Harlem boys choir gets eviction notice
*NEW YORK (AP) -- The world-renown Boys Choir of Harlem, struggling
under multimillion-dollar debt and sexual abuse allegations, is facing
eviction.*
New York City has asked the group to leave the public school where it
practices for free by January 31, 2006. The Boys Choir also provided
some instruction at the school, called the Choir Academy of Harlem, as
part of a 12-year collaboration with the Department of Education.
The choir failed to fulfill a 2004 agreement to find a new chief
executive to replace founder Walter Turnbull, said department attorney
Michael Best in a letter Thursday. Turnbull was demoted to artistic
director after an investigation concluded he did not act on reports that
an employee was sexually abusing a student.
Turnbull has continued to run the organization, the attorney said.
The department also said the choir staff failed to report to the school
when expected -- apparently because the staff was not being paid due to
the choir's financial problems.
In January 2005, the Boys Choir asked the department for $705,000. It
said it had debts of up to $5 million and anticipated a deficit of
hundreds of thousands of dollars that fiscal year. The department, which
had not previously funded the Boys Choir, refused.
Turnbull said Friday the Boys Choir would find a new home.
"Surely there are people out here who realize that when 98 percent of
your kids graduate high school and go on to college that there's
something right," he told Fox 5 News.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/25/harlem.choir.ap/index.html
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