Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy

Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, better known by the acronym, SAR Academy, is a coeducational, private Modern Orthodox Jewish day school. The school is located in the Riverdale section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Its name derives from the three schools which merged to form it, Salanter (named after Rabbi Yisrael Salanter), Akiba, and the Riverdale Academy, all Jewish day schools. The three schools merged in 1968 and adopted the current name. The school is situated on the former estate of the Italian operatic and symphonic conductor Arturo Toscanini. The land for the school was purchased in 1968. The school moved into its new building in 1974. Designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott, the building was given the Albert S. Bard Award in 1975. The school's founding principal was Rabbi Sheldon Chwat, who was succeeded by former assistant principal Rabbi Yonah Fuld. Rabbi Fuld was succeeded by then assistant principal Rabbi Joel Cohn. All of the former principals subsequently moved to Israel. Rabbi Binyamin Krauss began his tenure as principal at the start of the 2005–06 academic year. The current administration is rounded out by associate principals Alana Rifkin Gelnick, Sharon Richter, Beth Pepper, and Rebecca Ostro Nagata. The school is closely affiliated with SAR High School, which is headed by the former assistant principal of the Academy, Rabbi Tully Harcsztark. Slightly more than half of the High School's student body is made up of students from the elementary school.