学校历史

St的历史. 布里吉德的小说开始于1839年, reportedly the year that the first Catholic mass was said in the home of Bernard Powers "at the Rood in Westbury, 在皇后郡的亨普斯特德平原."  "The Diocese of Brooklyn was created in 1853 to minister to the three counties of Long Island, 即, 国王, 皇后区, 和萨福克郡.  很明显，那时候还没有拿骚县.]  In 1856, the first church building, a simple wooden structure was dedicated.  "The loyal Irish of the Hempstead Plains entrusted their church to the patronage of the amazing Celtic saint, St. 爱尔兰之桥.“牧师. Thomas McGronen是第一位常驻牧师，于1893年来到这里.  他立即着手改善他那可怜的使命的条件.  Sunday after Sunday he made appeals to the different congregations in Brooklyn and shortly had built a rectory. [1]  到1896年，第二座教堂建筑完工.                                                                                                                  
1904年，牧师. 威廉F. 麦金尼斯博士成为牧师.  "His scholarly qualities immediately placed him among the foremost in the civic affairs of Westbury, and he was elected President of the Board of Education of the Public Schools which post he held until 1922 when he left Westbury.  In 1905 he launched his first project, the erection of a Parish Hall and Public Library.  Dr. McGinnis did not stop there but immediately undertook his next major task, 我们美丽宏伟的石头教堂的建筑, 华丽的彩色玻璃窗和华丽的管风琴."[2] 

“在新教堂建成一段时间后, 那座旧建筑被搬到了波斯特大街对面, 在那里它被改造成八个教室.  它成为了韦斯特伯里的第一所教区学校.  The re-laying of the corner-stone took place in 1915 and classes began for the first time in 1918 after Doctor McGinnis was fortunate in obtaining the assistance of the good Sisters of Notre Dame to conduct the school.  Their zeal and sacrifice was rewarded shortly after with their first class graduating in 1921.

1944年，Fr. 詹姆斯一. Sullivan became Pastor and continued facing the demands of a growing population.  By leaps and bounds the Island developed and brought in countless families within the confines of St. 布里吉特.  His zeal and tireless energy saw him converting the Parish Library and Lyceum into classrooms to relieve overcrowding in the school building.  In the meantime he was going from door-to-door begging for help from his devoted parishioners to build a new School.  首先，他购买了价值10万美元的土地.  然而，在奉献仪式之前，他被调到了布鲁克林.  汤姆斯神父. Code于1954年9月接替苏利文神父担任牧师.  From his arrival, Father Code saw that his new task was going to be a great one.  He immediately began the incessant work of raising the necessary funds to pay for the building, 差不多可以入住了.  

1955年6月19日是奉献日.  (布鲁克林的)科尔尼主教来为新学校奉献.  This outstanding monument to Catholic education consists of eighteen classrooms, 可容纳900人的礼堂, 厨房餐厅, 医务室和校长办公室.  建筑师是William Boegel和建造者Frank Droesch & Co.  两家公司, and those associated with them in the building of our school have reason to be proud, for the work of their mind and their hand clearly indicates a conscientiousness to have their efforts give to God and to the education of his little ones, 最好的地方.  This masterpiece of architecture was constructed at the cost of $900,000.  学校住宿问题似乎还在继续, 因为不断有新家庭涌入教区.  The new school opened and classes are continuing in the Parish Hall as an overflow from the new building.  Still hundreds of our children cannot be accommodated, as we would wish."[3]

June 19, 1955 was also the day of dedication of the Carle Place Chapel.  自1938年以来，圣. 布里吉特的教区 celebrated mass in a rented storefront in the neighboring community of Carle Place.  这将在后面的故事中出现.   

"School opened on September 8, 1955 with an enrollment of 1,020 students.  Every room in the brand new school was filled to capacity and classes were still conducted in two Parish buildings on Post Avenue.  现在有14个修女和3个非专业教师.  St的受欢迎程度. 布里吉德学校继续发展.  10月7日, 1963 ground was broken for the addition to the school of 14 classrooms, 图书馆, 健康 & 维修办公室和礼堂.  新增加的部分于1965年9月8日开放.  For the first time it was possible to have all the students under one roof with an enrollment of 1,470.

全部入学的年份将持续五年左右.  Declines first began in the 1970s as tuition rate increases began to increase significantly.  The enrollment in 1973 was down to 990 with a faculty of 15 lay teachers and 10 Sisters.  The decline in Religious Vocations and changes since Vatican II began to show in the numbers of Sisters teaching in Catholic Schools throughout the United States.

在此之前，圣. 布里吉特的学校 the students were predominantly Roman Catholic, and of Irish and Italian descent.  A significant change began in 1975 when Father Fred Schaefer became pastor.  Fr. Schaefer recognized that a change was occurring in a neighborhood within the Parish known as New Cassell.  A new wave of immigration was beginning; refugees from the civil war in El Salvador were settling in the area.  Fr. Schaefer believed that the Church had an obligation to welcome these new people into our community.  他还认为我们应该教育他们的孩子.  Fr. Schaefer was able to find funding so that a number of Latino children were able to attend St. 布里吉特的学校.  Civil strife in Haiti resulted in a wave of immigration from that country to the New Cassell neighborhood as well.  The tradition of participation in Catholic schooling among the Haitian community continued upon their arrival in the United States.  他们也把自己的孩子送到了圣. 布里吉特的学校.  The result was a steady wave of "white flight" that began a fundamental change in the composition of the student body.

在此之前，就读圣. 布里吉特的学校, 在很大程度上, resided in the communities served by the Parish; Westbury, 南韦斯特伯里, 东梅多, 和卡尔广场.  As enrollment continued to decline, the school leaders decided to accept non-Catholic students.  这增加了学生来自的地理区域, 包括亨普斯特德, ”, 和罗斯福.  The students from these communities were predominantly African American and non-Catholic.  The percentage of non-Catholic students would approach 25% in the 1980s.       

The Catholic population continued to grow in Westbury, Carle Place, and 南韦斯特伯里.  海地和拉丁美洲天主教徒, 许多难民因国内冲突和贫穷而逃离家园, 在新卡塞尔定居, 圣. 布里吉特的教区.  为了应对不断增长的天主教人口, the Diocese of Rockville Centre made a decision that would have a negative impact on the finances of St. 布里吉特的教区.  On June 17, 1987, the Carle Place Chapel was re-dedicated as Our Lady of Hope Parish Church.  当分裂发生时，对圣. 布里吉德教区大幅减少.  事实证明, the people in the newly formed parish contributed a disproportionately high percentage of revenue to St. 布里吉特的教区.  St. 布里吉特的教区 has had financial struggles to one degree or another since the split occurred twenty years ago.  财政拮据影响到了教区学校.  这对当时的校长来说并不罕见, 妹妹Carlann, 连基本的办学资源都没有. 

Declining enrollment in Catholic Schools throughout the Diocese prompted Rockville Centre Bishop John McGann to appoint a committee in 1988 to study elementary schools. The committee and report became known as the Action Committee for Catholic Education (ACCE).  In 1990 Bishop McGann accepted the ACCE report, which made significant points including:

• 教区一般无法自己资助学校.
• 所有教区都将帮助支持天主教学校.
• 天主教区域小学的概念, 在大多数情况下, would generally supersede the concept of parish-based elementary schools.
• The Diocese would share in supporting Catholic schools with an annual $1M grant.

1989年，Fr. 弗朗西斯X. 盖塔成为圣. 布里吉特的教区.  His goals as pastor included stabilizing parish finances and evaluating the long-term viability of the school.  决定改变学校的领导.  Fr. 盖塔雇佣了. 克里斯汀·隆巴迪将于1991年9月开始担任校长.  她在公立学校有多年的工作经验, 退休后担任学生人事服务助理督学.  Fr. Gaeta charged the school parents with an annual fundraising goal of $100,000.  父母接受了挑战.  他承诺以每年215美元的补贴支持这所学校,000, an amount 43% higher than recommended by diocesan guidelines based on parish revenue. School began with an enrollment of 416 children staffed by 23 lay teachers and 2 School Sisters of Notre Dame.  72年来，圣. 布里吉德没有SSND作为校长.  At the end of that school year, the parent group met their fundraising goal, and 夫人. Lombardi建议Fr. 盖塔说这所学校“值得拯救”." 

The school leadership was aware that regional schools were eligible to apply for Diocesan financial support through a grant program.  学校区域化的进程开始了.  Fr. Francis Midura, the pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish, agreed to join St. 布里吉德教区对学校的支持和赞助.  经教区批准，学校于1995年以圣. 布丽吉德/希望圣母地区学校.  The composition of the school board would now include the pastor and three members of St. 布里吉特的教区, and the pastor and two members of Our Lady of Hope Parish.  学校还将获得每年约70美元的补贴,希望圣母教区捐赠的一万美元. 

夫人. 伦巴第现在可以申请教区支援补助金.  The grant proposal was accepted and the school was awarded Diocesan Mission Status, 这在很大程度上要归功于学校多元化的学生群体.  The school would be one of three regional schools that would receive financial support from the Diocese.  最初的赠款是10万美元.每年00英镑，为期三年.  数额每年都在变化.  2006/2007学年的资助额为16万元.00.

在她不断努力改善学校的过程中. Lombardi initiated the self-study process that would eventually lead to the initial accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

1996年秋天，奥巴马夫人. Lombardi announced her intention to retire at the end of the school year.  A search committee comprised of parents, teachers and clergy was formed.  They recommended, and the Diocese approved, the appointment of the school's assistant principal, Mr. Paul Clagnaz从1997年9月开始担任校长. 

The school experienced moderate enrollment gains each of the next five years, 在2001年9月达到513名学生.  2001年最生动的记忆是911事件.  这是一个美丽的夏末早晨.  我们开始明白, 一点一点地, 双子塔发生了什么, 五角大楼, 和宾夕法尼亚的田野，随着早晨的流逝.  起初我们以为这是一起可怕的事故, 然后当第二座塔被撞的时候, 我们意识到这是一次恐怖袭击.  Our main priority that day was making sure all of our students had a safe place to go home to that evening.  Quite a number of our parents work in Manhattan, and several in the towers themselves.  不幸的是，我们学校那天失去了两个小女孩的父亲.  因为这个国家正在经历这个动荡的时期, stories were breaking in Boston that would have shake the American Catholic Church to it's very foundation.  The Boston Globe exposed a pattern of priest sex abuse and cover-ups by the institutional church that allegedly involved Cardinal Bernard F. 法律.  By December of 2002 cases of abuse and cover-up came to light in Catholic Dioceses from coast to coast and border to border.  In our own Diocese of Rockville Centre accusations were brought against over 40 priests.  威廉主教. Murphy was also caught in the storm for the role he allegedly played in abuse cases while a high level diocesan official in Boston.  Church leaders have still not completely emerged from the crisis in confidence in their leadership.   The pain and suffering of victims is still raw and unabated despite large financial settlements, 最近发生在洛杉矶教区和罗克维尔中心. 

巧合的是, 2002 also marked the beginning of enrollment declines at our school and in many others in the Diocese.  担心入学人数下降和财政压力, Bishop William Murphy and Superintendent of Schools Sister Joanne Callahan, appointed a committee to work with a consultant in order to study the issues facing the elementary schools and to make recommendations to Bishop Murphy.  The Catholic Elementary School Study Committee was formed in January 2004. 

委员会编制了调查文书，分发给牧师, 目前就读天主教学校学生的家长, 前天主教学校学生的家长, 以及参加教区宗教教育项目的孩子的家长.  The survey results indicated that there was general consensus that Catholic elementary schools were of value to the Church and community.  父母们提出的主要担忧是负担能力, 和公立学校相比, 缺乏针对特殊需要和天才儿童的项目, and academic and extra-curricular offerings in our Catholic Middle Schools.

The Study Committee made several recommendations that the Bishop accepted, among them the formation of a Diocesan Education Commission that would deal with developing curricula and educational programs, and the Tomorrow's Hope Foundation that would raise funds for scholarships, 技术开发, 在健康和安全受到威胁时进行紧急维修.  基金会和委员会于2005年3月成立.  我们的现任校长. 克拉格纳兹被邀请到小学学习委员会任职, 也是明日希望基金会的董事会成员. 

明天的希望奖学金项目是基于需求的.  在2007-2008学年(项目的第二年)超过1美元.5 million has been committed to partial scholarships to children across the Diocese.  参加圣餐的家庭. 布里吉特/Our Lady of Hope地区学校获得$90,000的奖金.在即将到来的学年里，我将提供00美元的学费补助. 新教区的倡议, 尤其是学费补助计划, 给了我们对未来的希望吗.

1. St. 布里吉德的百年期刊(Westbury, NY: 1956)， 18-28.
2. 如上,29岁.
3. 如上,32-33.