METAIRIE PARK COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

METAIRIE PARK COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of school is Country Day?
Metairie Park Country Day School is a coed college preparatory school serving 690 students in grades Pre-K–12. Founded
in 1929, the School is one of eleven independent schools in the New Orleans metropolitan region. Country Day is
accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest and the State Department of Education of
Louisiana. It also is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools.
Where is Country Day located?
Country Day is located at 300 Park Road in Metairie, Louisiana, ten minutes from New Orleans’ Central Business District.
The school draws students from across the metropolitan area, including Kenner, Metairie, New Orleans, the West Bank and
the North Shore.
What campus facilities are available to students?
The 13-acre campus includes 23 buildings. Designed around a lush green central courtyard with old brick and clapboard
buildings, the campus environment is warm and welcoming. Completed within the last seven years are $15 million in new
and renovated facilities, including The Reily Recreation Center, Lupin Gymnasium and Middle School. Bart Cottage, home
to the new Pre-Kindergarten, opened its doors in August 2008.
When – and by whom - was Country Day founded?
Country Day 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. Among the founding families, the Stern family also is credited with the founding or advancement of Newcomb
Nursery School and Dillard University.
What is the financial condition of Country Day following Hurricane Katrina?
Country Day is in strong financial condition, having raised the full $5 million needed to cover the one-time debt that arose
from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Through the ongoing generosity of donors, the School has
acquired two residences that complete Country Day’s ownership of all property leading to the Front Circle.
Our Mission and Philosophy
What is the mission of Metairie Park Country Day School?
Metairie Park Country Day School is a coeducational, nonsectarian, college-preparatory elementary and secondary school,
committed to education in its broadest sense.
The School's mission is to prepare its students to excel in higher education and to succeed in a rapidly changing and
culturally diverse world. Country Day's cooperative learning environment encourages individual achievement, and fosters
critical thinking, curiosity, creativity, and a love of learning for its own sake.
The School and the family share responsibility for the development of students' personal, moral, and ethical values. Within
this school community, students develop an appreciation and respect for the feelings, perspectives, and needs of others, and
a sense of responsibility to communities beyond Country Day. Students learn to be flexible, to be adaptable, and to face the
challenges of life with a sense of humor, with optimism, and with confidence.

Our Students
What kind of students do we seek?
Country Day serves students representing a full range of college-bound abilities and accepts qualified students without regard to
race, color, gender, religious preference, ethnic or national origin.
Why do students choose to attend Country Day?
Students and their families choose Country Day because the School offers an innovative hands-on approach that teaches students
how to think creatively and independently, combined with the high academic standards and accountability found at more
traditional independent schools. Students develop high-level competence in the traditional academic disciplines and master critical
skills needed for the 21st century. Our students not only learn to think - they prepare to achieve.
What is the current composition of the student body?
2009-2010 enrollment is 690
312 students are in the Lower School
161 students are in the Middle School
217 students are in the Upper School
16% of students represent racial and ethnic minorities
What It Costs and How We Can Help
What is the 2009-2010 tuition?
Pre-Kindergarten tuition is $11,900 for full day (including lunch) and $7,245 for half day. Tuition is $13,070 for Kindergarten and
$16,160 for Grades 1-12. Lunch is $1,140 for Kindergarten-Grade 5 and $1,330 for Grades 6-12. Please refer to the
Technology section on page 3 for costs associated with the tablet computer program in the Upper School.
What is your financial aid policy?
Country Day offers a need-based financial aid program for children in grades Pre-K through 12. In 2009-2010, students who
qualified for some form of financial assistance received financial aid awards ranging from a minimal amount to nearly full tuition.
Awards apply only to tuition and to tablet computers for participating grades in the Upper School. Awards do not include
additional fees such as lunch, books, bus, and after care. Each family is responsible for these fees.
Our financial aid is a grant, not a loan. The amount of a student's financial aid does not have to be paid back. Country Day offers
a low-interest loan program to finance tuition payments. Families can finance the full tuition, and financial aid recipients can
finance the portion of their tuition balance that remains after aid has been applied. Financial need is not considered in evaluating
applications for admission.
Do you have merit scholarships?
Country Day does not provide merit scholarships.
How do we apply for a scholarship or financial assistance?
Parents who believe they may qualify for financial aid should notify the Admission Office to request the appropriate materials.
Parents complete the School and Student Service's (SSS) Parents Financial Statement (PFS), an application used by independent
schools nation-wide. SSS analyzes the information and provides a recommendation of how much a family can afford in tuition.
The goal of our financial aid program then is to provide the remaining tuition dollars in financial aid. In addition to the PFS
statement, parents submit tax documents and complete an additional questionnaire which asks for further details.
All information is reviewed only by the Financial Aid Committee and is held in strictest confidence. Dollars are awarded on a
first-come-first-served basis; therefore, it is important to apply for financial aid in a timely manner. Whether or not the School can
provide financial aid depends on when the application was received and on available funding. The deadline for financial aid paperwork
is in February. Please call to request a financial aid packet. More specific deadlines will be provided when you receive the
initial packet.
For questions regarding financial aid, please contact our Director of Financial Aid, Cecilia Leon-Drago, by telephone at
(504) 849-3101 or e-mail cldrago@mpcds.com.

Our Academic Programs and Extracurricular Offerings
Who are your teachers?
Country Day has 79 teaching faculty, 43 of whom have earned advanced degrees. Our faculty has an excitement for life that lifts
our students up. They challenge, inspire, and delight our students, opening windows in the mind. To learn more about our
faculty, visit our Web site at www.mpcds.com/Academics/Faculty.
What is the academic program like?
Country Day’s Lower School has a trimester system, while the Middle School and Upper School have a semester system with a
five-day schedule that combines short and long class periods for extended work such as labs. The target class sizes vary from 8:1
to 18:1, depending on the subject being taught and the division level. The Lower School’s multiage classrooms are renowned, and
their benefits are enumerated in a separate document. In Middle School and Upper School, we offer a college-preparatory core
curriculum, including Honors and Advanced Placement Classes as well as opportunities for Independent Study.
What about activities?
The Lower School offers a full range of extended day programs, ranging from drama to art to computers. The Middle School’s
offerings include Student Council, Review Board, Assets Task Force, Anti-Bullying Committee, After-School Drama, and
Community Service programs. Upper school students publish the yearbook, the news magazine, and the literary magazine and are
members of organizations including Student Government, S.A.D.D. (Students Against Destructive Decisions), PAX (People
Against Xenophobia), and the Assets Task Force. Music offerings include Beginning Band, 5th Grade Band, Beginning Strings,
Lower School Orchestra and Little Group (chorus) in Lower School; Middle School Chorale and Band; and Upper School Band,
Orchestra and Chorus. All students participate in Community Service Learning projects appropriate to their grade level. The
entire school participates in the annual All Community Day and Field Day.
What about athletics?
Country Day is proud of the winning success our students experience on the field; in 2009, this included three State
Championships (Boys Basketball, Boys Tennis, and Girls Tennis) and two State Runner-up Teams (Girls Basketball and Boys Cross
Country). We are even more pleased that nearly 80 percent of upper school students participate in at least one sport, with nearly
50 percent involved in two or more sports. Country Day graduates from the Class of 2009 will participate in collegiate athletic
programs at Austin College, Dartmouth College, Kenyon College, Louisiana State University, Oglethorpe University, Rhodes
College, Washington and Lee University, and Williams College. Every middle and upper school student is encouraged to participate
on at least one athletic team. We teach student athletes that the most significant measure of performance is giving their team
the best they have to offer. Our coaches are often selected by their peers as the best in their district, and these same coaches take
a personal interest in the academic progress of their athletes.
Country Day offers more varsity sports than most Class A High Schools in Louisiana including:
Baseball (Boys)
Basketball (Boys and Girls)
Cross Country (Boys and Girls)
Football (Boys)
Golf (Boys and Girls)
Soccer (Boys and Girls)
Softball (Girls)
Swimming (Swimming)
Technology
Tennis (Boys and Girls)
Track (Boys and Girls)
Volleyball (Girls)
What kind of access do students have to technology?
Country Day has always provided its students with abundant access to technology. Each student compiles a digital portfolio of
work from kindergarten through 12th grade. Lower school classrooms are equipped with desktop computers; the Middle and
Upper Schools have access to three laptop carts housing 60 computers. The media lab and middle/upper school library provide
access to numerous computers as well. In 2006, the School decided to put more technology into students' hands by inaugurating
a laptop program with the freshman class in the Upper School. We have continued to introduce laptops to subsequent freshmen
classes; effective with the 2009-2010 school year, the entire Upper School is participating in this program.
After considering a variety of systems, and after observing programs in other schools, we concluded that convertible tablet
computers offer the most exciting and unique capabilities. In addition to standard keyboard functionality, the tablet utilizes
handwriting-recognition software to convert handwriting to printed text. Students use stylus pens to enter notes, highlight
important points, connect facts, and diagram ideas. The 2009-2010 cost to our ninth grade families, including the first $50
annual technology fee (which covers software licenses which must be renewed annually), is $1,850 and Country Day offers a
number of financing options.

College and Beyond
What colleges do Country Day students choose?
The list of colleges to which Country Day students have been accepted is provided as a separate document.
What careers do Country Day graduates pursue?
Country Day graduates have pursued careers in architecture, education, computer technology, medicine, neurobiology, engineering,
the arts, law, and business, to name a few.
Who are some of Country Day’s outstanding alumni?
Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University
Nicholas Lemann 1972 “...graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1976, where he concentrated in American history and
literature and was president of the Harvard Crimson. After graduation, he worked at The Washington Monthly, as an associate editor and
then managing editor; at Texas Monthly, as an associate editor and then executive editor; at The Washington Post, as a member of the
national staff; at The Atlantic Monthly, as national correspondent; and at The New Yorker, as staff writer and then Washington
Correspondent. 1 Lemann was appointed dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in 2003.
1http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/cs/ContentServer/jrn/1165270069177/JRN_Profile_C/1165270081963/JRNFacultyDetail.htm 2009 Emmy Award Winner
Michael Applebaum 1986 won the 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for Reality Programming with the camera
team that filmed the Discovery Channel’s Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment. Applebaum previously was a 2004 Emmy
Nominee for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming – Survivor.
Co-Author of MATLAB for Neuroscientists
Tanya Baker 1992, a Junior Research Fellow in the Crick-Jacobs Center for Theoretical Neurobiology at the prestigious Salk Institute
in La Jolla, California, co-authored MATLAB for Neuroscientists: An Introduction to Scientific Computing in MATLAB. The book sold out
by the third day of the November 2008 Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington, which was attended by 25,000
neuroscientists. Baker graduated Cum Laude with University Honors from UCLA in Physics and Applied Mathematics (with a minor
in French) and received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.
2009 University of Pennsylvania Civic Scholar
Penn Civic Scholars commit to a four-year experience in civic service and scholarship that achieves certification as a Penn Civic Scholar
at graduation. The Scholars engage in community service or social advocacy work, special proseminars, summer internships, selected
courses, and capstone research projects aimed at public policy recommendations. The University invites select freshmen to apply to this
program. Manya Jean Gitter 2009 is one of only fifteen incoming freshmen who has been accepted as a Civic Scholar.
2009 Jazz & Heritage Festival Ancestor
In May 2009, photographer Michael P. Smith 1955 (1937-2008) was honored as a Jazz & Heritage Festival “Ancestor,” joining legends
Danny Barker, Ed Bradley, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Professor Longhair, and Allison Miner. Smith "…captured the heart and soul
of New Orleans's music, culture, and folkways. He documented the physical and social structures that helped shape the unique cultural
identity of his native New Orleans." 1 His many honors include the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ Lifetime Achievement
Award, Offbeat Magazine's Music Photographer of the Year award, the Arts Council of New Orleans’ Mayor's Arts Award, and a
Clarence John Laughlin Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Orleans/Gulf South chapter of the American Society of Media
Photographers (ASMP). Smith's photographs are in the permanent collections of the Bibliothèque National in Paris, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution and, locally, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Louisiana State Museum. Five photography books feature his work.
1 http://www.michaelpsmithphotography.com/
Governance
Country Day, a not-for-profit independent school, is governed by a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees consisting of 22 members. The
Board sets major institutional policies, hires and evaluates the head of school, oversees the School's financial health and facilities, monitors
the needs, security and welfare of the School and plans for the future. Trustees serve three-year terms with a limit of two consecutive
terms. The majority of the Board, which meets a minimum of six times per year, is composed of current parents and former parents.
Committee membership includes non-board parents and community leaders. The Chairmen's Council, comprised of past board
chairs, serves as a resource for the Board, as does the Business Advisory Council, which is comprised of community business leaders.
The head of school leads an administrative staff that includes the lower school principal, the middle school principal, the upper school
principal, chief financial officer, the director of admission, the director of athletics, the director of development, and the director of
public relations. The school receives support from the annual fund, endowment, grants, and tuition payments. Facility improvements
are financed from capital fund raising. The Parents’ Association, Dads’ Club, and Alumni Association are all active organizations.
Country Day is a member of the New Orleans Independent Schools Exchange, the Independent Schools Association of the
Southwest, and the National Association of Independent Schools.
Metairie Park Country Day School 300 Park Road Metairie, LA 70005
504.849.3105 (Admission) 504.837.0015 (Fax) www.mpcds.com