Diocese to sell Lady of the Presentation School in Brighton to community group

Diocese to sell school to community group - The Boston Globe: "The Archdiocese of Boston agreed yesterday to sell the former Our Lady of the Presentation School in Brighton to a nonsectarian citizens' group, ending one of the bitterest disputes between the church and a local community that arose from widespread closings of parishes and schools over the past three years.

In an effort to rebuild its tattered relations with the community, the archdiocese put the sales price at $1 million, half the $2 million the citizens group had offered for the school building. The group, the nonprofit Presentation School Foundation, plans to operate an affordable preschool, after-school programs, summer camps, and adult education programs at the site in partnership with the YMCA and the Boston Public Library.

The chairman of the foundation stressed yesterday that the school building needs more than $2 million in repairs and that $4 million will have to be raised to launch the envisioned program fully. That is not expected before 2008.