Little Red School House

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The Little Red School House (sometimes simply referred to as LREI or Little Red) was founded by Elisabeth Irwin in 1921 in New York, New York. It is widely regarded as the city's first progressive school. Founded as a joint public-private educational experiment, the school tested principles of progressive education, advocated since the turn of the century by John Dewey. Little Red postulated that the lessons of progressive education could be applied successfully in the crowded, ethnically diverse, public schools of the nation's largest city. Nevertheless, in 1932, the school turned to private funding, 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: Elisabeth Irwin High School. Famous alumni of the school include Angela Davis, Robert De Niro, Robert Meeropol, Michael Meeropol, Victor Navasky, Mary Travers, and Avi. As of now, the institution's head is Philip Kassen; the High School principal is Ruth Jurgensen; the Middle School principal is Mark I. Silberberg; the Lower School principal is Sharon DuPree. 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 1940s 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, as the Elisabeth Irwin High School, 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 Film making, Photography, Studio, and Graphic Arts).

The Lower East Side companion school from 1944 to 1970 was Downtown Community School, commonly called DCS, whose alumni include the writers Peter Manso, Ann Lauterbach, and Richard Kostelanetz. Its director from 1951 to its dissolution was Norman Studer.

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."

[edit] Sports

LREI's sports teams include soccer (co-ed), volleyball (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).