History
The Doane Stuart School was founded in 1975 as a merger between the Roman Catholic Kenwood Academy (founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1852) and the Episcopal St. Agnes School (founded 1870). This unique merger is the only known merger of a Roman Catholic school and an Episcopal school in the United States.
The name Doane Stuart was chosen to honor the First Episcopal Bishop of Albany, the Right Reverend William Croswell Doane, son of George Washington Doane founder of St. Mary's Hall-Doane Academy, now Doane Academy, and the Roman Catholic educator, Janet Erskine Stuart, RSCJ. Doane Stuart was established as a co-educational school.
The location chosen for the school was the campus of the old Kenwood Academy, located in the south Albany. The Convent of the Sacred Heart leased space to the school, while retaining a retirement home for its sisters on the site. Initially, the school included boarding for girls as well an English as a Second Language program for foreign students. In the early 1990s, the boarding and ESL programs were ended so the school could focus on its core mission.
On March 2008, the Board of Trustees of Doane Stuart announced it had decided to end its affiliation the Network of Sacred Heart Schools. About the same time, the Convent of the Sacred Heart notified the school it would not renew its lease on the Kenwood campus.
In April, 2008, the Board of Directors sent a letter to school supporters stating that an offer it made to purchase a school building in Rensselaer, NY had been accepted.
On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, Rensselaer voters approved 463 to 74 the sale of the Van Rensselaer Elementary school and property for $4 million to the Doane Stuart School.
After a year-long renovation and restoration effort, a new chapter in the story of the Doane Stuart School began on September 16, 2009, as students began classes at the School’s permanent new campus home. Overlooking the Hudson River with views of the City of Albany, the 24 acre campus in Rensselaer provides room for future expansion.
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