All good things, I guess, have to come to an end.

Judge Sides With City In Battle To Evict Boys Choir Of Harlem


The final note may have sounded in the battle between the city and the Boys Choir of Harlem, as a Manhattan judge on Friday refused to issue a restraining order to block the Department of Education from evicting the choir from its school offices and rehearsal space. Judge Karla Moskowitz says she could find nothing illegal about the decision to kick out the choir. The city locked the group out of the Choir Academy of Harlem on Tuesday. The choir has been practicing in the school rent-free since 1993 in exchange for providing choral instruction. Lawyers for the city say choir officials didn't live up to a January 2004 agreement to make administrative changes after a sexual abuse scandal. The choir said on Thursday it would start looking for a new rehearsal space.

The parents of Boys Choir students filed a civil rights lawsuit against the DOE earlier this week. The lawsuit accuses school officials of trying to destroy the choir academy, acting out of "petty jealousy and issues of control." To help get the choir's financial house in order, former Mayor David Dinkins and Congressman Charles Rangel have raised more than $1 million. However, donors only pledged the money with the understanding the Boy's Choir of Harlem would stay where it was, and choir supporters say the eviction now puts that money, and perhaps the choir's future, at risk.