Rockland Country Day School was a private coed college-preparatory school that served students in Pre-K through 12th grade. It was located in Congers, New York and was founded in 1959 as an alternative to public education in

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

. The school's stated mission was to ''"

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forth the best in every student by knowing and educating each of them as an individual."'' In 2019 the school was to have celebrated its 60th anniversary, but on August 20, 2019, the school announced it would be closing.

History

The Rockland Country Day School was established in 1959 by a group of local community leaders including Pem McCurdy and Kendall Pennypacker, led by Prof. Charles Frankel of Columbia University. Originally located in

South Nyack South Nyack is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Grand View-on-Hudson, northeast of Orangeburg, east of Blauvelt State Park, south of Nyack and w ...

, New York, the school moved to Congers, New York when it outgrew its original location. The Congers location was sold to the Town of Clarkstown and the school leased the property back for a planned five year term, however in August 2019, the school announced it would close due to declining enrollment and fiscal challenges.

Curriculum

RCDS focused on an individualized approach to education for each of its students. The Pre-K through Grade 12 curriculum offered a variety of academics, arts and inquiry, with multi-age classes and opportunities for mentorship and leadership across the grades. They had relatively small classes, with a roughly 7-to-1 student to teacher ratio.

Notable alumni

* Ken Be, lutist *

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References

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1959 Defunct schools in New York (state) 1959 establishments in New York (state)