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St Gregory's Fights For Survival

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  • St Gregory's Fights For Survival

    ST GREGORY'S FIGHTS FOR SURVIVAL
    by David Catt

    Cumberland Courier Newspapers
    http://rouse-hill-times.whereilive.com.au/news/story/st-gregorys-fights-for-survival/
    Nov 2 2010
    Australia

    A DECISION by the Commonwealth Bank to freeze a school's bank accounts
    over a loan dispute has left six students without a place of learning.

    St Gregory's Armenian School at Rouse Hill was liquidated by the
    Supreme Court and deregistered by the Education Department last month
    after the school's directors, Daniel and Michael Ghoughasian, could
    not access its account to pay teachers.

    The bank froze the school's accounts in May 2008 and took the school
    to court in March this year in an attempt recover $670,000 it had
    loaned the school to cover debts incurred in the process of preparing
    to build a high school.

    In court, the bank claimed the school was in default of its loan
    and had no viable means of repaying, although no repayments were due
    until building was completed.

    Associate Justice Harrison found in favour of the school.

    She ruled that the bank had failed to give the school adequate notice
    of its demand for immediate repayment, and that the original loan
    was a commitment by the bank to see the building project through
    to completion.

    However, the bank did not unfreeze the school's account, which
    contained $160,000.

    The school announced legal action against the bank to reclaim costs and
    to have its accounts unfrozen but in June 2010, with that action still
    pending, former teachers began court proceedings against the school.

    The teachers, made redundant in 2008 because of falling enrolments,
    were claiming unpaid redundancies worth $100,000.

    Justice White found in favour of the teachers and found grounds to
    place the school, with assets of $10 million, into liquidation.

    The Commonwealth Bank has a writ of possession for the school but can't
    sell it because the Ghoughasians still have a registered mortgage on
    the 4ha property. The brothers are back in court on Wednesday in an
    effort to stop their names being removed from the mortgage.

    * ST GREGORY'S Armenian School was opened in Mungerie Rd in Rouse
    Hill in 1984 and is in the state's top 50 schools, according to
    NAPLAN testing.

    The school was started to provide education for Armenian children
    living in lower socio-economic areas of Sydney.

    As the school only charged fees of $500 a year, it relied on
    benefactors and government grants.

    It is understood that the directors also poured in $15 million of
    their own money to keep the school operating.




    From: A. Papazian
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