SF Catholic school suddenly shuts down after more than 130 years

A San Francisco Catholic school is abruptly shutting down after more than 130 years amid declining enrollment and a $395 million sexual abuse settlement.

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The school, St. Brigid Academy, located in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, is a K-8 school that was established in 1888. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, families were notified about the closure last week and students’ $20,950 tuition for the upcoming school year is expected to be refunded later this summer.

The school’s website does not appear to be live as of Tuesday afternoon. 

Peter Marlow, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, confirmed the closure to SFGATE and said it is “strictly related” to its enrollment woes, which have caused “financial and academic issues that negatively impacted the school’s operations.”

“It is sad news. St. Brigid Academy is an amazing school. I attended the meeting with parents last week and heard amazing testimonies of the school’s success and how children thrived in the environment that was created there,” Marlow said. 

He added that the Archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools tried to merge the school with other schools, but “after exhausting these options,” officials ultimately decided to close the school. The school’s principal is working with families to help place them in other schools, Marlow said. 

The closure comes not long after the San Francisco Archdiocese agreed to pay nearly $400 million to more than 500 people who allege they were sexually abused by clergy members when they were children, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Some of the allegations date back seven decades, the news outlet reported. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

In the Monday announcement, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the San Francisco archdiocese called the proposed settlement a “path toward fair compensation for survivors.” 

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“While the vast majority of sexual abuse allegations associated with this bankruptcy were from many decades ago, we accept full responsibility for what happened, and I sincerely apologize to all those who have been harmed,” Cordileone said.

Marlow told SFGATE that the closure of St. Brigid Academy has “nothing to do” with the recent sex abuse settlement.

“The two events are unrelated. No archdiocesan school or parish is being closed to fund the proposed settlement,” he said. 

Marlow did not respond to SFGATE’s additional questions in time for publication.