The Jackson Board of Education announced on Friday that it now expects to close on the sale of the Rosenauer Elementary School to Bais Yaakov of Jackson (Bais Faiga) in early June. This comes after Bais Yaakov filed a lawsuit alleging that the board had abruptly changed the terms of their $13.1 million agreement, throwing the deal into chaos.
The lawsuit, filed last week, claimed that the school board had demanded significantly more money before closing than what was originally agreed upon. According to the complaint, Bais Yaakov had been prepared to provide a $655,500 deposit—5% of the purchase price—when the board instead returned a contract demanding a $1.3 million deposit (10% of the purchase price) and an additional $5.2 million, totaling an unprecedented 40% of the purchase price. These new conditions, Bais Yaakov alleged, were never part of the original bid specifications.
Compounding the issue, the board also slashed the mortgage contingency period from 60 days to just 10—an unexpected change that Bais Yaakov argued was designed to make closing nearly impossible. The board ultimately notified the school on March 10 that it would be “moving in a different direction,” and on March 19, it passed a unanimous resolution authorizing district executives to either reopen bidding for the property or explore alternative uses if no contract was executed.
However, following the lawsuit’s filing, the board has now confirmed that all outstanding issues have been resolved, allowing the sale to move forward as originally planned.
