Harbor County Day School is a private school located on the north shore of Long Island, New York in the village of Head of the Harbor St. James. HCDS was founded in 1958 by local parents and serves students ranging from pre-k through 8th grade.Harbor Country Day School is chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). It is an independent nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service code, and is governed by a self-perpetuating board of trustees.HistoryIn 1958, Spencer P. Kennard became the first headmaster of a brand-new country day school in Saint James. Among his many tasks was to create a symbol for the school, and rather quickly he and Mrs. Kennard, along with the board of trustees, selected the scallop shell as the school's symbol.The scallop shell has special, layered meanings. It evokes our proximity to Long Island Sound. It is a symbol of the town of Saint James, and is the state shell of the State of New York. Thus it strongly suggests a connection with our locale and our local history. But it means more as well. It has been a powerful symbol going back at least to the Middle Ages, when it became associated with the figure of Saint James, and thus came to symbolize the virtue of charity, as well as the pilgrimage or journey—in our case, the journey of education. The scallop shell has also been used in heraldry, and appears on the family crest of none other than Winston Churchill. In one of the school's first formal documents, the scallop shell was hand-drawn - not once, but four times!
