New York-based Garvey School evicted

"A dramatic end" is how the Jamaican founder of the Garvey School in the Bronx, New York, described the shutdown of the institution after it was evicted from its location and forced to close its doors.

“The timing was really dramatic,” June O'Connor told The Gleaner.

The school reopened for the new school term only to have the landlord, River Bay Management, serve it with an eviction notice after a judge in a Bronx housing court gave the go ahead.

The Gleaner understands that the court handed down the notice on October 15 and the school had to vacate the space by October 20.

O'Connor who founded the school, named after Jamaica's National hero Marcus Garvey, in 2009, said that because of the uncertainty, some students did not return at the start of the new school year, dropping the enrolment to around 75 students.

She said space has been found to accommodate some 20 of those students at a new location.

At its height, the school had about 120 students and 20 teachers. It had an annual operating budget of approximately US$400,000

The operators of the school made a last-ditch effort to have the court stay the eviction until the end of the year, which would provide time for new space to be found, but the judge refused to hear the application.

O'Connor told The Gleaner that the building's management had given no reason for wanting the school out of the space.

“I can only assume that with the current real estate market the management believes that it will get more money for the space,” she said.

Garvey School paid just over US$5,000 per month to rent the space.

River Bay Management's termination of the lease places the school's four-year 3K early childhood city contract at risk because it is site specific.

“Early childhood service is a very high need for Caribbean, African, African American and Hispanic families. The loss of this programme will create significant hardship for our families as well as loss of income for our staff who are all heads of households and main breadwinners,” said O'Connor

She said that an extended lease would have allowed adequate time to relocate the programme in close proximity to the current site which would greatly increase the chance of retaining the four-year grant.

“The school provides a necessary service and should be allowed to continue functioning,” she said.

- Lester Hinds

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