Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, co-educational day school with two campuses in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. The Middle School (5th to 8th grades) and Upper School (9th to 12th grades) are located in the

Dyker Heights Dyker Heights is a predominantly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is on a hill between Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood is bounded by 7th and ...

section of Brooklyn, while the Lower School (nursery to 4th grade) is located in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. Initially founded as part of the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (predecessor of the

NYU Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

), Poly Prep now offers classes from nursery school through 12th grade.

History

Poly Prep was established years ago in 1854 as the

Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

in Downtown Brooklyn. It was one of the first private boys' schools in the city of Brooklyn. The initial aim of the school was to offer an academic program similar to that of

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

s of the time while striving to maintain a strong community feel among students and faculty alike. After 45 years, the future of the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute was re-evaluated in 1889, when the preparatory school and the collegiate division were finally separated. In 1891, the construction of a new building next door to the school's original building provided a home for the college, which became known as the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

. Both divisions still exist, although the collegiate division, after many changes of name, was eventually acquired by

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(NYU) in 2008 and, as of 2014, is now known as the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. After its initial separation from the collegiate division, the Polytechnic Preparatory Institute remained an all-boys collegiate preparatory program at 99 Livingston Street and, by the mid-1890s, had already become one of the largest prep schools in the country, with over 600 students.

Move to Dyker Heights

The school acquired its Dyker Heights location in 1916 after a 25-acre parcel of land, formerly the Dyker Meadow Golf Course, was offered to the trustees. Classes began during the fall of 1917 at the new campus, amid continued construction that helped shape much of the school's current appearance.

Going co-educational

During the tenure of headmaster William M. Williams, the school began the transition to

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

in 1977 when it first admitted girls, graduating its first co-ed class in 1979.

Creating primary school

Poly Prep's most recent and dramatic expansion occurred in 1995, with its acquisition of the historic Hulbert Mansion from the Brooklyn Ethical Culture Society, a site formerly rented by the now defunct Woodward Park School. The new property was converted into Poly's Lower School, offering classes for students from nursery through 4th grade.

Major primary school expansion

In the 2006–2007 school year, a modern expansion was added onto the Park Slope building. As part of its "Blue and Gray Goes Green!" initiative, Poly chose to reduce the new Lower School's ecological "footprint". Poly's renovated Lower School became the first

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

-certified school building in New York City, and the first such primary school building in the state. In April 2009, Poly Prep's Lower School won the Lucy B. Moses Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy as an outstanding example of historic preservation and renovation.

Child abuse claims

The school was the subject of a federal lawsuit filed in the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five counties in New York State: the four Long Island counties of Nassau, S ...

in Brooklyn in 2009 centering on the

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

of students by Philip Foglietta, the head football coach from 1966 to 1991. A 2004 state suit against the school had been dismissed due to the statute of limitations, but U.S. District Court Judge

Frederic Block Frederic Block (born June 6, 1934) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Education and career Born in Brooklyn, New York, the Honorable Frederic Block received an Ar ...

subsequently ruled that portions of the suit could proceed in federal court because administrators may have lied about when they learned of the abuse. Plaintiffs' attorney Kevin Mulhearn cited the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in alleging that past and current administrators had engaged in a coverup of the abuse. Published reports compared the abuse and alleged coverup to a similar scandal at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 2011. In March 2012 the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman joined the plaintiffs on a

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

basis. On September 19, 2012, new allegations connecting Foglietta and

Jerry Sandusky Gerald Arthur Sandusky (born January 26, 1944) is an American retired college football coach and convicted serial child molester. Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe Pa ...

surfaced. The suit was settled for $10 million in December 2012. On February 21, 2014, the school issued what the ''Wall Street Journal'' called "a sweeping apology" for the abuse and the school's failure over the decades to respond appropriately when victims revealed their abuse. The headmaster of the school, David Harman, and the chairman of the board of trustees, Scott Smith, subsequently resigned.

Institution

Divisions

Poly Prep consists of three divisions, beginning with the Lower School located at 50 Prospect Park West in Brooklyn. Lower School education commences with the nursery school program, which consists of early childhood learning up until the pre-kindergarten level, and continues on through fourth grade. The middle school program begins at grade 5, at which point Poly students enroll at Poly Prep's Middle and Upper School campus located at 9216 Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn, where they continue their education through 8th grade and then into high school.

Athletics

Interscholastic Leagues

Poly Prep is part of the Ivy Preparatory School League, a division of the greater New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), which comprises all the private schools in the state. The school has a number of award-winning programs, most notably football, basketball, and baseball. Hockey was introduced in 2010.

Athletic teams

Headmasters of the Country Day School

In the years since the opening of the

campus in 1917, Poly has had five headmasters: Joseph Dana Allen (1917–1949), J. Folwell Scull (1949–1970), William M. Williams (1970–2000), David Harman (2000–2016), and Audrius Barzdukas (2016–present).

Notable alumni and attendees

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obesity medicine Obesity medicine is a field of medicine dedicated to the comprehensive treatment of patients with obesity. Obesity medicine takes into account the multi-factorial etiology of obesity in which behavior, development, environment, Epigenetics, epigene ...

specialist at

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(born 1932), co-founder of SIRIUS Satellite Radio * Michael Brown (1949–2015), founder/member of bands The Left Banke and

Stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

, composer of "

Walk Away Renée "Walk Away Renée" is a song written by Michael Brown, Bob Calilli, and Tony Sansone for the band the Left Banke, released as a single in July 1966. Steve Martin Caro is featured on lead vocals. It spent 13 weeks on the US charts, with a top ...

" and "

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." Known as Michael Lookofsky during Poly years. (Did not graduate with class of 1967) * Rob Brown, actor *

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(born 1948), criminal defense attorney *

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(born 1958), radio personality *

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(1921-2007), actor, comedian best known for work on the ''David Letterman Show'' as Larry "Bud" Melman *

Kenneth Duberstein Kenneth Marc Duberstein (April 21, 1944 – March 2, 2022) was an American lobbyist who served as U.S. President Ronald Reagan's White House Chief of Staff from 1988 to 1989. Early life and education Duberstein was born to a Jewish family in Br ...

(born 1944), White House Chief of Staff to President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

; political consultant * Brian Flores, head coach of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

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* Dan Fogler (born 1976), actor;

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for ''

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'' * Joel Gertner (born 1975), professional wrestling personality * Jahkeen Gilmore (born 1983), former NFL wide receiver for the

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(born 1991), model * Briton Hadden (1898-1929), co-founder of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine * Harold Hellenbrand, university professor, administrator, and author *

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(born 1987), former

running back * R. M. Koster (born 1934), novelist * Rich Kotite (born 1942), former NFL player and coach *

Arthur Levitt Arthur Levitt Jr. (born February 3, 1931) is the former Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He served from 1993 to 2001 as the twenty-fifth and longest-serving chairman of the commission. Widely hailed as a c ...

(born 1931), Chairman of the United States

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, 1993-2001; Chairman of the

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, 1978-1989 * Howard Levy (born 1951), musician and

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

winner (with Bela Fleck and The Flecktones) *

Seth Low Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of t ...

(1851–1916), Mayor of

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; President of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

* Charles E. Marsters (1883-1962),

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

player * William C. McCreery (1896–1988), American lawyer and member of the

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(born 1930) novelist * Joakim Noah (born 1985), professional basketball player who played in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and

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* Eric Olsen (born 1988), professional football player who played in the NFL for the

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(born 1991), member of the

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from the 58th District * Richard Perry (born 1942), record producer *

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, founder and owner of Kinray, the largest privately held pharmaceutical distributor in the world *

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recipient. *

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President, 1923-1937; CEO, 1923-1946; Chairman, 1937-1956 * Bonnie Somerville (born 1974) actress * Stephen E. Smith (1927–1990), brother-in-law and campaign manager for President

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. * Joe Tacopina (born 1966), criminal defense lawyer and owner//president/chairman of Italian soccer club

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(born 1949), composer (''The Gospel at Colonus'') *

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* Angela Yee (born 1976), radio host on

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's '' Shade 45'' *

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based orthopaedic surgeon and film producer

References

External links

* {{authority control Dyker Heights, Brooklyn Private elementary schools in Brooklyn Private middle schools in Brooklyn Private high schools in Brooklyn Private K-12 schools in New York City Preparatory schools in New York City School sexual abuse scandals Ivy Preparatory School League Educational institutions established in 1854 1854 establishments in New York (state)