Established 1921 Grades PreK–12 Color(s) Red & White Founder Elisabeth Irwin Mascot The Knight | Faculty 50 Campus Urban Phone +1 212-477-5316 Founded 1921 | |
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Type Independent, Coeducational, and College Preparatory School Address 40 Charlton St, New York, NY 10014, USA Accreditations National Association of Independent Schools, New York State Association of Independent Schools Similar Chelsea High School, NYC Lab School for Collabora, City‑As‑S, Bayard Rustin Sch For, Cascades High School Profiles | ||
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The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, also referred to as LREI, was founded by Elisabeth Irwin in 1921 in Manhattan, New York City as the Little Red School House, and is regarded as the city's first progressive school. Created as a joint public-private educational experiment, the school tested principles of progressive education that had been advocated since the turn of the 20th century by John Dewey. 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.
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History
In 1932, after the onset of the Great Depression 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 provided at no cost by the First Presbyterian Church and began a new life as an independent school.
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) at Bleecker Street, while Elisabeth Irwin High School is at 40 Charlton Street between Sixth Avenue and Varick Street. 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.
College placement
In 2015, graduates from Elisabeth Irwin High School attended Bennington College, Bard College, Skidmore College, Ithaca College, Northwestern University, Pitzer College, Sarah Lawrence College the University of Delaware and Vassar College, along with 38 other colleges and universities. In 2013, graduates attended Bard College, Kenyon College, Bennington College, Brown University, Cornell University, Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Colorado at Boulder, along with 22 other institutions, and in 2012, Bennington College, Hampshire College, Kenyon College, Skidmore College, and Wesleyan University, as well as 28 other schools.
Sports
LREI's sports teams include soccer (boys and girls), volleyball (HS girls, MS co-ed), cross-country track (co-ed), basketball (junior varsity and varsity, boys and girls), spring track (co-ed), tennis (co-ed), softball (girls), baseball (boys), golf (co-ed), ultimate Frisbee (co-ed), and swimming (co-ed). The school and team colors are red and white.
Affiliations
The Little Red School House's companion school from 1944 to 1971 was the Downtown Community School (DCS) on the Lower East Side, whose alumni include the writers Peter Manso, Ann Lauterbach, Peter Knobler and Richard Kostelanetz. Its director from 1951 to 1970 was educator and folklorist Norman Studer.
Affiliated organizations