The State of the School

At the January Auxiliary Board meeting, Headmaster Scott Nelson began his annual State of the School report with a summary of admissions activity during the 2009-2010 school year. 

ADMISSIONS

Last year RCDS received 736 applications overall. Applicant pools for the major entry points remained very strong: 91 applicants for 17 Kindergarten openings, 99 applicants for 22 Grade Six openings, and 178 applicants for 26 Grade Nine spots.

The Admissions Office offered acceptances to 186 applicants (19 percent acceptance rate) and enrolled 138 of these students, which is an 86 percent admissions yield. Attrition of current students was just 5.2 percent, well below the national independent school average.

The School opened the 2009-2010 academic year with 875 students. Mr. Nelson reviewed student demographics, noting that the largest numbers of students come from the following school districts: Harrison/Purchase (27 percent), City of Rye (19.4 percent), Greenwich (16 percent), Larchmont/Mamaroneck (7 percent), Stamford (4.8 percent), Rye Neck (2.9 percent), White Plains (2.8 percent) and New York City (2.7 percent). In total, 40 different school districts are represented in the student body.

Thanks to the generous support of the School’s financial aid budget of $3,248,200, this year 121 students are able to attend RCDS with need-based financial aid grants.

Mr. Nelson also pointed out that the diversity of the student body continues to increase. This year the School enrolls 201 students of color, which is 22.9 percent of the student body and a slight increase over last year. 

FINANCES

Mr. Nelson handed out a summary of the 2009-2010 budget. He noted that the School emerged from last year’s financial difficulties quite well. While the RCDS Endowment Fund dropped 17 percent, the annual operating budget was not severely impacted because the endowment income represents just 2.9 percent of this budget. Last year’s strong enrollment, generous annual giving support by 95 percent of current parents, and careful budget management enabled the School to weather the financial downturn.

Mr. Nelson briefly reviewed the School’s 2009-2010 budget, pointing out that RCDS, like most independent day schools, remains “tuition-driven,” as 88.4 percent of income comes from tuition. The School annually draws 4 percent of a rolling twelve quarter average from the RCDS Endowment Fund. This year the endowment provides $820,700 or 2.9 percent of the budget’s income.

Next, Mr. Nelson explained the importance of unrestricted annual giving, which covers a $1,750,000 gap in the operating budget. While last year’s Annual Fund missed the unrestricted goal by $200,000, the current year’s Annual Fund is off to a strong and encouraging start.

INCOME

Turning to Budget expenses, Mr. Nelson explained that Rye Country Day, like most educational institutions, spends the major portion of its budget (66.9 percent) on salaries and benefits. The Board of Trustees is committed to attracting and retaining an outstanding faculty and staff; therefore, salaries and benefits are important expenditures. In addition, the Board is committed to supporting diversity initiatives through the RCDS Financial Aid Program. As stated before, in 2009-2010 RCDS has committed $3,248,200 to support 121 students through need-based financial aid.

EXPENSES

ENDOWMENT

Mr. Nelson next discussed the value of the RCDS Endowment Fund, which has steadily recovered from a drop in performance during last year’s financial crisis. In June 2009, the Endowment Fund value was $18,256,398, but it grew to $21,882,909 by January 2010. Mr. Nelson noted that the Endowment Fund is invested in index funds with an allocation of 65 percent equities and 35 percent bonds. 

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

Mr. Nelson enthusiastically announced that the Building on Excellence capital campaign had reached $25.5 million, which exceeds the campaign goal of $23 million with 18 months still to go.

The Building on Excellence campaign includes the following goals:

• $7 million in endowment for financial aid
• $7 million in endowment for faculty/staff compensation and benefits
• $3 million for the athletic fields project
• $500,000 for a technology fund
• $1 million for the Performing Arts Center renovations
• $4.5 million for the Wildcat Hall addition to the Pinkham Building

Mr. Nelson highlighted what the Wildcat Hall addition would add to the Pinkham Building (Upper School). This addition is scheduled to be completed by September 2010.

Mr. Nelson then announced that an RCDS family has generously pledged $2 million to the campaign for the complete renovation of the existing Pinkham Building. This renovation project has been designed, and the work will also be completed during the summer of 2010. This pledge, the largest ever to Rye Country Day, will allow the School to completely update and upgrade the Upper School building, which was built in the 1960s. 

NEW INITIATIVES

The Headmaster mentioned the following curricular and program initiatives that are under way this year: development of a Rye Country Day values statement; identification of what students will need in terms of skills and experiences to be prepared for “ an ever-changing world”; phase three of a school-wide diversity plan; a sustainability plan; a second year of the middle school expository writing task force; and a recently completed “public purpose audit.”

EARLY COLLEGE RESULTS

Mr. Nelson distributed a list that included early decision (binding) acceptances, as well as some of the early action/rolling admissions (non-binding) results. To date, these acceptances include: Babson College, Barnard College (2), Boston College (4), Bowdoin College, California Institute of Technology, Colgate University (2), College of the Holy Cross, Columbia University (2), Dartmouth College (2), Davidson College (2), Duke University, Elon University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Lafayette College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, Northwestern University (2), Stanford University (2), Swarthmore College, Tufts University, University of Chicago (2), University of Michigan (7), University of Pennsylvania (4), University of Richmond (4), University of St. Andrews, Scotland, University of Texas Honors Program, University of Wisconsin (2), Vanderbilt University (2), Villanova University (3), Washington and Lee University, Washington University/St. Louis (3), Wesleyan University, Williams College, Yale University (4)