The Putney School

For the art school in London, see Putney School of Art and Design.

School in Houghton Brook Road, Putney, VT, U.S.

The Putney School

Location

418 Houghton Brook Road, Putney

U.S.

Information
Type| Private independent co-educational boarding and day high school
Established| 1935
Founder| Carmelita Hinton
Dean| Tarah Greenidge
Head of School| Daniel O'Brien
Faculty| 35 full-time, 24 part-time/adjunct
Secondary years taught| 9th through 12th grades
Enrollment| 221
Average class size| 12
Student to teacher ratio| 6:1
Classes offered| Humans in The Natural World, American Studies, Ceramics, Fiber Arts, Astronomy, Existentialism
Campus size| 500 acres (200 ha)
Campus type| Rural
Color(s)| Green, White
Mascot| Elm Tree
Rival| Dublin School
Annual tuition| $74,500
Feeder schools| The Grammar School
Website| http://www.putneyschool.org/

The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school 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, 12 miles (19 km) outside Brattleboro, Vermont. Danny O'Brien became head of school in 2022.[1] The school enrolls approximately 225 students on a 500 acres (2.0 km2) hilltop campus with classrooms, dormitories, and a dairy farm on which its students work before graduating.[2]

Based on its founder's principles,[3] the school continues to emphasize academics, a work program, the arts, and physical activity. Its curriculum is intended to teach the value of labor, art, community, ethics, and scholarship for individual growth.[4][5]

## Campus

[edit]

Animated panorama from the center of the quadrangle on the Putney campus.

The original buildings on Putney's campus were overhauled or constructed by Putney work camp attendees, students, and faculty in 1935.[6] The 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".[7]

There are twelve dormitories on campus: Huseby, New Boys, Keep, Noyes, White Cottage, JR, Old Girls, Hepper, Gund, and Gray House, and Heights. A few faculty members live in each dormitory.[8]

## Academic program

[edit]

Then-Director Brian Morgan addresses the graduating Class of 2004.

In 1995, the Boston Globe described Putney as combining "a New England work ethic and a strong academic program."[9] It is a member of the Independent Curriculum Group and in 2009 received a 10-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.[10]

## Tuition

[edit]

Tuition for the 2023-24 academic year is $74,500 for boarding students and $45,400 for day students.[11]

## Notable alumni and faculty

[edit]

See also: Category:The Putney School alumni

### Alumni

[edit]

According to The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory, alumni of The Putney School include (graduation date shown, where applicable):[12]

* Sam Amidon, musician
* David Amram '48, composer
* Tim Asch '51, anthropologist, filmmaker
* Carlos Buhler '72, mountaineer
* Peter L. Buttenwieser, educator, philanthropist, member of the Lehman family
* Tim Caldwell, Olympic cross-country skier, son of John Caldwell[13]
* Jonathan Crary, art historian
* Dave Cole '96, sculptor
* Carlton Cuse '77, television writer/executive of LOST[14]
* Tim Daly '74, actor
* Alicia Dana '87, U.S. Paralympian
* Lydia Davis '65, writer, Man Booker International Prize recipient[15]
* Thulani Davis '61, playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter
* Anna Dewdney '83, children's book author and illustrator
* Barnaby Dorfman '86, inventor, technology products
* Mahdi ElMandjra '50, Moroccan futurist, economist and sociologist
* Kai T. Erikson '49, sociologist
* David Griffiths '60, physicist, teacher
* William B. Gray, U.S. Attorney for Vermont[16]
* Andrea Gruber, soprano
* William Hinton '36, author, agricultural advisor, People's Republic of China
* Joan Hinton '39, atomic physicist, dairy farmer in China
* Lee Hirsch '90, filmmaker.
* Jeffrey Hollender '73, CEO of Seventh Generation Inc.
* Reid Hoffman '85, web entrepreneur, co-founder of LinkedIn
* Felicity Huffman '81, actor[17]
* Jeffrey Jones '64, actor
* Kathleen Kennedy Townsend '69, lieutenant governor of Maryland
* Kerry Kennedy '77, lawyer and human rights activist
* Bill Koch '73, Olympic cross-country skiing medalist
* Steven Kunes '74, TV writer and producer
* Mike Ladd, hip-hop artist
* Jonathan Lash '63, Hampshire College president
* Ellen Hamilton Latzen '99, actor
* Téa Leoni (Pantaleoni) '84, actor
* Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, '52, journalist, critic, novelist[18]
* J. Anthony Lukas '51, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
* Sally Mann '69, fine-art photographer
* Jared Martin, actor
* Joanna Miles '58, Emmy award-winning actress in The Glass Menagerie
* Adrian Morris, painter
* Errol Morris '65, filmmaker
* Nell Newman '78, co-founder/owner, Newman's Own
* Heather Nova '83, musician and songwriter
* Eli Noyes '60, film animator[19]
* Ken Olin '72 actor, director and TV producer
* Priscilla Paetsch '50, violinist, composer
* 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
* Martha Rockwell '62, Olympic cross-country ski racer[20]
* Jonathan Rosenbaum '61, film critic
* Demetria Royals, filmmaker
* Jonathan Schell '61, author
* Wallace Shawn '61, actor, playwright
* Lucy Shelton '61, soprano
* Harper Simon '90, singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer and son of Paul Simon
* Alexis Stewart '83, television host, daughter of Martha Stewart
* Peter Willcox '72, Greenpeace activist, Arctic Sunrise captain[21]
* Ellen Winner '65, professor specializing in the psychology of art[22][23]
* John Bell Young, American concert pianist

### Faculty

[edit]

Some Putney faculty members (subject taught in parentheses) had careers that extended beyond their teaching.

* Eric Aho (art), American painter
* 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
* Eric Evans (English) Olympic canoeist
* Fernando Gerassi (art), artist
* Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. (history), environmentalist, publisher, and executive
* Margarete Seeler (art), German-born American artist, designer, educator, and author

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Putney to Welcome New Head of School". The Putney School. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
2. ^ "Putney at a glance". Website. Putney School. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
3. ^ "Our 9 Fundamental Beliefs". The Putney School. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
4. ^ Barton, April (May 12, 2021). "Why one Vermont school is considered among the 50 most influential high schools". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
5. ^ Feloni, Richard. "The billionaire founder of LinkedIn attended a progressive Vermont boarding school that skipped AP classes in favor of carpentry and blacksmithing". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
6. ^ Lloyd, Susan M. (1987). The Putney School, A Progressive Experiment. Yale University Press. pp. 21–3, 31. ISBN 0-300-03742-2.
7. ^ "Our Field House's Green Features". The Putney School. 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
8. ^ "Campus Map". The Putney School. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
9. ^ Cohen, Muriel (January 1, 1995). "Putney - A Vermont School that Dared and Succeeded". The Boston Globe: A42.
10. ^ 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
11. ^ "Tuition and Financial Aid". The Putney School. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
12. ^ The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory. Bloomington, Indiana: University Publishing Corporation. 2008.
13. ^ Robidoux, Carol (January 21, 2015). "Olympic Skiing Runs in Lebanon Lawyer's Family". Bar News. New Hampshire Bar Association.
14. ^ Poniewozik, James (April 29, 2010). "Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof". The 2010 TIME 100—Artists. TIME. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
15. ^ Sherwin, Adam (2013-05-23). "World's most concise short story writer Lydia Davis wins Booker International Prize 2013". Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
16. ^ "Class of 1964 Obituaries: William Barton Gray". HR 1964.org. Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1964. 1994. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
17. ^ "Felicity Huffman, actress charged in college-admission bribery case, has Vermont ties". Burlington Free Press.
18. ^ Aspen (30 August 2016). "Christopher Lehmann-Haupt '52". putneyschool.org.
19. ^ "Elm Lea Circle | Community | The Putney School". www.elmleacircle.com. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
20. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Martha Rockwell Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
21. ^ 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.
22. ^ Cuerdon, Don (Fall 2015). "Putney Post". Putney Post. p. 23. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
23. ^ Bloom, Paul (2018-09-06). "What We Know About Art and the Mind". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-04-05.

## Further reading

[edit]

* 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

[edit]

* Putney School web site
* The Association of Boarding Schools profile

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