Metairie Park Country Day School

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Location
Metairie Park Country Day School

300 Park Road Metairie, Louisiana, 70005
Information
Headmaster	Carolyne Chandler
Enrollment	615
Type	Private, Coeducational, University-preparatory
Campus	Suburban, 14 acres
Athletics conference	Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Division 1A, District state champs in b-ball10^[1]
Color(s)	Red & Blue
Established	1929
Homepage	http://www.mpcds.com

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Metairie Park Country Day School, located in Metairie, Louisiana, USA, was founded in 1929 by a group of families who wanted an alternative to the traditional public, private and parochial schooling available in the New Orleans area. Several of the founding families have grandchildren at the School today, and the Stern family - also credited with the founding or advancement of Newcomb Nursery School and Dillard University - was instrumental in luring the founding head, Ralph Boothby from Hudson, Ohio, where he had briefly headed a school and begun to apply (as he had as head of the Department of Education at Antioch College) the progressive principles that were to be a hallmark of his new school.

The first young classes assembled in the current administration building, completed just in time to open for the academic year. Since that time the school has evolved into a k-12 institution of 615 students and 85 full- and part-time faculty ^[2], with an early childhood program of 85 students added in 1986. Until the 1950s, it also had a small boarding department, which was phased out (as were similar departments at a number of schools during this period).

Like many schools, Country Day has gone through a number of changes, some the result of leadership, some of cultural pressure from the external world, some from accumulated innovation on the part of its teachers. Parents have always had a significant role to play in the shaping of the community, and the governance of the School resided in part in a modified "town meeting" that included all parents, until it was assigned to a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees comparable to that of most independent educational institutions. Representatives of the Parents Association and the Dads Club sit on the current Board (and parents also comprise more than seventy-five percent of the Board), as does an elected member of the faculty. Students are now involved in several of the strategic committees of the Board.

As was the case with many Country Day schools, over time Metairie Park Country Day School incorporated much of the more traditional college preparatory model (including AP courses) as its student body sought college placement in an increasingly competitive college marketplace. Throughout its history, it has claimed among its graduates (and its more active parents) many of the more innovative leaders in the Greater New Orleans community. The strength of the bonds among its alumni and alumnae are almost legendary.

Finally, the values of the community are neatly exemplified in the physical form of the campus. Its open walkways, main courtyard, and classrooms in the round all invite community members to stroll, to converse, to enjoy the outdoors as well as the interior learning spaces. The campus, unlike most schools in the area, has relatively open boundaries that welcome the neighborhood visitor and ensure, again symbolically, that the School is not cut off from its environment, but is part of it.