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Mayor Says Church Leader Broke Promise To Rebuild Tornado Damaged School

Cathedral High School, the only Catholic high school in Springfield, Massachusetts remains closed because of the damage caused by the June  1, 2011 tornado.  Classes were moved to suburban Wilbraham
WAMC
Cathedral High School, the only Catholic high school in Springfield, Massachusetts remains closed because of the damage caused by the June 1, 2011 tornado. Classes were moved to suburban Wilbraham
Cathedral High School, the only Catholic high school in Springfield, Massachusetts remains closed because of the damage caused by the June  1, 2011 tornado.  Classes were moved to suburban Wilbraham
Credit WAMC
Cathedral High School, a fixture in Springfield's East Forest Park neighborhood for a half-century was destroyed in the June 2011 tornado.

There is frustration and anger over a delay in rebuilding the only Catholic high school in Springfield, Massachusetts that was destroyed in the 2011 tornado.

   Parents and alumnae of Cathedral High School said they were blindsided by Springfield Bishop Mitchell Rozanski’s call for more study to help him make a decision on the school’s future.  Mayor Domenic Sarno said Rozanski had reneged on a pledge made by his now retired predecessor to rebuild the high school in the same neighborhood where it had stood since 1959

   " We had a deal," said Sarno.  " We had a deal with Bishop ( Timothy) McDonnell, and I would hope they would respect that deal and get the job done and get Cathedral built, ASAP, no questions asked."

  Congressman Richard Neal, who helped secure FEMA money to rebuild the school, said he was dismayed by the turn of events.

Copyright 2014 WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Paul Tuthill is WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief. He’s been covering news, everything from politics and government corruption to natural disasters and the arts, in western Massachusetts since 2007. Before joining WAMC, Paul was a reporter and anchor at WRKO in Boston. He was news director for more than a decade at WTAG in Worcester. Paul has won more than two dozen Associated Press Broadcast Awards. He won an Edward R. Murrow award for reporting on veterans’ healthcare for WAMC in 2011. Born and raised in western New York, Paul did his first radio reporting while he was a student at the University of Rochester.

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