A Bermuda neighbor is credited with wrangling former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to speak at the Golden Jubilee of the Park Avenue Christian Church Day School last week.
For his efforts, Mayor Bloomberg received a onesie for his grandson, emblazoned: Jasper, Class of 2018.
The mayor lauded Betsy Newell, head of the school, claiming, “I have to be nice, I’m going to apply.”
On the subject of the school possibly being of the wrong faith, Bloomberg quipped that when his daughter applied to Episcopal, he’d fielded the same question from his mother. “Mother, they haven’t had an Episcopalian at that school for 20 years,” he said he told her.
The storied school, in its 50th year, recently moved across town from the church because Pastor Alvin Jackson — caught plagiarizing sermons at his previous post in Washington, DC — has plans to demolish the school’s historic building and erect a residential tower to the relieve financial strain on his flagging congregation.
Auction items procured by the wealthy parents included: getaways in Bermuda (at a private home), Anguilla, Morocco, Paris and Bali; a bunny painting by Hunt Slonem; and a round of golf and lunch at Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, NY.