| The Packer Collegiate Institute | |
| Established | 1845 |
| School type | Private |
| Headmaster | Dr. Bruce Dennis |
| Assistant Headmaster | Mr. William Knauer |
| Head of Admissions | Ms. Sheila Bogan |
| Chairman, Board of Trustees | Mr. Adrian "Buzz" Doherty |
| Location | 170 Joralemon Street Brooklyn, New York, USA 11201 |
| Enrollment | Total: 998 Students |
| Faculty | Fulltime : 131
Part-time: 15 |
| Mascot | The Pelican |
| Homepage | The Packer Collegiate Institute |
Packer Collegiate Institute is an independent college preparatory school for students from prekindergarten through grade 12. Formerly the Brooklyn Female Academy, Packer has been located at 170 Joralemon Street in the historic district of Brooklyn Heights since its founding in 1845.
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A small group of interested landowners and merchants living on Brooklyn Heights formed a committee "of all the citizens interested in the cause of Female Education." After several meetings, a board of trustees was selected, funds were raised and the new school, named The Brooklyn Female Academy was built on Joralemon Street. It was a financial and educational success, its enrollment increasing steadily as the years went on. On January 1, 1853 the building caught fire and burned to the ground.
A few days later, Harriet Putnam Packer (1820-1892), the widow of William S. Packer, offered the sum of $65,000 to rebuild The Brooklyn Female Academy if the new institution was named in honor of her deceased husband. At this time, Ms. Packer made the largest gift ever for the higher education of women. The new building, designed by the noted architect of Brooklyn churches, Minard LaFever, opened in November, 1854.
Until the late 20th century Packer was primarily a girls school, with boys attending only kindergarten through fourth grade while girls and young women enrolled through high school as well as a two-year college. The chapel is notable for having stained-glass Tiffany windows.
Packer can be seen as a set for the CW television series Gossip Girl in multiple episodes throughout the first three seasons, as both interior and exterior locations.
Many technological resources found at Packer facilitate collaboration, innovation, expression, understanding and exploration. In the hands of creative and thoughtful faculty and students, technology strengthens our vibrant and reflective learning community. Packer's laptop program is of note as the institution claims itself to be a "laptop school where technology is woven seamlessly into the curriculum at all levels."[1] The guidelines of the program state that every student must have a laptop from fifth grade through graduation in twelfth grade. Met with much skepticism at first, Time Magazine reports the thinking behind the laptop program in detail below:
"The wireless Packer would be very different from the old Packer. All assignments, handouts, work sheets, what-have-you would be distributed electronically. (Thus rendering the copy machine, possibly the only device on earth less reliable than the computer, obsolete.) Students would take notes on their laptops in class, then take their laptops home and do their homework on them. To turn in an assignment, they would simply drag and drop it into the appropriate folder, where the teacher could wirelessly retrieve it. Voila: the paperless classroom." [2]
Packer has visual arts, photography, media arts, dance, drama, orchestra, brass choir, chamber music, wind ensemble, chorus and a Middle and Upper School jazz band. Among Packer's facilities lies the Janet Clinton Performing Arts Center, which features instrumental and choral music classrooms, a dance studio and the Pratt Theater. This state-of-the-art performance space supports theatrical productions throughout the year.