Poly Prep

Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an independent, co-educational day school with two campuses in Brooklyn, New York, United States. The Middle School (5th to 8th grades) and Upper School (9th to 12th grades) are located in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, while the Lower School (nursery to 4th grade) is located in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. Initially founded as part of the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (predecessor of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering), Poly Prep now offers classes from nursery school through 12th grade.

Poly Prep was established 171 years ago in 1854 as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute in Downtown Brooklyn. 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 Brooklyn 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 (NYU) in 2008 and, as of 2014, is now known as the New York University 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.

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 co-ed class in 1979.

In the 2006–2007 school year, a modern expansion was added onto the Park Slope building. In April 2009, Poly Prep's Lower School won the Lucy B. Moses Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy as an outstanding example of historic preservation and renovation.

The school was the subject of a federal lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn in 2009 centering on the sexual assault of students by Philip Foglietta, the head football coach from 1966 to 1991.

The allegations surfaced during Foglietta's first year at the school, during the tenure of Headmaster J. Folwell Scull, who was the head of Poly Prep from 1949 to 1970. They persisted during the tenure of William M. Williams, who was the headmaster from 1970 to 2000. Despite ongoing accusations of rape and molestation, no action was taken for 25 years, until Foglietta's contract was not renewed in 1991. However, even then, the school announced that Foglietta had decided to retire and made no mention of the abuse.