Iona Prep School, Iona Grammar to Merge

By Gary Stern
Journal News
October 10, 2012

http://www.lohud.com/article/20121011/NEWS02/310110118/Iona-Prep-School-Iona-Grammar-merge?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

Iona Preparatory School is acquiring Iona Grammar School from the Christian Brothers order, which is in bankruptcy after years of being hit with sexual-abuse lawsuits.

The two schools will be merged and called Iona Preparatory School at some point. There has long been a close relationship between the two New Rochelle schools, with Iona Grammar sending about half its graduates to Iona Prep.

Brother Thomas Leto, president of Iona Prep, will serve as president of the merged school.

“Since I have arrived at Iona Preparatory School, I have always told our faculty, parents, alumni, and students that my goal was to make Iona Prep the finest Catholic school for young men in the Northeast,” Leto said in a statement. “By extending the Iona Prep experience into the Grammar School, this takes us one step closer to that goal.”

Both schools were founded by the Christian Brothers, a global Roman Catholic order, but Iona Prep has long operated independently.

The North American branch of the Christian Brothers, which is based in New Rochelle, filed for bankruptcy last year.

A spokesman for Iona Prep would not disclose a price for the purchase.

Iona Prep is a high school that serves 780 students. Iona Grammar now has about 200 students in grades kindergarten to eight.

For the time being, Iona Grammar will maintain its separate identity.

“The two corporations still have to be merged,” Leto said.