Saint Ann's School is a private school in Brooklyn, New York City. The school is a non-sectarian, co-educational pre-K–12 day school with programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences. The students number 1,012 from preschool through 12th grade, as well as 324 faculty, administration, and staff members.
The campus, located in Brooklyn Heights, includes a central 15-story building, two adjoining brownstones, and a preschool and kindergarten located near the main campus. Annual tuition as of 2022 is between $48,000 and $52,000.[3]
History
The entrance to the Bosworth Building
Saint Ann's School was founded in 1965 with 63 students and seven teachers in the basement of the St. Ann's Episcopal Church under the aegis of the vestry of the church and several interested parents. In 1966, the church purchased the former Crescent Athletic Club House, a building designed by Frank Freeman, which has since served as the school's main building.[4]
Stanley Bosworth became its first headmaster.[5] In 1982, Saint Ann's School formally disaffiliated from the church, having been granted a charter from the Board of Regents of the State of New York.[6][7] In 2023, Kenyatte Reid became head of school.[8]
Academic program
The school allows its high school juniors and seniors to design their own curriculum.[9][10]
In a 2004 survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal, Saint Ann's was rated the number one high school in the country for having the highest percentage of graduating seniors enroll in Ivy League and other highly selective colleges.[11] In late 2007, The Wall Street Journal again listed Saint Ann's as one of the country's top 50 high schools for its success in preparing students to enter top American universities.[12] In 2012, the New York Observer ranked Saint Ann's as the number one high school in New York City.[13]
Divisions and demographics
The school is organized into four divisions: preschool, lower, middle and high school. The vast majority of the students are from Brooklyn and Manhattan, although other boroughs are represented. Approximately 22 percent of the student body receive some level of scholarship aid (8.5 percent receive tuition remission; 13.5 percent receive financial aid). Approximately 33 percent of the student body are nonwhite.[14]
In her memoirs, Claire Dederer wrote that when she was a student at Oberlin College, "all the coolest girls" had attended St. Ann's: "They had slept with Beastie Boys when the Beastie Boys were still a punk band. They had famous parents. [...] The Saint Ann’s girls didn’t need anyone besides themselves. They ruled the school."[15]
Controversies
Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
In 2017, allegations of sexual misconduct by teachers were posted to Facebook. In response, the school commissioned an independent investigation, which announced in 2019 that it had identified nineteen former St. Anne's teachers or staff who potentially engaged in inappropriate behavior or sexual misconduct with students, going back to the 1970s.[16]
Suicide of Ellis Lariviere
In February 2021 an eighth grade St. Ann's student, Ellis Lariviere, committed suicide after being notified that he would not be permitted to continue at the school following the end of the year. Lariviere was noted as a talented artist who struggled with dyslexia. His midyear eighth grade reports noted his problems with writing and organization, but also noted the progress he had made that year, and praised him for creative thinking and contributions to his classes. Lariviere's suicide note specifically requested that the school not hold an assembly about his death, and the school's notification to parents failed to mention that he had been told not to return to the school. Two years later, in April 2023, Lariviere's parents filed suit against the school, its headmaster, and its board of trustees for wrongful death. A commentating law professor, David C. Bloomfield, stated that despite how private schools are not required to retain students, the school did make an ethical commitment not to give up on students.[17][18]
Hiring of Winston Nguyen
In July 2024, St. Ann's math teacher Winston Nguyen was arrested and charged with "use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child and disseminating indecent material to a minor", among other charges.[19] It was revealed that Nguyen had previously been convicted of grand larceny, stealing more than $300,000 from an elderly couple he worked for, and that St. Ann’s had been aware of his criminal past when they hired him.[20][21]
Faculty and alumni
The school's Farber Building at 153 Pierrepont Street
The school maintains a list called The Growing Shelf, which documents all published community members.[22]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(October 2019)
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on September 23, 2016. Retrieved September 16, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Rauma Ann. "Friends College Gets a Bill", The New York Times, December 13, 1981. "When Dr. Larry Weiss, a 31-year-old China scholar, became president of the college a year and a half ago, the institution was struggling with a growing deficit, a 65 percent dropout rate and a falling enrollment."
^Del Signore, John. "Playwright Melissa James Gibson Discusses What Rhymes With America", Gothamist, December 26, 2012. "I was a college counselor for many years at a private school in Brooklyn, St. Ann's. It's a wonderful school, really cool school. I was there pretty much since graduate school, other than two fellowship years."
^ abMidgette, Anne. [1], Washington Post. "He’s also a committed and inspiring teacher, including an early stint at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn where, full disclosure, he directed me in the high school musical."
^Lee, Linda. "A NIGHT OUT AT THE: Paramount Hotel; The Pajama Game", The New York Times, May 27, 2001. Accessed November 3, 2007. "A product of St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, Mr. Abrahams, 23, had invited a batch of friends from high school to join him. He lives in North Park Slope, exactly 41 minutes from here, he said."
^Kalogerakis, George. "Mind Games", New York, February 18, 2002. Accessed November 15, 2007. "Connelly grew up mostly in Brooklyn Heights, the daughter of a clothing-manufacturer father and antiques-dealer mother. She attended Saint Ann's and started modeling when she was 10."
^ abLevy, Ariel. "The Devil & Saint Ann's", New York. "And certainly, many a bright-eyed youth has passed through the halls of Saint Ann’s and come out the other end an artiste of one sort or another (Zac Posen, Jennifer Connelly, Paz de la Huerta, et al.)"
^Amdur, Neil. "Friends Reunite for Film, but Actress’s Death Casts Pall on Premiere", The New York Times, April 14, 2007. Accessed November 7, 2007. "Lily Wheelwright and Ry Russo-Young were friends while growing up in the West Village and pursuing their artistic dreams as classmates at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn."
^Ogg, Alex. "The Men behind Def Jam: the Radical Rise of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin". London: Omnibus, 2002. p. 50." ""The son of an art dealer, Michael Diamond attended St Ann's, an exclusive private school in Brooklyn..."
^Frere-Jones, Sasha, "Peace, Adam", The New Yorker, May 4, 2012. Accessed November 25, 2016. "I was sitting on the red steps in the lobby of St. Ann’s, where I was a sophomore in high school."
^Straub, Emma. "Dear Stanley", The Paris Review, November 3, 2011. "When I was a senior at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, I was one of the editors of our school yearbook."
^"Lookout", People.com, June 14, 1982. "[Healy,] the eighth grader at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights has resumed training with Gelsey Kirkland's former coach, David Howard."
^Gambaccini, Peter. "Home Run", New York Magazine, June 17, 1991. "After high school at St. Ann's in Brooklyn, Rainey went to Harvard."
^Gudrais, Elizabeth, "Playing With Health,"Harvard Magazine, May–June 2012. "He [Bosworth] attended Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, where his father, Stanley, was the inaugural headmaster."
