Brattle Resident Files Suit To Close Down Day School

The Cambridge resident leading a campaign to close the Brattle St. Commonwealth Day School (CDS) has asked a county court to reconsider a Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) decision allowing the school to operate and expand.

In two appeals filed last month with the Middlesex Superior Court, Jean Brooks states that the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) should not have upheld the school's right to operate a kindergarten on the site. In addition, it should not have issued a permit allowing CDS to offer classes through seventh grade.

The complaints say the property should be residential and charges that an expansion of the school's programs would increase congestion in the affluent neighborhood, according to Brooks' attorney Howard Medwed.

CDS attorney James Rafferty said the school will file counter-claims and seek damages because the suit is depriving it of potential revenue. The school cannot expand its curriculum while Brooks' suit is under consideration.

Rafferty called the appeals "a completely dilatory tactic designed to prevent the school from succeeding in its present location."

The BZA voted in October to permit the expansion for the school, which opened its doors at the Brattle St. location in September.