Garden School (Garden Day School/Garden Country Day School)

1923 - present

The first school in Jackson Heights, Garden Country Day School (now Garden School), was founded in 1923 by parents seeking an alternative to public education. Named after the surrounding garden apartments, its first K–3 classes met in the Laburnum Court Apartments, led by Dorothy Glenn, Charles Townshend, and Josephine Wech. By 1925, grades 4–6 were added under new director John Bosworth Laing. In 1927, Otis Flower became headmaster, and with support from the Queensboro Corporation, the school moved to its current location at 33-16 79th Street, graduating its first three students that same year. In 1963, construction began on a new upper division building, followed by a new lower division building in 1971. The school launched its first summer program in 1983 under the direction of William Vogel. In 1986, Garden School expanded into early childhood education. The English Language Academy was introduced in 2002, and a universal Pre-K program was added in 2004. Amid financial challenges in 2012, the school agreed to sell an athletic field to the city for $6 million. Today, Garden School offers nursery to 12th grade education with a 10:1 student–teacher ratio and tuition starting at 28,408 per year.

Image of the Garden Country Day School in 1927 at its current location 33-16 79th Street.
Image of current state of the Garden School at 33-16 79th Street.
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Details

Category
School
Instructional Level
Elementary/Grammar School, High School, Middle/Junior High School, Pre-Kindergarten
Audience
Children, Teenagers
Tags
budgetcuts, childdevelopment, coeducational, englishlanguagelearners, parents

Location

  • 33-16 79th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372, USA
    1927 - present

References

  1. Garden School, https://gardenschool.org/.
  2. Nir, Sarah Maslin. "In Shift, a Queens School Will Sell Land to the City." The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2012, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/nyregion/garden-school-in-queens-will-sell-land-to-city-not-developer.html.​
  3. Moro, Julia. "Garden School Makes Big Plans for Its 100-Year Anniversary." QNS, 14 June 2021, https://qns.com/2021/06/garden-school-makes-big-plans-for-its-100-year-anniversary/.
  4. Antos, Jason D., and Constantine E. Theodosiou. Jackson Heights. Arcadia Publishing, 2013.