Woodstock Academy (WA), founded in 1801, is a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in

Woodstock, Connecticut Woodstock is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,221 at the 2020 census. History 17th century In the mid-17th century, John Eliot, a Puritan missionary to the Native Americans, established "praying town ...

, United States. The Academy, which describes itself as an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

, serves residents from the Connecticut towns of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, Eastford,

Pomfret Pomfrets are perciform fishes belonging to the family Bramidae. The family currently includes 20 species across seven genera. Several species are important food sources for humans, especially ''Brama brama'' in South Asia. The earlier form of t ...

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

. The respective towns' taxpayers pay student tuition through municipal taxes, and therefore state agencies and the

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...

(NCES) categorize Woodstock as a public school. The school also accepts tuition-paying students from surrounding towns and states as day students, and students from around the country and the world as residential students. The original Academy building located on the North Campus is well known for the pool located on the third floor.

History

In 1801 the school was organized by James and John McClellan, sons of Revolutionary War General

Samuel McClellan Samuel McClellan (January 4, 1730 – October 17, 1807) was an American brigadier general in the American Revolutionary War. He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Samuel McClellan served as Ensign and Lieutenant in the French and Indian War ...

. The

Connecticut Legislature The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Ther ...

officially chartered the school in 1802.Academy is ruled public
" ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' at ''

The Day The Day may refer to: Film and television * ''The Day'' (1914 film), an Australian silent film * ''The Day'' (1960 film), a short film * ''The Day'' (2011 film), a Canadian film * ''The Day'' (2022 film), a Bangladeshi–Iran joint production ...

''. Tuesday July 22, 1980. Page 10. Retrieved from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

(6 of 17) on October 18, 2012. In 1969 the Woodstock School Committee designated Woodstock Academy as the secondary public school of the town. In 1977 the Connecticut State Freedom of Information Commission ruled that Woodstock Academy must make its records public. In July 1980 the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in ...

ruled that Woodstock Academy is a public agency, because it serves three Connecticut towns in the manner that a public high school would, and therefore it must release all of its financial records under the Connecticut

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

. In 1990 the school was planning to end

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

classes due to a lack of interest and the idea that students should study modern languages. In 2012 the school was trying to recruit students from other regions of the United States and international students.Allard, Marc.
Woodstock names new athletic director
" '' The Bulletin''. October 16, 2012. Retrieved on October 18, 2012.

Governance and service area

The school is not within any

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

and is not controlled by any municipality; therefore it describes itself as an "independent school." The

Connecticut State Department of Education The Connecticut State Department of Education is a branch of the state government of Connecticut in the United States. The agency is headquartered at 450 Columbus Boulevard in Hartford.Connecticut Association of Boards of Education Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

and the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools. The New England Association of Schools & Colleges, Incorporated accredits The Woodstock Academy as an "independent school". A 1997 ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'' article described the school as "a quasi- private, independent school",WOODSTOCK ACADEMY GRADUATES 168 WOODSTOCK NEWS NOTES
" ''

''. June 23, 1997. Retrieved on October 18, 2012
Clipping from

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

. "Woodstock Academy is a quasi- private, independent school run by a governing board of 30 members from throughout the region. The students who attend live .. and another called it a "private school". A 1990 ''

Worcester Telegram & Gazette The ''Telegram & Gazette'' (and ''Sunday Telegram'') is the only daily newspaper of Worcester, Massachusetts. The paper, headquartered at 100 Front Street and known locally as ''the Telegram'' or the ''T & G'', offers coverage of all of Worceste ...

'' article described the school as "a privately endowed secondary school incorporated by the state to act as the town's public high". The

(NCES) categorizes Woodstock as public. The school serves the towns of

, Eastford,

, and

. As of 1980 it is the only secondary school that serves the town of Woodstock. In 1980 the ''Associated Press'' stated that the school serves the three towns in a manner that a public high school would. The school is funded by student tuition, whether the tuition is paid by sending towns or individual families. In 1980 the ''Associated Press'' said that The Academy is "incorporated like a private school but functions like a public school." A board of thirty individuals from the region operates the school. The

in 1980 supported a decision from a lower court that the school has an obligation to release records to the public due to its function as a public school.

Facilities

Woodstock Academy has boarding facilities. The historic

Woodstock Academy Classroom Building The Woodstock Academy Classroom Building is a historic school building on Academy Road in the Woodstock Hill Historic District, Woodstock Hill village of Woodstock, Connecticut. Built in 1873, it is the oldest standing building on the campus of ...

was constructed in 1873 and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. # Woodstock Academy – North Campus, 57 Academy Road, Woodstock, CT 06281 # Woodstock Academy – South Campus, 150 Route 169, Woodstock, CT 06281 # Woodstock Academy – Bentley Athletic Complex, 423 Route 169, Woodstock, CT 06281 It was announced in October 2016 that Woodstock Academy would purchase the nearby

Hyde School Hyde School is a historic Romanesque Revival architecture, Romanesque Revival school at 130 High Street in Lee, Massachusetts. The school was built in 1894 from locally quarried marble. It is named for Alexander Hyde, who established the town's ...

campus for $15 million. The funds were loaned from the federal government, with the loan from the Rural Development Program of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

. Acquisition of the site, originally the campus of

Annhurst College Annhurst College was a private American Catholic college in South Woodstock, Connecticut, which operated from 1941 to 1980. The school was founded and administered by the Daughters of the Holy Spirit (at that time known as the Daughters of the Ho ...

, was completed in 2017. The school established a bus system between the two campuses and lengthened periods between classes. The South Campus is from the North Campus. The purchase gave the school the three dormitories: it had plans to increase the number of dormitory students in a gradual manner based upon whether the numbers of zoned students decrease.

Demographics

In 2017 its enrollment was 1,050, with 94 of them categorized as international students.

Notable alumni and faculty

Henry Chandler Bowen Henry Chandler Bowen (September 11, 1813 – February 24, 1896) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and publisher. He was an influential member of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, where he resided much of his life, and the founder of the ...

, businessman, philanthropist, and newspaper publisher in New York City; original owner of

Roseland Cottage Roseland Cottage, also known as Henry C. Bowen House or as Bowen Cottage, is a historic house located on Route 169 in Woodstock, Connecticut, United States. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and was declare ...

in Woodstock *

Augustus Sabin Chase Augustus Sabin Chase (August 15, 1828—June 7, 1896) was an American industrialist of the Gilded Age. Augustus Sabin Chase was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, the only son of Capt. Seth Chase (1798-1893) and Eliza Hempstead (Dodge) Chase, who also ...

(1828–1896), industrialist in Waterbury * Ernest Haskell, artist and illustrator *

William L. Marcy William Learned Marcy (December 12, 1786July 4, 1857) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Secretary of State. In the latter office, he negotiated the Gad ...

, U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War, U.S. Secretary of State; negotiator of the

Gadsden Purchase The Gadsden Purchase ( es, region=MX, la Venta de La Mesilla "The Sale of La Mesilla") is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effe ...

* Tre Mitchell, basketball player *

James W. Patterson James Willis Patterson (July 2, 1823May 4, 1893) was an American politician and a United States representative and Senator from New Hampshire. Early life, education and family Born in Henniker, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, he was the son ...

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from New Hampshire *

Ebenezer Stoddard Ebenezer Stoddard (May 6, 1785 – August 19, 1847) was a United States representative from Connecticut. He was born in Union. He attended Woodstock Academy in 1802 and in 1803 and graduated from Brown University in 1807. After studying, he was ...

from Connecticut *

Theodore Stowell Theodore Stowell (1847-1916) was an early president of Bryant College (now Bryant University). Biography Theodore Barrows Stowell was born in Mansfield Center, Connecticut in 1847 to an old New England family of farmers and land owners, and he ...

, president of

Bryant University Bryant University is a private university in Smithfield, Rhode Island. It has two colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business, and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. History Butler Exc ...

* Alexander Warner, Union Army officer, banker, planter, and Republican politician * Warren Wheaton, philanthropist, co-founder and namesake of Wheaton College and

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a suburban city in Milton and Winfield Townships and is the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois. It is located approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,894, which was estimated ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodstock Academy Woodstock, Connecticut Educational institutions established in 1801 Schools in Windham County, Connecticut Public high schools in Connecticut 1801 establishments in Connecticut Boarding schools in Connecticut Public boarding schools in the United States