Christ the King High School

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1 Excellence in Catholic Education since An independent Catholic secondary school since 1976 whose purpose is to provide a well-rounded education by offering a college preparatory curriculum for students of all academic levels. Accredited By: The Board of Regents of the State of New York and The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools Dear Member of the Christ the King Community, The attached letter from the Diocese was read from the pulpit during mass over the weekend at churches in our community. Please excuse our delay in responding to the attack on Christ the King High School, however in view of the tragic events occurring worldwide and out of respect for our Veterans, we felt it necessary to delay our response. While it is sad that the Diocese had to interrupt Mass for this matter when there are more serious and threatening issues facing our faith and our society, we at Christ the King would like you to know some additional facts about our School, our commitment to Catholic Education and our fiduciary obligations to our students and parents. Some history that many of you are familiar with: On October 6, 1975, the Diocese announced that it was closing Christ the King. While this came as a shock to all the parents and students in attendance, they resolved not to let this happen. A group of dedicated parents led by Serphin R. Maltese formed a "Committee to Save Christ the King." After countless meetings with the Diocese, the union and the community, the Committee reopened the school and the school was legally turned over to our newly formed lay Board of Trustees in September of We have been operating in that fiduciary capacity for the last thirty seven (37) years without ever requesting or receiving any financial support from the Diocese. While the current tuition and fees are $8,355, the actual per student cost to maintain and operate the school is $10, 503. In order not to burden parents further, the Board of Trustees for over the past twenty five (25) years has utilized the available space in the school to raise additional sums to keep the school open. The School opened a nonprofit day care facility for the community, a non-profit continuing education facility that also serves our students and students from other schools, and has utilized its athletic facilities and renovated auditorium to rent to schools, community organizations and businesses, to raise funds to keep tuition at a reasonable level. The Diocese has

2 Page 2 of 5 never complained, nor interfered, nor assisted with our operation of these facilities. However, since the inception of Charter Schools, the Diocese has been renting and selling its real estate, particularly its grammar schools, to the City of New York to benefit financially from the Charter School explosion. In 2011 the Diocese approached Christ the King High School and demanded that it be given the authority to control the opening of a Charter School in our building and to manage the same by placing a designee on our Board of Trustees. They also demanded that the Board of Trustees of Christ the King High School transfer the School back to the Diocese when the Diocese in its "sole and absolute discretion" decides that the school is no longer operating as a Catholic School. In view of the aforementioned closing, renting and selling of the grammar schools and understanding the challenging financial circumstances of the Diocese, the Board of Trustees declined to subject itself to prior approval and created an independent Charter School on its own initiative. We did agree, though, to donate an appreciable sum of money to help sustain Catholic education. Since that time, our school has been subjected to a very negative campaign encouraging local grammar schools not to recommend us to their students. However, in view of the sensitive needs of the Diocese and out of genuine concern for the future of Catholic education the Board voluntarily amended its By-Laws to insure that the premises are returned to the Diocese if and when it would no longer be operated as a Catholic School. In addition the Board had offered the Diocese, at a meeting between Bishop Frank Caggiano, his attorney Paul Michaels, Serphin Maltese, Chairman of our Board, Thomas V. Ognibene, Vice-Chairman and School President Michael Michel to provide the Diocesan St. Elizabeth Seton Trust Fund and Catholic education approximately 1.7 million dollars over the next five years. The Bishop and his attorney agreed to accept these funds. These funds are in addition to the use of our rentals and donations to meet our fiduciary duty to our parents and students by maintaining the facility and keeping tuition affordable.

3 Page 3 of 5 Below are the steps taken by Christ the King High School to meet our commitment to the Diocese, Catholic education and our parents and students. Christ the King s By-Laws state: VIII. DISCONTINUANCE OF SCHOOL Be it resolved that in the event of the dissolution of Christ the King High School, all of the remaining assets and property of the school located at Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, New York, and after the payment of necessary expenses shall be distributed to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn an entity organized pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal Tax Laws, subject to the approval of a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. IX. AMENDMENT None of these Bylaws shall be altered, amended, suspended or repealed, nor shall any addition be made thereto unless a proposition in writing therefore shall be offered at a duly convened meeting of the Board and laid upon the table until the next meeting when, if upon calling the yeas and nays, it shall appear that two-thirds (2/3) of all members of the Board voting are in favor of the proposition, the same shall be adopted. Notwithstanding this Article IX or any article in these by-laws or any provision in Robert s Rules of Order or any other recognized manual of parliamentary procedure to the contrary, Article VIII of these by-laws entitled Discontinuance of School may not be, in any manner, altered, amended, suspended or repealed, nor shall any addition be made thereto regardless of any vote of the Board, thereby making Article VIII a permanent provision in these by-laws.

4 Page 4 of 5 In 1989 Christ the King created an Academic Grant and Scholarship Fund which in the past ten years, has granted to incoming meritorious students more than $4 million. For the school year, Christ the King s Board has not raised tuition and will not raise tuition for the school year. In the past we have had to raise tuition by 3-5% each year. Below are additional programs that will allocate an additional $1.7 million over the next five years to support Catholic education. Beginning with the school year, all students coming from a Catholic grammar school to Christ the King High School will receive a $1500 grant over the course of their four years. This lowers the yearly tuition by $ In the coming years, as revenue increases from the MVP charter school, Christ the King will be offering additional grants and scholarships. Christ the King also donates the full tuition lost by any District 24 Catholic school, as a result of any of their students attending the Middle Village Prep Charter School. As of this date, four schools have received $5,378 and will continue to receive the monthly tuition for as long as those students remain in the charter school. The Board has and will remain very aggressive in seeking out new revenues to help keep the cost of tuition down for our parents but understands our obligation to Catholic education in doing so, thus Christ the King donates to the St. Elizabeth Seton Fund as part of the negotiations with the Diocese. As of this date, we have given the St. Elizabeth Seton Fund $11, (40% of rental income) and over the next five years, as the rental income increases, the St. Elizabeth Seton Fund will have been given over $316,000 from Christ the King to help lower income students attending Catholic elementary schools.

5 Page 5 of 5 We would like to congratulate and express our sincere appreciation to all the Christ the King families and our talented faculty for their dedication and hard work in the good times and bad times over the last 37 years. Your sacrifice has kept this great Catholic institution alive and well and we know that with your support and dedication, we will continue to provide an academic and spiritual education second to none, for thousands of students for many years to come. Sincerely, Serphin R. Maltese Thomas V. Ognibene Michael Michel Peter J. Mannarino Chairman Vice-Chairman President Principal For updated information, please visit the Christ the King website