The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, also referred to as LREI, is a school in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It was founded by
Elisabeth Irwin
Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin (29 August 1880, Brooklyn, New York–16 October 1942, Manhattan, age 62) was the founder of the Little Red School House. She was an educator, psychologist, reformer, and declared lesbian, living with her life partner ...
in 1921 as the Little Red School House and is one of the city's first
progressive school
Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
s. Created as a joint public-private educational experiment, the school tested principles of
progressive education
Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
that had been advocated since the turn of the 20th century by
John Dewey
John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...
. The founders postulated that the lessons of progressive education could be applied successfully in the crowded, ethnically diverse public schools of the nation's largest city.
History
The school was founded in 1921 as a joint private-public educational experiment by reformer Elisabeth Irwin, and was well known as a testing ground for new concepts in education.
In 1932, after the onset of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
caused the Public Education Association to withdraw the funding that had allowed the school to exist within the New York City public school system, William O'Shea, the superintendent of schools – who had previously tried to close down the program because of its progressive ideas – announced that the school would be eliminated because of a budgetary crisis. Parents raised sufficient funds to pay for salaries, but O'Shea refused to accept the money, and the school was forced to turn to private funding. It moved to a building on
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...
provided at no cost by the
First Presbyterian Church and began a new life as an independent school.
[O'Han, Nicholas]
"The Little School That Could"
National Association of Independent Schools
The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boar ...
website (Summer, 2009)
The Little Red School House consists of a lower school, a middle school, and a high school. In the 1940s the Little Red School House's high-school students decided they wanted their school to be named after its founder, Elisabeth Irwin, making the full title of the institution The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School.
Buildings
The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School occupy two separate buildings, with a third space housing athletic facilities.
The middle-and-lower-school building is located at 272
Avenue of the Americas
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
(Sixth Avenue) at
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...
, while Elisabeth Irwin High School is at 40 Charlton Street between Sixth Avenue and
Varick Street
__NOTOC__
Varick Street runs north–south primarily in the Hudson Square district of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. Varick Street's northern terminus is in the West Village, where it is a continuation of Seventh Avenue South ...
. In June 2008, LREI announced the acquisition of additional space with the purchase of 42 Charlton Street, directly next door. The new townhouse was to be renovated and connected to the existing building. A separate building, the Thompson Street Gym, houses facilities for physical education and athletics. In November 2018, the school announced that it had purchased 15 Van Dam Street, directly behind the Charlton Street campus. The building contains the Soho Playhouse, and formerly housed the Huron Club, a social club frequented by members of the Democratic Party.
College placement
In 2017, graduates attended
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
,
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
,
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
,
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
,
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, and many more. In 2015, graduates from Elisabeth Irwin High School attended
Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
,
Bard College
Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...
,
Skidmore College
Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study.
History
Sk ...
,
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...
,
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
,
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...
,
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
the
University of Delaware
The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...
and
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
, along with 38 other colleges and universities. In 2013, graduates attended Bard College,
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
, Bennington College,
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
,
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, Sarah Lawrence College and the
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...
, along with 22 other institutions, and in 2012, Bennington College,
Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...
, Kenyon College, Skidmore College, and
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
, as well as 28 other schools.
Extracurricular activities
Sports
LREI's sports teams include soccer (boys, girls and MS co-ed), volleyball (HS girls, MS co-ed), cross-country track (co-ed), basketball (Varsity, boys and girls and JV boys), spring track (co-ed), tennis (co-ed), softball (girls), baseball (boys), golf (co-ed), swimming (co-ed). The school and team colors are red and white.
Directors and leaders
;Directors
*
Elisabeth Irwin
Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin (29 August 1880, Brooklyn, New York–16 October 1942, Manhattan, age 62) was the founder of the Little Red School House. She was an educator, psychologist, reformer, and declared lesbian, living with her life partner ...
(1921–1942)
* Randolph B. Smith (1943–1966)
* F. Coit Johnson II (1966-1975)
* Andrew McLaren (1988–2004)
* Philip Kassen (2004–present)
;Current staff
*Director: Philip Kassen
* Director of Learning & Innovation: Mark Silberberg
*High School Principal: Allison Isabell and Margaret Paul
*Middle School Principal: Ana Fox Chaney
*Lower School Principal: Faith Hunter
Notable alumni
*
Elliott Abrams
Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He is currently ...
, diplomat, lawyer, political scientist
*
Peter Berg
Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...
, actor, film director, producer, writer
*
Kathy Boudin
Kathy Boudin (May 19, 1943 – May 1, 2022) was an American radical leftist who served 23 years in prison for felony murder based on her role in the 1981 Brink's robbery. The robbery resulted in the killing of two Nyack, New York, police officer ...
, radical, public health expert
*
Emory Cohen
Emory Isaac Cohen (born March 13, 1990) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in ''Afterschool'' (2008). He is best known for his roles as AJ Cross in Derek Cianfrance's film ''The Place Beyond the Pines'' (2012), Tony Fiorello i ...
, actor
*
Angela Davis
Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...
, political activist
*
Dominic DiGesu, musician
*
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
, actor
*
Eric R. Dinallo, Superintendent of Insurance, New York State
*
Eric Eisner, lawyer and philanthropist, former president of
The Geffen Company
The Geffen Film Company (also known as The Geffen Company, The Geffen Film Company, Inc., and later Geffen Pictures) was an American film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-fou ...
*
Gus Green, musician
*
Nicolas "Nico" Heller, documentary film director, social media personality
*
Foster Hudson, musician
*
Elle King
Tanner Elle Schneider (born July 3, 1989), known professionally as Elle King, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Her musical style was influenced by Country music, country, Rock music, rock and blues.
In 2012, King released her d ...
, singer
*
Peter Knobler
Peter Knobler (born 1946) is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on fifteen books, ten of them best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of ''Crawdaddy'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.[Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...]
and
Robert Meeropol
Robert Meeropol (born May 14, 1947 as Robert Rosenberg) is the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Meeropol was born in New York City. His father Julius was an electrical engineer and a member of the Communist Party. His mother Ethel (né ...
, sons of
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
*
Victor Navasky
Victor Saul Navasky (born July 5, 1932) is an American journalist, editor and academic. He is publisher emeritus of ''The Nation'' and George T. Delacorte Professor Emeritus of Professional Practice in Magazine Journalism at Columbia University. H ...
, professor,
Columbia School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sc ...
; editor, publisher emeritus, ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
''
*
Zac Posen
Zachary E. Posen (; born October 24, 1980) is an American fashion designer.
Early life
Posen was born and raised in a Jewish family in New York City, residing in the SoHo neighborhood of lower Manhattan. He is the son of Susan (née Orzack), ...
, fashion designer
*
Ronald Radosh
Ronald Radosh ( ; born 1937) is an American writer, professor, historian, and former Marxist. As he described in his memoirs, Radosh was, like his parents, a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America until the Khrushchev Thaw. ...
[Radosh, Ronald. ''Commies; A Journey through the Old Left, the New Left, and the Leftover Left'', ]Encounter Books
Encounter Books is a book publisher in the United States known for publishing conservative authors. It was named for ''Encounter'', the now defunct literary magazine founded by Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender. , 2001. Chapter 2, "The Little Red Schoolhouse," pages 25-48.
*
Doug Rauch
Douglass Haywood Rauch (September 14, 1950 – April 23, 1979) was an American Bass guitar, bassist.
He played with Carlos Santana during his jazz fusion period in the early 1970s.
He also teamed up with David Bowie for his Diamond Dogs tour ...
, musician
*
Harris Rosen
Harris Rosen (born September 9, 1939, in Manhattan, New York) is an American businessman, investor and philanthropist. He founded Rosen Hotels & Resorts in 1974, and serves as the company's president and chief operating officer.
Rosen is widely ...
, philanthropist and entrepreneur, president and chief operating officer,
Rosen Hotels & Resorts
*
Toshi Seeger
Toshi Seeger (born Toshi Aline Ohta; July 1, 1922 – July 9, 2013) was an American filmmaker, producer and environmental activist. A filmmaker who specialized in the subject of folk music, Toshi's credits include the 1966 film '' Afro-American W ...
, filmmaker and environmental activist
*
Dan Shor
Daniel Shor (born November 16, 1956) is an American actor, director, writer, and acting teacher with a career spanning over 40 years. His most recognized roles include Enoch Emery in John Huston's ''Wise Blood'' (1979), Ram in ''Tron'' (1982), a ...
, actor
*
Mary Travers
Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burge ...
, singer, member of folk group
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoir ...
*
Benjamin Drake Wright
Benjamin Drake Wright (March 30, 1926 – October 25, 2015) was an American psychometrician. He is largely responsible for the widespread adoption of Georg Rasch's measurement principles and models.Rasch, G. (1988/1972, Summer). Review of the co ...
, psychometrician
*
Edward Irving Wortis
Edward Irving Wortis (born December 23, 1937), better known by the pen name Avi,Sandra Q. Williams, American Library Association: . November/December 2005 is an American author of young adult and children's literature. He is a winner of the Ne ...
, author
*
Daniel Menaker
Robert Daniel Menaker (September 17, 1941 – October 26, 2020) was an American fiction writer and editor. He worked with the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton and as a consultant for Barnes & Noble Bookstores.
Personal life
Menaker was b ...
, editor and father of
Chapo Trap House
''Chapo Trap House'' is an American left-wing political podcast founded in March 2016 and hosted by Will Menaker, Matt Christman and Felix Biederman with Amber A'Lee Frost as a recurring co-host. The show is produced by Chris Wade and formerly by ...
host, Will Menaker
Affiliations
The Little Red School House's companion school from 1944 to 1971 was the
Downtown Community School
The Downtown Community School was an American experimental, cooperative, racially integrated school located at 235 East 11th Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York. The school was founded in 1944 and waa closed in 1971. (DCS) on the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
, whose alumni include the writers Peter Manso,
Ann Lauterbach
Ann Lauterbach (born 1942) is an American poet, essayist, art critic, and professor.
Selected bibliography
Full-length poetry collections
* ''Spell'' (Penguin Books, 2018)
* ''Under the Sign'' (Penguin Books, 2013)
* ''Or to Begin Again'' (Peng ...
,
Peter Knobler
Peter Knobler (born 1946) is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on fifteen books, ten of them best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of ''Crawdaddy'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.[Richard Kostelanetz
Richard Cory Kostelanetz (born May 14, 1940) is an American artist, author, and critic.
Birth and Education
Kostelanetz was born to Boris Kostelanetz and Ethel Cory and is the nephew of the conductor Andre Kostelanetz. He has a B.A. (1962) from ...]
. Its director from 1951 to 1970 was educator and folklorist Norman Studer.
Affiliated organizations
*
National Association of Independent Schools
The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boar ...
*
New York State Association of Independent Schools
The New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) is an association of 201 independent schools and organizations, ranging from nurseries to high schools, in New York (state), New York State. Founded in 1947, NYSAIS is the second la ...
*
New York Interschool
The New York Interschool Association Inc., is a consortium of eight independent schools in Manhattan that serves students, teachers, and administration.
Overview
The Interschool is designed primarily for the coming together of the eight Manhatta ...
See also
*
The New York Foundation
The New York Foundation is a charitable foundation which gives grants to non-profit organizations supporting community organizing and advocacy in New York City.
History
1909–1919
The New York Foundation was established in 1909 when Louis ...
*
Education in New York City
Education in New York City is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. New York City has the largest educational system of any city in the world. The city’s educational infrastructure spans primary education, secondary ed ...
*
Elisabeth Irwin
Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin (29 August 1880, Brooklyn, New York–16 October 1942, Manhattan, age 62) was the founder of the Little Red School House. She was an educator, psychologist, reformer, and declared lesbian, living with her life partner ...
References
External links
Official websiteNew York State Association of Independent Schools
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1921
Private K-12 schools in Manhattan
1921 establishments in New York City
*