Huntington Lawyers Head to Court over Former Toaz Site
Huntington School District lawyers have been summoned to State Supreme Court on Feb. 1 for oral arguments on a pending motion filed by the Good News New York Church and International Youth Fellowship Education Foundation to dismiss a declaratory judgment action brought by the district over the former site of Robert K. Toaz Junior High School. Justice Peter H. Mayer will hear arguments in courtroom A259 located at One Court Street in Riverhead at 9:30 a.m.
Last spring, Huntington School Board members authorized commencement of a legal action against the seller and reported purchaser of what had been known as the Touro Law School building located at Woodhull and Nassau Roads. The structure was built during the Great Depression and opened as the first junior high school in Suffolk County.
The vote to bring the legal action was 7-0 and followed a presentation on the matter by school attorney Gregory J. Guercio. Specifically, trustees authorized Guercio & Guercio, the law firm that represents the district, “to commence a declaratory judgment action against the seller and purchaser of the Touro Law School property in connection with the restrictive covenant set forth in the deed.” That covenant restricts the site’s use to that of a school and no other purpose.
When trustees took the action last spring, Touro was in contract to sell the building and property, which includes an adjacent 5.5 acre site across the street from the school to the Good News Church (www.goodnews.or.kr/ - select English and then choose the USA link.) For several weeks prior to the School Board authorization, Good News Church vans had been seen at the school along with numerous cars. Since then, the Good News Church has moved in and occupied the site.
The motion to bring the legal action last spring was made by trustee Jill Collyer and seconded by trustee Eunice Marchi. The district closed Toaz in 1982 and later sold it to Touro, which used it for more than two decades as a law school before moving to its present Central Islip location.
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