# Poughkeepsie Day School

Poughkeepsie Day School is an independent, progressive, coeducational school in the mid-Hudson Valley serving students from a broad region of New York and Connecticut from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.

## History

Founded in 1934, it was initially located at Hooker and South Grand Avenues in the city of Poughkeepsie, where it began with 35 students and three faculty members. The school outgrew that facility, and in 1963, it moved to premises on the Vassar College campus at 39 New Hackensack Road. The school eventually outgrew that facility and in 1998 acquired two buildings from IBM that form its current 35 acre campus on Boardman Road. The main building is a former IBM briefing center, built in 1963. The school named it for Elizabeth Gilkeson, director from 1935 to 1949. The second is the historic Clarence Kenyon House, built between 1909 and 1913 and designed by the architect Percival Lloyd.
In 2000, the school's theater and auditorium was dedicated in honor of the actor James Earl Jones, who funded its construction and whose son Flynn attended the school in the 1990s and early 2000s. The dedication predated the renaming of New York City's Cort Theater as the James Earl Jones Theater by 22 years. Jones and his wife, the actress Cecilia Hart, supported the school with fundraisers at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House, including a 1998 reading from A. R. Gurney's Love Letters alongside the actress Mary Tyler Moore. Other notables whose children or grandchildren attended the school include folk singer Pete Seeger, actors David Strathairn and William Sadler, singer/songwriter Graham Parker, and the jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette.
In April 2020, the school announced plans to close, citing a decline in enrollment and shrinking revenue, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, a coalition of parents, teachers, and alumni came together to keep the school open and plan a sustainable path forward. The school reopened for the 2021–22 academic year with lower tuition and a smaller enrollment, and remains open as of 2025.The school accepts applications from new students for grades pre-K through 12, with rolling admissions throughout the year.
In 2022, the Town of Poughkeepsie explored a plan to purchase the school's property on Boardman Road and consolidate town offices. In June 2023, the town put that plan on hold.
In January 2024, the school announced the launch of a new high school program called the Navigator Institute, focusing on three core values: Service, engagement, and self-efficacy. It is scheduled to launch with 9th grade in September 2026.
The school officially became an International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate school for the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP) in January 2025, with plans to become an authorized IB World School by September 2027.

## Accreditation

Poughkeepsie Day School is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Independent Curriculum Group (ICG).

## Notable alumni and attendees

* Molly Baz
* Ivan Cash
* Celeste Dupuy-Spencer
* Douglas Elmendorf
* Virginia Page Fortna
* Tom Finkelpearl
* Lauren Holmes
* Jonathan Keltz
* Swati Khurana
* Lucy Knisley
* Gavrik Losey
* Noah Lyon
* Jeh Johnson
* Lee Miringoff, founder of the Marist Poll
* Molly Ostertag
* John R. Ross
* Jonathan Russell
* Jonah Sachs
* Pril Smiley
* Ingeborg von Zadow

## Notable faculty and staff

* Sally Luther
* Eric Person