Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also referred to as Fieldston, is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the

Ivy Preparatory School League The Ivy Preparatory School League is a high school athletic conference of university-preparatory schools in New York City and its suburbs. The Ivy Preparatory School League has no affiliation with the Ivy League universities. Members The league co ...

. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 faculty and staff. Joe Algrant is the Head of School. The school consists of four divisions: Ethical Culture, Fieldston Lower, Fieldston Middle, and Fieldston Upper. Ethical Culture, located on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan, and Fieldston Lower, located on the Fieldston campus in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, serve Pre-K through 5th grade. The two lower schools feed into Fieldston Middle (6th–8th grades) and Fieldston Upper (9th–12th grades)—also located on the Fieldston campus in Riverdale. Ethical Culture is headed by Principal Rob Cousins, Fieldston Lower is headed by Principal Joe McCauley, Fieldston Middle is headed by Principal Jonathan Alschuler, and Fieldston Upper is headed by Principal Stacey Bobo. Tuition and fees for ECFS were $55,510 for the 2020–2021 school year, and are increasing to $63,000 for the 2022-2023 school year.

History

301 WORKINGMEN'S SCHOOL, SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE, 54 WEST 54TH STREET

The school opened in 1878 as a free

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

, founded by Felix Adler at the age of 24. In 1880, elementary grades were added, and the school was then called the Workingman's School. At that time, the idea that the children of the poor should be educated was innovative. By 1890 the school's academic reputation encouraged many more wealthy parents to seek it out, and the school was expanded to accommodate the upper-class as well, and began charging tuition; in 1895 the name changed to "The Ethical Culture School", and in 1903 the New York

Society for Ethical Culture A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

became its sponsor. Fieldston awards over $15 million in tuition-based financial aid to 22% of the student body. The school moved into its Manhattan building at 33 Central Park West in 1904. The entire school was located in that building until 1928 when the high school division (Fieldston) moved to its 18-acre (73,000 m²) campus on Fieldston Road in the Fieldston section of Riverdale; the Manhattan branch of the Lower School remained there, and in 1932 a second Lower School was opened on the Riverdale campus. In 2007, a new middle school was opened on the same Riverdale campus, for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. One of the early faculty members was American sociologist Lewis Hine. In March 1970, about 60 students occupied the administration building in protest to demand that more black and Puerto Rican students be admitted to the school. They also aimed to have a greater number of minority courses, teachers, advisors, employees. The school agreed to some of the student demands.

Recent developments

Beginning in 2015, the school began separating children for mandatory weekly "affinity group" meetings based on their self-identified race, to discuss issues of race and bias. The experimental program met with controversy from Fieldston parents, many of whom compared the meetings to segregation. In February 2019, a video that is believed to be created years previously was discovered by administrators after it was shared during a dispute between students. The students in the video use derogatory and racist language. Students involved who were still enrolled in the school were punished; however, some 100 students who thought the actions were not enough staged a sit-in reminiscent of the 1970 protest. The students presented the administrators with twenty demands that included increased racial bias training, more faculty of color, the recruitment of more students of color, and a required ethnic studies course; the students' demands were agreed to and are planned to be implemented over the course of 2–3 years. WTM NewYorkDolls 002

The school also attracted attention in November 2019 after it hosted a guest speaker who compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians to the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, a statement which was denounced by many as

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, including two Reform Jewish rabbis who spoke at the school in the wake of the controversy and subsequently published a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' editorial about the incident. The school's response to the controversy was sharply criticized as being inadequate and itself antisemitic by many parents of Fieldston students. U.S. Congressmen

Josh Gottheimer Joshua S. Gottheimer ( ; born March 8, 1975) is an American attorney, writer, and public policy adviser who has served as the U.S. representative for since 2017. The district stretches along the northern border of the state from New York City's ...

and

Max Rose Max N. Rose (born November 28, 1986) is an American military officer and politician who served as a United States representative from New York for a single term from 2019 to 2021. A moderate Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he served ...

also wrote its administrators condemning the incident. In January 2020, the school fired a Jewish teacher who posted tweets opposing the invitation of two speakers on anti-Semitism because they were, according to him, "white" and Zionists. There were parents who asked for the teacher's reinstatement.

Academics

Fieldston dropped its participation in the Advanced Placement Program in 2002 to give its faculty the freedom to offer more innovative, challenging, and thought-provoking material. Students can take AP exams, but the school no longer officially sponsors such courses. While there was some concern that college admissions could be negatively affected, Fieldston's college office worked closely with admissions officers of schools across the country to explain the change and to assure that its students would be evaluated on the quality of its courses, even without the AP designation.

Athletics

Fieldston's athletic program includes 62 teams covering 23 sports. The teams, known as the "Fieldston Eagles," play in the

against other private schools in the region. The school's hockey team as well as the girls and boys ultimate frisbee teams, however, do not play in the league and schedule their own games. Fieldston's most recent athletic title was the NYSAIS Girls Soccer tournament in 2021.

Special programs

*Before School and After School – at the two Lower schools, and after school in the Middle School *Fieldston Enrichment Program (FEP) – tutoring program for selected public school students in preparation of public and private high school entrance exams and requirements *Young Dancemakers Company – summer dance program *City Semester – an interdisciplinary experiential-education based semester program focusing on New York City *STS (Students Teaching Students) – a specialized ethics program in which Form V & Form VI students (juniors and seniors) teach middle school students. This curriculum covers a wide range of topics including community norms, relationships, decision-making, navigating choices encountered in middle and high school situations (e.g., around social media, sex, drugs, alcohol, and bullying). *Bridge to Bridge - a mentoring program for students of color in the upper school to mentor middle schoolers of color.

Peer schools

Ethical Culture Fieldston is a part of the

, with many of New York City's elite private schools. The three high schools Fieldston, Riverdale, and

Horace Mann Horace Mann (May 4, 1796August 2, 1859) was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts Sta ...

together are known as the "Hill schools," as all three are located within a short walking distance of each other in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, on a hilly area above

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-lar ...

. The three are also involved in inter-school sports rivalry.

Notable alumni and former students

Among its many notable alumni and former students are: *

A. G. Sulzberger Arthur Gregg Sulzberger (born August 5, 1980) is an American journalist serving as chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of its flagship newspaper, ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Sulzberger was born in Washingt ...

– the chairman of

The New York Times Company The New York Times Company is an American mass media company that publishes ''The New York Times''. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City. History The company was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones in New York City. T ...

and the publisher of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' * Jill Abramson – former executive editor of ''

'' * Clifford Alexander Jr. – former Secretary of the Army *

George J. Ames George J. Ames (1917 – February 2, 2001) was an American philanthropist and investment banker at Lazard Freres. Biography Ames was born in 1917 in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. Growing up, Ames attended violin lessons at Hartley House (New York C ...

- former Lazard executive * Joseph Amiel – author * Diane Arbus – photographer * Leon Black – financier,

Apollo Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, i ...

and

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, it was a ...

* Richard D. Brown – historian of colonial and revolutionary-era America; professor emeritus at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

* Nancy Cantor – chancellor,

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Roy Cohn Roy Marcus Cohn (; February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer and prosecutor who came to prominence for his role as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954, when he assisted McCarth ...

– attorney * Sofia Coppola – Oscar-winning writer/director (attended middle school at Fieldston) *

Andrew Delbanco Andrew H. Delbanco (born 1952) is the Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and the president of thTeagle Foundation He is the author of many books, including ''The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Str ...

– critic and author. Director, American studies,

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– novelist * David Denby – film critic, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' * Ralph de Toledano – author * Glen de Vries – American entrepreneur in the field of medical science and pharmacology *

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– mathematician *

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– real estate magnate *John Friedman – film producer, ''Hotel Terminus'', winner of 1988 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature * Rita Gam – film actress * Jim Gardner – longtime

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...

news anchor * Alan Gilbert – music director of the New York Philharmonic *

Ailes Gilmour Ailes Gilmour (January 27, 1912 – April 16, 1993) was a Japanese American dancer who was one of the young pioneers of the American Modern Dance movement of the 1930s. She was one of the first members of Martha Graham's dance company. Gilmour' ...

– dancer * Leonie Gilmour – educator and writer * Rob Glaser – internet pioneer *

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, performance artist. Co-founder,

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* Maggie Haberman – ''The New York Times'' political reporter * Judith Lewis Herman— psychiatrist *

Susie Linfield Susie Linfield is a social and cultural theorist at New York University. Background and education Between the ages of 8 and 15 Linfield was a student at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City. She danced as a student in p ...

- author, critic, editor and NYU Professor * Charles Herman-Wurmfeld – film director * Robert Jervis – political scientist. Adlai E. Stevenson Professor,

* Elizabeth Jonas (neurologist) – physician, neuroscientist, and professor,

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

* Rodney Jones – jazz guitarist * Jeffrey Katzenberg – film producer, media mogul * Yosuke Kawasaki – violinist * Sinah Estelle Kelley – chemist *

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– author (''A Different Drummer'', ''Dunfords Travels Everywhere'') * Charlie King – New York civic leader and politician * Arthur Kinoy – civil rights lawyer *

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– screenwriter *

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– actor *

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– public affairs columnist * Louise Lasser – actress * Christopher Lehmann-Haupt – author, ''

'' book reviewer *

Sean Ono Lennon is an American–British musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The G ...

– musician (did not graduate from Fieldston) *

Eda LeShan Eda LeShan (June 6, 1922 – March 3, 2002) was an American writer, television host, counselor, educator, and playwright. She was a "voice of respect for the inherent integrity of children." LeShan was married to Lawrence LeShan, an American ps ...

– child psychologist and author * Carl P. Leubsdorf – Washington bureau chief, ''Dallas Morning News'' * Doug Liman – film director ('' Bourne Identity'', '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith'') * Andrew Litton – conductor, New York City Ballet *

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– motion picture publicist * Douglas Lowenstein – president and CEO of Private Equity Council, founder and former president of Entertainment Software Association *

Douglas Lowy Douglas R. Lowy (born 1940s) is the Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Chief of the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology within the Center for Cancer Research at NCI. Lowy served as Acting Dir ...

– cancer biologist; director of U.S. National Cancer Institute *

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– peace activist and civil rights activist *

Jeffrey Lyons Jeffrey Lyons (born November 5, 1944) is an American television and film critic based in the New York metropolitan area. Early life Lyons was born in Manhattan, one of the four sons of Sylvia R. (Schoenberger) and Leonard Lyons, a newspaper colu ...

– film critic,

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, New York City * Mark A. Michaels- author and sexuality educator * Bob Marshall – conservationist, writer, and the founder of The Wilderness Society * Andy Marvel – award-winning musician *

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– curator at

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and

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– best selling author, investigative journalist, ''

'' * Zach McGowan - actor * Marguerita Mergentime – industrial designer *

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– film director *

Jo Mielziner Joseph "Jo" Mielziner (March 19, 1901 – March 15, 1976) was an American theatrical scenic, and lighting designer born in Paris, France. He was described as "the most successful set designer of the Golden era of Broadway", and worked on both sta ...

– stage designer *

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– jazz harpist *

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– pioneer in artificial intelligence at MIT *

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– television journalist and media executive *

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– cell biologist *

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– writer * Frederic S. Mishkin – governor of the

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– retired

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District Attorney * Howard Nemerov – former United States

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– actor, writer * J. Robert Oppenheimer – physicist, Scientific Director of the

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, "Father of the Atomic Bomb" * Eleanor Pepper – architect, interior designer * Emanuel R. Piore – chief scientist of IBM, and electrical engineering pioneer *

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– author * Susan Poser - President of

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– author *

Edward R. Pressman Edward Rambach Pressman (April 11, 1943 – January 17, 2023) was an American film producer and founder of the production company Edward R. Pressman Film Corporation. Pressman was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Lynn and J ...

– film producer *

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– business and civic leader *

Nancy Reiner Nancy Beth Reiner (April 21, 1942 - September 9, 2006)

- graduating as Nancy Russek, cover artist of

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album ''

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'' (1971), among others * Menachem Z. Rosensaft – attorney and founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors *

Dan Rottenberg Dan Rottenberg (born June 10, 1942) is an author, editor and journalist. He has been the chief editor of seven publications, most recently ''Broad Street Review, an independent cultural arts website he launched in December 2005 and edited for eig ...

— journalist and author *

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– poet and playwright *

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– associate editor and syndicated columnist for ''

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'' newspaper *

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– US Congressman (NY) *

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– musician * Nicole Seligman – lawyer,

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executive *

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– novelist * Robert B. Sherman – composer, lyricist, screenwriter, painter * Stephen Slesinger – creator of the Red Ryder comic strip *

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– author/screenwriter *

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– radio host and cultural commentator * Donald J. Sobol – author of juvenile short stories; creator of

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– composer; attended the Fieldston Lower School *

Dan Squadron Daniel L. Squadron (born November 9, 1979) is an American politician and former member of the New York State Senate for the 26th district. A Democrat, Squadron was elected a New York State Senator in 2008, and was a candidate in the 2013 ra ...

–

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– musician *

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– screenwriter *

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– photographer and filmmaker * James Toback – filmmaker *

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– journalist, attorney, administrator, non fiction writer * Doris Ulmann – photographer of

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* Laurence Urdang – lexicographer, dictionary editor *

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– founder of ''

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'' magazine *

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– actor *

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

– TV news *

Andrew Weisblum Andrew Weisblum (born November 7, 1971) is an American film and visual effects editor. He has collaborated frequently with directors Darren Aronofsky and Wes Anderson. Weisblum was nominated for two American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards for Best ...

– Oscar-nominated film editor *

Chris Wink Chris Wink (born 1961 in New York City, New York) is an American theater performer and director. He is one of the founding members of the Blue Man Group, as well as co-founder of Blue School. He has won numerous awards as a writer and performer, i ...

, performance artist; co-founder,

Howard Wolfson Howard Wolfson (born 1967) is an American Democratic political strategist. He served as a counselor to the former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, replacing Kevin Sheekey as Deputy Mayor of New York City for governmental affairs. Early ...

– deputy mayor of New York City *

Jane C. Wright Jane Cooke Wright (also known as "Jane Jones") (November 20, 1919 – February 19, 2013) was a pioneering oncologist, cancer researcher and surgeon noted for her contributions to chemotherapy. In particular, Wright is credited with developing ...

– oncologist *

Keith L. T. Wright Keith L. T. Wright (born January 3, 1955) is an American politician and a former member of the New York State Assembly. He was first elected to the assembly in 1992 and was re-elected eleven times. In early 2007, he proposed a bill limiting reta ...

–

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

man *

Sheryl WuDunn Sheryl WuDunn (born November 16, 1959) is an American business executive, writer, lecturer, and Pulitzer Prize winner. A senior banker focusing on growth companies in technology, new media and the emerging markets, WuDunn also works with doubl ...

– investment banker,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning journalist *

Adam Yarmolinsky Adam Yarmolinsky (November 17, 1922 – January 5, 2000) was an American academic, educator and author, as well as a political appointee who served in numerous capacities in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations. Besides serving in t ...

– academic and author who served in the

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

and

Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter, ...

administrations * Eli Zabar – New York City restaurateur *

Lynn Zelevansky Lynn Zelevansky (born 1947) is an American art historian and curator. Formerly Henry Heinz II Director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, she is currently based in New York City. Zelevansky curated "Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama" (1998) and "Beyond Geo ...

- contemporary art curator and

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

director

References

External links

* *
Ethical Culture Fieldston School records
a
New-York Historical Society
{{Authority control Central Park West Historic District Educational institutions established in 1878 Ethical movement Ivy Preparatory School League Private high schools in the Bronx Private middle schools in the Bronx Private elementary schools in the Bronx Private K-12 schools in New York City Private elementary schools in Manhattan Preparatory schools in New York City Riverdale, Bronx Upper West Side 1878 establishments in New York (state)