While still holding out hope that a compromise can be worked out, officials of the Solomon Schechter Day School said they will proceed with legal action against the Hicksville School District to remain in the East Street School building.

"At this point they [school district officials] do not seem interested in talking, and if there is no talk or dialogue then we will talk in court," said Arthur Kremer, attorney representing the school.

Solomon Schechter has taken issue with the lack of notice it was given in regard to their lease of the East Street building not being renewed. They argue that it would be nearly impossible to find a suitable building before the next school year. Also, the construction of their own building on a site the school purchased in Old Westbury is still in the initial stages of development and appears to be at least three to five years away from completion.

Wende Jager-Hyman, executive director of the day school, indicated that since they were informed the lease was not being renewed they have approached the archdiocese and nearly every school district in Nassau County with little success of finding a building that meets their needs.

"Litigation is not what we want to do," said Jager-Hyman. "We want to sit down and talk and see if we can do something that is mutually beneficial for both the community and our school. That really is our preferential course of action."

According to Jager-Hyman, the school first contacted the district in November of 1997 asserting their desire to renew the lease of the building. In early December they received a letter from the district's attorneys requesting preliminary information for a new lease. A meeting was subsequently scheduled between Beth Ostrow, president of the Solomon Schechter Day School, and Dr. Edward Finn, superintendent of the district, to discuss the issue.

According to Jager-Hyman, Ostrow was given no indication that the district was planning on taking back the school in this short amount of time. She stated the school was unaware of any plan or intention of the district to reclaim the building until early March when they saw an article in the Hicksville Illustrated News indicating that a plan to reclaim East Street was gaining considerable support from the public and was being considered as a possible solution to address the overcrowding issue.

"I certainly understand the people of the community who want a neighborhood school," said Jager-Hyman. "We do not want to hurt the community, but we have a responsibility to 300 students.

Another meeting was immediately arranged between Ostrow and Dr. Finn and, according to Jager-Hyman, he said that the re-opening of East Street was presently one of four options still being considered and that it was a possibility. He urged her to attend the special school board meetings being held to discuss the issue.

"We saw a lot of community pressure to take the building back at the meeting we attended," said Jager-Hyman.

Sensing momentum shifting to the plan to open the school, Solomon Schechter officials had their attorneys contact the district and request them to not proceed with anything official until they had the opportunity to sit down and negotiate a resolution with the them.

Following the vote to open East Street School, the school's attorneys again tried to initiate negotiations. "Our lawyers contacted them and stated they would like to settle this in an amicable fashion," said Jager-Hyman. "And as of today we still have not heard a response."

Superintendent of the Hicksville School District, Dr. Edward Finn, stated that the information of the district's interest in East Street as a possible option to remedy the overcrowded conditions in the district was made public in November of last year and all subsequent developments were made public.

The school has offered to share the building with the district or to sign a short-term lease for two or three years as possible compromises with the district.

Dr. Finn stated that the district at this time has no plans to meet with representatives from Solomon Schechter and that they are planning on opening East Street in September.

"We hope that there still could be some discussion prior to us going to court," said Kremer. "If not then we will move for a prompt decision from the courts."

"There are very few alternatives at this point and very little time to find them," concluded Jager-Hyman.