1951-1969: THE FORMATION OF CCSI

The history of Commonwealth-Parkville School is rooted in the determination of a small group of families who refused to accept the absence of quality English-language education in Puerto Rico. In 1951, several families had relocated to the island to work with the Economic Development Administration (Fomento). Finding no suitable English-language schools for their children, they set about creating one themselves. They studied the requirements, located physical facilities, and built from the ground up a school that would meet their standards for academic excellence.

They rented a community center in the Roosevelt Urbanization of Hato Rey, on the site where the Commonwealth Campus stands today. The building's auditorium was divided into small classrooms to accommodate students from kindergarten through sixth grade. The school opened with 92 students, eight teachers, and eight classrooms. Each year a new grade was added, and in 1961 Commonwealth School graduated its first twelfth-grade class of ten students.

Parallel to Commonwealth's founding, a second school was taking shape. Seven parents established the San Juan School by the Sea, beginning as a kindergarten and early elementary program in a rented apartment in Condado. The school later relocated to a property in Punta Las Marías, formerly used by the U.S. Army during World War II, and eventually grew to serve kindergarten through sixth grade. Together, these two schools introduced an entirely new model of English-language private education to Puerto Rico. CPS received its first accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in 1962.

By 1964, Commonwealth had reached capacity, and the school needed room to grow. A structure in the Parkville neighborhood of Guaynabo was purchased and named Parkville School, serving as the elementary campus with space for an additional two hundred students in kindergarten through sixth grade. Commonwealth's elementary students were transferred there. That same year, Caribbean Consolidated Schools was incorporated, formally unifying Commonwealth, San Juan by the Sea, and Parkville under a single institution with a continuous academic program from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Back

Parkville Campus
GRADES PPK-6
PARKVILLE ALABAMA ST. | GUAYNABO, PR 00969
TEL: (787) 720-3992 | FAX: (787) 272-8150

Commonwealth Campus
GRADES 7-12
URB. ROOSEVELT 100 CASTILLO ST. | SAN JUAN, PR 00918
TEL: (787) 765-4411 | FAX: (787) 764-3809

PARKVILLE ALABAMA ST.
GUAYNABO, PR 00969
TEL: (787) 720-3992 • FAX: (787) 272-8150

ROOSEVELT 100 CASTILLO ST.
SAN JUAN, PR 00918
TEL: (787) 765-4411 • FAX: (787) 764 3809

Commonwealth-Parkville School | A Private College Preparatory school located in two separate campuses Elementary School (Grades PPK-6) in Guaynabo and Middle and High School (Grades 7-12) in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.