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

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

located in

Woodstock, Connecticut Woodstock is a New England town, town in Windham County, Connecticut, Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The populat ...

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

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

, serves residents from the Connecticut towns of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, Eastford,

Pomfret Pomfrets are scombriform fish 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 ...

, Union, and

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

. 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 principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

(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.

History

In 1801 the school was organized by James and John McClellan, sons of Revolutionary War General Samuel McClellan. The Connecticut Legislature officially chartered the school in 1802.Academy is ruled public
" ''

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'' at '' The Day''. Tuesday July 22, 1980. Page 10. Retrieved from

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(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 i ...

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 (United States) of 1966 * F ...

. In 1990 the school was planning to end

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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 school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

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 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 advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'' 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. It is owned by The ...

. "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 Worces ...

'' 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,

, Union, 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 was constructed in 1873 and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. # 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 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 an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. Acquisition of the site, originally the campus of Annhurst College, 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, businessman, philanthropist, and newspaper publisher in New York City; original owner of Roseland Cottage in Woodstock * Augustus Sabin Chase (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, the eleventh Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and the twenty-first U.S. Secretary of State. In the la ...

, 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 ( "La Mesilla sale") 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 effect on June 8, 1854. The purchase included lan ...

* Tre Mitchell, basketball player * James W. Patterson,

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and

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from New Hampshire * Ebenezer Stoddard,

from Connecticut * Theodore Stowell, president of

Bryant University Bryant University is a private university in Smithfield, Rhode Island, United States. It has three colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, and the College of Business, and is accredited by the New E ...

* 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 city in and the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It is located in Milton and Winfield Townships, approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, Wheaton's population was 53,970, making it the 27th-mos ...

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