A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 16 - Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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St. Basil’s Must Pay Tuition
NEW YORK. - New York State Commissioner of Education Richard Mills has ruled that St. Basil students must pay tuition to attend the local school. The tuition, the decision says, is to be paid for by the students’ home school districts, in the case of New York children. His decision also requires that Garrison Public Schools accept St. Basil children, that Garrison has no right to refuse them, provided they pay a tuition set by the board of education. At the core of the arguments are both sides was the issue of residency. Commissioner Mills determined that St. Basil children are not residents of the Garrison School district, and therefore could not receive a free education in the area. Their tuition is to be paid by their parents, St. Basil Academy, or their home districts. Michael Lambert, a lawyer for St. Basil in this case, said no decision has been made yet regarding an appeal. “They’re currently reviewing it to see whether or not they’re going to issue an appeal,” said Atty. Lambert. In one sense, said Atty. Lambert, the decision was positive in that it does not require St. Basil to fund the children’s education. But when it comes to the question of residency, St. Basil’s position remains that the children are residents of Garrison. “St. Basil’s did not prevail on the issue of residency,” said Atty. Lambert. “There was enough evidence presented,” he added. “Some of the kids have been at St. Basil’s since 1987.” He said the law of residency in New York is presumed to be that of a child’s parent or guardian, and it may have worked against St. Basil that the academy tries to have the children maintain some ties with their parents, a practice considered to be in the best interest of the children, but one that worked against them when it came to determining the issue of residency. “St. Basil did what is in the best interest of the children,” said Atty. Lambert. “It’s in the best interest of the children to maintain some ties with their parents.” Commissioner Mills said the language of the paperwork transferring guardianship of the children to St. Basil Academy was not strong enough, as it indicated that it was revocable, which had an impact on the perceived permanence of the children’s residential status there. He determined that St. Basil children are not residents of Garrison, but members of an institution or treatment facility. Commissioner Mills ordered that the children, 22 of them in all, remain in the Garrison schools for the rest of the school year without paying tuition, deeming it in the best educational interest of the children. His decision does, however, free the district to seek tuition payments and reimbursement for expenses they incurred in educating the children during the 2003-2004 school year. Garrison schools have the right to seek tuition payments from the students’ home school districts. St. Basil would be responsible for the tuition for the 11 children who came from out of state or other countries. “I’m glad a decision was made,” said Garrison Schools Supt. Ellen Bergman. “I think it was very unfair to the kids that it took so long.” She said Commissioner Mill’s decision regarding the children’s residency status confirmed what Garrison schools had argued from the beginning, but she said she wouldn’t exactly call the decision a victory. “The only thing I can say about this whole thing is that it’s sad,” said Supt. Bergman. “The human cost is hurtful,” she added. “If it’s all paperwork, it’s different, but these are real kids stuck in the middle of this, it was awful.” She said Garrison schools will now work on getting reimbursed from the other school districts for the applicable St. Basil students. “We need to try to get reimbursed but I’m not sure we will be able to,” said Supt. Bergman. She said it was difficult at times, when the children would read stories in newspapers about the case. “I had one student ask me, ‘are you a racist?’” said Supt. Bergman, and others asked her, ‘Does Garrison really hate Greeks?’ “I felt terrible that anybody would ever think that,” said Supt. Bergman. “It was never about the kids,” she added. She said Garrison would be seeking clarification on some aspects of the decision, such as the classification of St. Basil academy as an institution that falls under section 3202(6) of Education Law. She said 3202(6) relates to a very specific treatment program, typically psychological or physical therapy treatment centers, and that St. Basil is not a treatment facility. Commissioner Mills acknowledges in his decision that this classification of St. Basil is not a perfect fit, but appears to have been designed to fill perceived gaps in classification with respect to children in certain institutional settings. This would classify St. Basil as an “institution for the care, custody and treatment of children.” St. Basil Academy, located in Garrison, NY, is an Orthodox home for orphaned children and those who have been removed from abusive or dysfunctional homes. St. Basil used to educate the children on its own 260-acre campus, but in 1997 started sending them to elementary, middle and high schools in the neighboring Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District. The controversy began last May, when the Highland Falls school district wrote to Rev. Fr. Constantine Sitaras, executive director of St. Basil, saying that the home owed $237,000 in back tuition and warned that the children could not continue to attend Highland Falls schools unless the money was paid. Fr. Sitaras said he was in dispute with Highland Falls over the amount owed and decided in the summer of 2003 to send the children to Garrison public schools instead. He said there was never any question that Highland Falls would be paid.
Garrison then
refused to allow the children to attend the
school, Fr. Sitaras appealed the school’s decision
to Commissioner Mills, who issued a stay, allowing
the children to remain at Garrison until he
reached a decision.
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