Saint Brigid Academy in Pacific Heights announces permanent closure

Saint Brigid Academy in Pacific Heights said it was shutting down permanently, ending the run of a school founded in 1888 at Franklin Street and Broadway Street. The closure comes less than two years after Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone cut the ribbon at the school’s June 29, 2024 relaunch and the archdiocese cast it as Northern California’s first Catholic micro school.

The academy had been rebuilt around a tiny classroom model for K-8 students with learning differences, including dyslexia, attention challenges, neurodivergence and academically gifted students. Archdiocese materials described a 7:1 teacher-student ratio, while the school’s own website listed average class sizes of about five students and tuition of $20,950. Archdiocese Executive Director of Communications Peter Marlow said the shutdown was tied to an enrollment shortage that hurt operations.

Families were told their deposits would be refunded later this summer. For Pacific Heights families, alumni and parish members, the loss reaches beyond a single schoolhouse. Saint Brigid had served as a neighborhood anchor for generations, and its transition from St. Brigid School to Saint Brigid Academy in summer 2024 had been promoted as a fresh start for Catholic education in the city.

The timing landed especially hard because the archdiocese was already under intense strain. On June 29, 2026, the Archdiocese of San Francisco agreed to a $395 million settlement with more than 500 clergy sexual abuse survivors, resolving roughly 530 claims and adding 14 child-protection and transparency reforms after nearly three years in bankruptcy protection. The archdiocese serves almost 2 million Catholics across San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, and the settlement underscored how much instability has gripped Catholic institutions in the Bay Area.

Saint Brigid’s history on the block stretches back much further. Rev. Peter A. Birmingham founded the school in 1888. The present building went up in 1928, and the church closed in 1994 after decades associated with the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sisters of Mercy of Dublin and, since 1982, the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.

The campus also sits beside a property still changing hands. The former St. Brigid Church at 2151 Van Ness Avenue was sold by Academy of Art University in 2026, adding another shift to a site long tied to Catholic life in Pacific Heights.