Nonprofit and Plainview-Old Bethpage district tussle over school's status

A nonprofit that educates students who are developmentally disabled plans to buy a Plainview public school — but school district officials say the building isn’t on the market.

The Association for Children with Down Syndrome Inc., or ACDS, intends to purchase the building at 4 Fern Place for $3 million from the Plainview-Old Bethpage school district, according to the agency’s application for help from Nassau County. The property serves as ACDS headquarters and a school for children up to age 5.

ACDS has been leasing the 47,043-square-foot facility for 20 years, with the current rent totaling $522,177  a year. The agency would buy the building as part of a $5.6 million project.

That cost would be covered by $5.2 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the county’s Local Economic Assistance Corp. Last month, the corporation’s board voted unanimously to negotiate a deal with ACDS, a decision announced by County Executive Laura Curran in a news release.

However, Plainview-Old Bethpage school officials said Tuesday no decision has been made on whether to sell the property. 

“When the time comes, if the time comes, we will have a public board discussion as to the possible sale of that building,” said board president Ginger Lieberman. “There has been absolutely no decision made.”

Superintendent Lorna Lewis said, “We continue to engage in discussions with the current tenant toward the possible purchase of the Fern Place school. Those discussions have not progressed to a state where we should comment publicly.”

ACDS executive director Michael M. Smith said the school district’s attorney sent a draft sales contract over a month ago, which ACDS amended and returned. The attorney, Gregory Guercio, didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

“We have been in discussions with them for over a year,” Smith said. “… I’m confident the sale will take place.

“We have the support of the board for this project,” he added, referring to the economic assistance corporation. Previously, the corporation issued tax exempt bonds for ACDS in 2003, 2004 and 2007.

Corporation chairman Richard Kessel lauded ACDS’ care since 1966 of children and adults with Down syndrome, autism and developmental disabilities.

He also expressed “surprise” about the disagreement over whether the Fern Place property is for sale. “At this point, we will suspend any discussions about going further until we know there is a definitive agreement between the school district and ACDS,”  Kessel said. “It was my impression that they [ACDS] had a deal with the school district, based on what they told us previously.”

At the corporation’s April meeting, Nassau Legis. Arnold W. Drucker (D-Plainview) said the school district may need the Fern Place property in the future because “we’ve had a resurgence of young people move to the community. ... There's a school right next to it called Pasadena that also had been closed for a while [by the district], and now that school has reopened. ”

As part of the proposed project, ACDS would spend $1 million to buy an adjacent lot from Oyster Bay Town for additional staff parking.

Corporation director Timothy Williams said, “If you are a parent, as I am, of children with special needs, they need space. They need more than we are currently giving them.”

CORRECTION

An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect address for the building ACDS said it intends to buy.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.