Little Red School House
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The Little Red School House (sometimes simply referred to as LREI) was founded by Elisabeth Irwin in 1921 in New York, New York. It is widely regarded as the city's first progressive school. It was founded as a joint public—private educational experiment. The school was an experiment designed to test the notion that the principles of progressive education, advocated since the turn of the century by John Dewey could be applied successfully in the crowded, ethnically diverse, public schools of the nation’s largest city. Nevertheless, this method of progressive education continues to be tried out mainly in small, private school settings. In 1932, the school became entirely privately funded with tuition ranging today from $24,240 to $27,200. The Little Red School House consists of a lower school, middle school, and a high school; Elizabeth Irwin High School. Famous alumni of the school include Ethan Coen, Robert De Niro, Kathy Boudin, Angela Davis, Mary Travers, Avi and Victor Navasky. As of now, the institution's head is Philip Kassen; the High School principal is Ruth Jurgensen; the Middle School principal is Mark Silberberg; the Lower School principal is Elaine Winter. The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School occupy two separate buildings, as well as a third space housing athletic facilities. They rent one floor of a fourth building, Saint Anthony's School, for foreign language classes. The middle and lower school building is located on 6th Avenue, The High School on Charlton St., The athletic center on Thompson St., and the "Annex," as the students call it, is located on McDougall St.
In the 1940's, the high-school students at the Little Red School House decided that they wanted the high school to be named after the founder, Elisabeth Irwin, making the full title of the school The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School.
LREI believes in progressive education. Much of the students' learning is done through experimentation, projects, and field trips, as opposed to the more traditional direct instruction. As a further example, high-school students have art every day. (These art classes include: Dance, Drama, Music, Digital Filmmaking, Photography, Studio, and Graphic Arts). LREI's sports teams include soccer (co-ed), vollyball (girls), cross country (co-ed), basketball (jv & varsity boys & girls), winter and spring track (co-ed), tennis (co-ed), softball (girls), baseball (boys), and the newest additions: the bowling team (co-ed) known as the EI Strikers lead by coach Vinay Chowdhry and the step team coach Peggy Peloquin (girls). Their 2004 handbook states: “The school retains its historic commitment to social justice and inclusion. Students are encouraged to become involved in struggles for social justice… as alumni tell stories of concerts given by Pete Seeger singing about social and racial justice, future alumni will remember the programs and discussions sponsored by today’s Multicultural Committee and Lesbian and Gay Issues Group.”
