The Putney School
The Putney School | |
---|---|
Location | |
418 Houghton Brook Road, Putney, VT U.S. | |
Information | |
Type | Private independent co-educational boarding and day high school |
Established | 1935 |
Founder | Carmelita Hinton |
Director | Emily Jones |
Faculty | 35 full-time, 24 part-time/adjunct |
Enrollment | 223 |
Student to teacher ratio | 6:1 |
Campus | 500 acres |
Campus type | Rural |
Color(s) | Green, White |
Website | http://www.putneyschool.org/ |
The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. It was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school, with a day-student component, located 12 miles (19 km) outside of Brattleboro, Vermont. Emily Jones is the director. The school enrolls approximately 225 students on a 500 acres (2.0 km2) hilltop campus with classrooms, dormitories, and a dairy farm on which all of its students work before graduating.[1]
The school emphasizes academics, a work program, the arts, and physical activity. The school's curriculum is intended to teach the value of labor, art, community, ethics, and scholarship for individual growth.
Campus
Most of the buildings on the school's campus were partially or completely built by Putney students and faculty, with the exception of the most recent additions, the Michael S. Currier Center and the Field House. This Currier Center is a departure from Putney's customary white, colonial-style architecture, instead using stone and concrete walls in an angular design. It is used for dance, music, movie-making and visual-art presentations. The Field House, which opened in October 2009, was designed as a "net zero energy building", which means that it is expected that its net use of carbon energy over a year will equal zero. It does so by innovative design and construction features plus a field of solar panels.
Academic program
The Boston Globe wrote: "The school's combination of a New England work ethic and a strong academic program, its pioneering of coeducation and community service and its emphasis on music and the arts have made it a model for other independent schools...Putney remains committed to the total community of work and schooling that goes far beyond the more limited pieces of its tradition adopted by other schools."[2]
The school is a member of the Independent Curriculum Group and in 2009 had a 10-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.[3]
Notable alumni and faculty
Alumni
According to The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory, alumni (graduation class shown) of The Putney School include:[4]
- Sam Amidon**, Musician
- David Amram '48, composer
- Tim Asch '51, anthropologist, filmmaker
- Carlos Buhler '72, mountaineer
- Dave Cole '96, sculptor
- Lorca Cohen**, filmmaker and daughter of Leonard Cohen
- Carlton Cuse '77, television writer/executive of LOST[5]
- Tim Daly '74, actor
- Lydia Davis '65, writer, Man Booker International Prize recipient[6]
- Thulani Davis '61, Playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter
- Barnaby Dorfman '86, inventor, technology products
- Mahdi ElMandjra '50, Moroccan futurist, economist and sociologist
- Kai T. Erikson '49, sociologist
- David Griffiths '60, physicist, teacher
- Andrea Gruber, soprano
- Joan Hinton '39, atomic physicist, farmer in China
- Lee Hirsch '90, filmmaker
- Jeffrey Hollender '73, CEO Seventh Generation Inc.
- Reid Hoffman '85, web entrepreneur, co-founder of LinkedIn
- Felicity Huffman '81, actor
- Jeffrey Jones '64, actor
- Harper Simon '90, singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer and son of Paul Simon
- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend '69, Lieutenant Governor, Maryland
- Kerry Kennedy '77, lawyer and human rights activist
- Bill Koch '73, Olympic cross-country skiing medalist
- Mike Ladd**, hip hop artist
- Jonathan Lash '63, Hampshire College President
- Ellen Hamilton Latzen '99, actor
- Téa Leoni (Pantaleoni) '84, actor
- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt journalist, critic, novelist
- J. Anthony Lukas '51, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author
- Sally Mann '69, fine-art photographer
- Joanna Miles '58, original cast member on All My Children
- Adrian Morris, painter
- Errol Morris '65, filmmaker
- Nell Newman '78, co-founder/owner, Newman's Own
- Heather Nova '83, musician and songwriter
- Ken Olin '72 actor, director and TV producer
- Bob Perelman '64, poet, literary critic and professor
- Jonathan Piel '57, science journalist, past editor of Scientific American
- Tyler Rasch '06, television personality
- Noel Rockmore '47, painter, portraitist
- Jonathan Rosenbaum '61, film critic
- Christopher Rowland '81, journalist
- Demetria Royals, filmmaker
- Jonathan Schell '61, author
- Wallace Shawn '61, actor, playwright
- Lucy Shelton '61, soprano
- Alexis Stewart '83, television host, daughter of Martha Stewart
- Peter Willcox '72, Greenpeace activist, Arctic Sunrise captain [7]
- John Bell Young, American concert pianist
∗∗ attended, but graduated from a different school
Faculty
Some Putney faculty members (subject taught in parentheses) had careers that extended beyond their teaching.
- Eric Aho (art), American painter
- Harry Bauld (English, College Guidance), author and poet
- John H. Caldwell (mathematics), Nordic skier on the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, author and Nordic coach of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team
- Chard deNiord (English, Philosophy), Poet Laureate of Vermont
- George Emlen (music), former music director for Boston Revels
- Eric Evans (canoeist) (English)
- Joseph Fichter (art), sculptor
- Fernando Gerassi (art), artist
- Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. (history), environmentalist, publisher, and executive.
In Popular Culture
In The Freshman (1990 film), character Clark Kellogg, played by Matthew Broderick, says that his father is an English teacher at The Putney School.
References
- ↑ "Putney at a glance". Website. Putney School. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
- ↑ Cohen, Muriel (January 1, 1995). "Putney - A Vermont School that Dared and Succeeded". The Boston Globe: A42.
- ↑ State Board of Education (May 19, 2015), Renewal of approval to The Putney School, Putney, VT to serve students in grades 9-12 (PDF), State of Vermont Agency of Education, retrieved 2015-11-11
- ↑ The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory'. Bloomington, Indiana: University Publishing Corporation. 2008.
- ↑ Poniewozik, James (April 29, 2010). "Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof". The 2010 TIME 100—Artists. TIME. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
- ↑ Sherwin, Adam (2013-05-23). "World's most concise short story writer Lydia Davis wins Booker International Prize 2013". Independent. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- ↑ Walker, Shaun (24 November 2013). "Arctic 30 captain re-evaluates protest methods after Russian jails Veteran Greenpeace skipper Peter Willcox was also captain of Rainbow Warrior – which was bombed by French agents in 1985". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
Further reading
- Lloyd, Susan McIntosh (1987). The Putney School: A Progressive Experiment. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03742-2.
- Sadovnik, Alan R.; Semel, Susan F., eds. (2002). Carmelita Chase Hinton and the Putney School. Founding Mothers and Others: Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era. Palgrave. ISBN 0-312-29502-2.
External links
- Putney School web site
- Putney School mission statement
- Putney School Admissions Video on SchoolFair.tv
- Independent Curriculum Group web site
- Accreditation report from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
- The Association of Boarding Schools profile
Coordinates: 42°59′16″N 72°33′17″W / 42.987791°N 72.554826°W