school students.

“We know that that this decision is extremely painful for everyone affiliated with the school, but after more than a year of due diligence, a suitable and affordable relocation site for the High School has not been found,” a letter from the Divine Compassion Leadership Team to the school community states. “Multiple properties were investigated and eliminated as possible sites.”

One site that was strongly considered was in New Rochelle, but retrofitting that property would prove cost prohibitive, officials determined.

Below is the press release about the closure:

After a year of extensive efforts to find a new location, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion today advised the students, parents, faculty and staff that Our Lady of Good Counsel Academy High School in White Plains will cease operations in July at the conclusion of the current school year. Working closely with the Archdiocese of New York, a concerted effort has begun to assist Good Counsel’s students in transitioning to other area Catholic high schools. The High School community was notified of the decision this afternoon.

In a letter to the members of the Good Counsel High School community, the Divine Compassion Leadership Team expressed “deep regret and sadness” in having reached the decision to close the school. Their letter emphasizes that “it has been a blessing, an honor and a privilege to sponsor and be involved” in the school’s mission.

“We know that that this decision is extremely painful for everyone affiliated with the school,” the letter states, but “after more than a year of due diligence, a suitable and affordable relocation site for the High School has not been found. Multiple properties were investigated and eliminated as possible sites.”

The relocation effort began as a result of the Sisters decision to sell the 16-acre campus at 52 North Broadway where they have been located for 125 years. The site includes 12 buildings and the annual operating costs have become financially unsustainable. With many of the 80 Sisters now in their late 70s, 80s and 90s, their needs for health care and health-oriented living accommodations have become necessary. Continuing to subsidize the High School and the Good Counsel Academy Elementary School, both of which are on the campus, was no longer feasible.

The Elementary School, which offers pre-k through eighth grade, was able to find a new home. In September it will open two miles north at the former Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School in Valhalla. Despite extensive efforts, a satisfactory new location for the High School could not be found.

Each of the schools has its own Board of Trustees and administration. However, as the sponsoring organization, the Sisters of the Divine Compassion have the ultimate responsibility for the schools.

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