The Story of Saint Brigid's Convent
In the mid 1960's Saint Brigid's school was staffed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame and in addition to educating over 300 elementary age students, the sisters also ran an after-school religious education program for over 500 high school students -- this at a time that nearby Catholic High Schools weren't yet built.

The parish built a residential building as a home for 20 sisters -- the convent on Saint Brigid's Lane.

Over time, the number of students and number of sisters changed. By 1991, there were no longer enough sisters to live in the convent and they moved out.

At the time, then County Executive Thomas Gulotta favored a policy for Nassau County to rent properties throughout different communities in the county, and the neighborhood around Saint Brigid's school was the beneficiary of this policy when Nassau County rented the empty convent building for a "back office" for the Nassau County Police Department. Even though the facility did not serve the community directly (as a precinct would) and even though the building was used 24/7 with a lot of traffic with undercover police coming and going from their operations in other neighborhoods, local residents felt that the presence of this police instition made the neighborhood safer. The parish also benefitted as the rental income ($220,000) was essential income for many parish programs and for the support of the school.

When County Executive Thomas Suozzi took over the leadership of the county, he pledged to consolidate county facilities in a desire to cut expenses and save taxpayer's costs. Since the county owned an under-utilized building that was suitable for the police operations, it was decided to move the facilty from the rented building in Westbury into the county-owned building. The parish and the neighborhood were concerned about the effect of losing the police rental, but after asking the county to reconsider moving the police out, it became clear that the convent building would soon be empty.

Who Would Rent Our Building?

In 2006 we sent e-mails to many people to invite them to spread the word that we would soon be seeking a suitable tenant for the building. We contacted village officials and spoke to different real estate agencies to alert them to the availability of the building. We received dozens and dozens of requests to inspect the building and we gave tours to a variety of agencies and institutions, including the local board of education. We received several follow-up offers, but none were suitable for our neighborhood (e.g. off campus college dormitory; drug rehab program) -- we needed a tenant whose program was suitable to be sited between two elementary schools and in a residential neighborhoood.

Then Sister Judy Mannix, who had been on the pastoral staff of Saint Brigid's, passed on the news of our convent's availabilty to a family service agency where she serves on the board of directors. This agency -- SCO Family Services -- sent representatives to inspect the building and realized that the building was suited for a program that could serve local children, who until now were being served out of state.

Recent legislation in the state established The Out-of-State Placement Committee to "...enhance New York’s service system infrastructure to allow for the children most at risk of being referred and placed in out-of-state schools and facilities to be served within New York in the most appropriate, least restrictive and safest setting..."

One of the populations that was regularly being sent out of state (and away from their families in Nassau County) were children with Aspergers Syndrome and high functioning autism who needed a residential program to address their developmental needs. SCO realized that our convent building -- which had both classroom-sized rooms and the original residential rooms for the sisters -- was a good facility for this program. Thus they proposed to the parish and the Village of Westbury the establishment of "Westbrook Preparatory School."

While their financial offer did not match the income we had been receiving from the Nassau County, it was close to what we needed for our program expenses and subsidy to St Brigid/Our Lady of Hope School.

Some important Questions and Answers about Asperger Syndrome and Autism
Some important Questions and Answers about the Proposed School
Some important Questions and Answers about the Next Steps