After two years of being closed, the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church elementary school building is being put to use again. The parish will lease most of the building to ACDS, the Association for Children with Down Syndrome.

The Archdiocese of New York announced in the summer of 2020 that the school would not open for the 2020-21 year, and the building has not been used as a school since. 

ACDS was originally founded in 1966 by a group of parents on Long Island who were seeking services for their young children with Down syndrome, according to an emailed announcement from Monsignor Petrillo, OLPH’s pastor. Since then, the group has grown into a lifetime services agency that serves families of children with a wide range of disabilities that include Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, speech and language delays and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Currently, ACDS utilizes the school building of Our Lady of Fatima, which is part of Annunciation-Fatima Parish in Scarsdale. The OLPH school building will allow the association to have another site in Westchester County. ACDS will use the building for a program serving pre-K and Kindergarten children.

“I am certain that many parishioners will be happy to know that our building is being used to serve such precious young children,” said Petrillo.

The parish will maintain full use of the gymnasium and the bathroom nearest the gym, and there will be no interruption in the CYO program.