Poly Prep


Poly Prep Country Day School is an independent school with two campuses in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Middle School and Upper School are located in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, while Lower School is located in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. Initially founded as part of the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, Poly Prep now offers classes from nursery school through 12th grade.

History

Poly Prep Country Day School was founded years ago in 1854 in Downtown Brooklyn as The Polytechnic Institute. 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 schools of the time while striving to maintain a strong community feel among students and faculty alike.
After 45 years, the future of the 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. Both divisions still exist, although the collegiate division, after many changes of name, was eventually acquired by New York University in 2008 and, as of 2014, is now known as NYU 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

Poly Prep moved to its Dyker Heights campus on July 1, 1916 when a 25-acre parcel of land, formerly part of the Dyker Heights Golf Course, was offered to trustees. Classes began during the fall of 1917 in the new campus amid continued construction and renovations that helped shape much of the school's current appearance.

Going coed

During the tenure of Headmaster William M. Williams, the school began the transition to co-education in 1977 when it first admitted girls, graduating its first coed 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-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 prestigious 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 Eastern District Court in Brooklyn in 2009 centering on the sexual assault 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 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 in 2011. In March 2012 the international law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman joined the plaintiffs on a pro bono basis. On September 19, 2012, new allegations connecting Foglietta and Jerry Sandusky 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 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 grade 4. 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, 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

Fall teamsWinter teamsSpring teams
Boys' soccerGirls' basketballSoftball
Girls' soccerBoys' basketballBaseball
Cross countryGirls' swimmingGirls' lacrosse
Girls' tennisBoys' swimmingBoys' lacrosse
Girls' volleyballBoys' squashGolf
FootballGirls' squashUltimate frisbee
Collegiate wrestlingOutdoor track and field
HockeyBoys' tennis
Indoor track and fieldCrew

Headmasters of the Country Day School

In the years since the opening of the Dyker Heights campus in 1917, Poly has had five headmasters: Joseph Dana Allen, J. Folwell Scull, William M. Williams, David Harman, and Audrius Barzdukas.

Notable alumni and attendees