The story of Annunciation School begins with the founding of Annunciation Parish in 1931. Father Timothy J. Dugan, the parish’s first pastor, is credited with starting the school. He bought a house, now the Convent, to use for the first school. He arranged for the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh to teach at Annunciation. The principal, Sister Francis Rose, and one other sister taught all classes — kindergarten to third grade. A year later, Father Dugan bought the house next door for the upper grades. The first graduation was held in 1948 and was made up of 16 students — seven boys and nine girls.
Father Dugan started raising money to expand the much needed school building. Phase one of our present day school was finished in 1951 (at a cost of $267,000). On March 23, 1952, the Westchester Avenue section of Annunciation School was dedicated by Francis Cardinal Spellman, who blessed each classroom.
As the Parish continued to grow, so did the school. By the early sixties, the basement church was converted into 4 classrooms. Since there were over 600 students (200 in the lower Church) and several grades had over 40 students, a new building was clearly needed. The parish began a building drive and raised $500,000 to build a two story, 10 room wing. This project was completed by 1960 in time for Annunciation’s 700 students.
Today, Annunciation has over 450 students and 30 faculty and staff members. Students are offered art, gym, Spanish, computer, library and music, in addition to the core curriculum areas.