Little Red Radicals
School was centered around social and political activism: demonstrating, taking stands, acting on your beliefs, making the world a better place to live in. A New York Times article in the City Section features a reunion of LREI’s class of..Read More
The Bravest Girl: Ruby Bridges
In 2001, Shoshana and Suzanne’s first grade class read a book about Ruby Bridges, a first grader and the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on..Read More
LREI Honors FDNY Engine 24, Ladder 5
In November 2001, FDNY and NYPD officers joined LREI students and faculty in an assembly to honor the 11 FDNY Engine 24, Ladder 5, Battalion 2 firefighters who died on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center. Their firehouse..Read More
LREI Marches in NYC Pride March
LREI marches in the New York City Pride March. For this annual event, LREI shares a float with the Calhoun School complete with a DJ “booth” and rainbows galore. (Photos in slideshow are from 2014)
LREI Hires Director of Diversity and Community
LREI hires Sharon Dupree as its first Director of Diversity and Community. Sandra “Chap” Chapman (also pictured here on the right) becomes Director of Equity and Community in 2007.
Phil Kassen Becomes Director
When Phil Kassen was asked by a parent during the search process for LREI’s new director, “Why have you stayed at LREI for so long?” his response was: There are many reasons, large and small, including these: Mission-Driven—LREI is true..Read More
The Community Service Roundtable
Community service at LREI has been a core aspect of the school’s values, mission, and program since the school’s inception in the 1920s. Our school’s mission statement underscores the importance of cultivating an ethic of service among all our students..Read More
Students March to Fight Global Warming
On Saturday, April 14, 2007 over 90 members of the LREI community covered themselves in blue and joined hands with thousands of others to form the human coastline around lower Manhattan called the Sea of People. Consisting of a U-shaped..Read More
The Power and Price of Privilege
Tim Wise, Director of the Association for White Anti-racist Education (AWARE) came to LREI to facilitate dialogue on race and privilege in America with students, faculty, and parents. He discussed the historical foundations of white privilege and how it is..Read More
First Eighth Grade Social Justice Project
One of the major themes of the eighth grade curriculum is active citizenship. In humanities classes, students work on the “Social Justice Project.” Students identify civil and human rights topics in which they are interested, and work in small groups..Read More
LREI’s 90th Anniversary + Ideas Speaker Series Launch
LREI celebrated its 90th anniversary by launching the Ideas Speaker Series. The inaugural series included talks by author Siddhartha Mukherjee (P’29, ’23), activist Christy Turlington (P’22,’24), PBS education correspondent John Merrow, and author Steven Johnson.
First Middle School Medieval Guilds Presentation
One major project in sixth grade is the medieval pageant. Students choose from a variety of guilds such as arms and armor, medicine, cartography, and music. They immerse themselves in their area of study over a significant period of time...Read More
Adopt-a-Family Sandy Cleanup
On Friday, December 7, 2012, students took the ferry to Staten Island to help in Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
LREI Students at Drink Up with Michelle Obama
LREI students participated in Drink Up, a collaboration to encourage everyone to drink more water between the Partnership for a Healthier America – which works with the private sector and PHA Honorary Chairwoman Michelle Obama to make the healthy choice..Read More
Student Walkout 2014
In December 2014, thousands of students from schools across the U.S. staged a massive walkout in solidarity with Ferguson and other communities affected by police violence. LREI high school and middle school students joined the many demonstrations that occurred in..Read More
New High School Wing Opens
The Charlton Street Arts Pavilion opens, a five-story visual and performing arts addition at the High School with classrooms and studios designed to inspire and to create space to better support progressive practice.
One Teacher in Ten
LREI hosts a panel discussion on One Teacher in Ten in the New Millennium: LGBT Educators Speak Out About What’s Gotten Better . . . and What Hasn’t. The One Teacher in Ten series has served as an invaluable source..Read More
Working Toward Democracy
Fourth graders conducting an exit poll during the 2016 elections. As we continue to educate for and work toward democracy in the LREI community, in American society and throughout the world, it is heartening and inspiring to reflect on the..Read More
New York Magazine Features LREI Protesters
LREI students featured in New York Magazine’s annual “Reasons to Love New York ” 12th edition, 2016: No. 2 | Because Even Our Protesters Are Precocious. Read the full article here.
Gloria Steinem Visits Feminism Class
Gloria Steinem, feminist journalist and social political activist, visited Ileana Jiménez’ Feminism class.
The Laramie Project + Moisés Kaufman Lecture
LREI’s production of The Laramie Project premiered during election week of November 2016 – a fractious and memorable moment in political history, when hate speech was again on the rise. The students who participated in the play hosted an audience talkback..Read More
LREI Students Protest Constitution Pipeline
LREI students travel to Albany to protest the Constitution Pipeline.
Parents at LREI
From LREI’s Instagram on October 6, 2017, in response to Hurricane Maria and the Puebla earthquake: LREI Community delivers relief ! Today, we sorted and separated enough product to fill a moving truck. Everything has been divided equally and is now..Read More
LREI at Women’s March
LREI students and teachers participated in the Women’s March, a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. It was prompted by the fact that several of Trump’s statements were considered by many..Read More
Transgender and Non-Binary Inclusion Assembly
LREI’s first Transgender and Non-Binary Inclusion Assembly
Facing Whiteness
Filmmaker and educator Whitney Dow spoke at LREI as part of the 2017 ideas Speaker Series. His project “Facing Whiteness” examines how Americans who identify as “white,” or “partially white,” process their ethnicity, and pair it with secondary quantitative data..Read More
Politics in the Schoolhouse
LREI Director Phil Kassen publishes “Politics in the Schoolhouse,” an article about the importance of discussing politics in the classroom. We do not teach about politics for politics’ sake. We do not teach through conflict for conflict’s sake. We do..Read More
School Was Our Life Book Launch
LREI hosted the book launch of School Was Our Life: Remembering Progressive Education by philosopher Jane Roland Martin ‘47, a collection of stories and recollections from students who attended Little Red during the 1930s and 1940s, the peak of progressive..Read More
All-School Read of I AM JAZZ
In 2018, LREI participated in the first annual all-school read of the book I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings. This book, as well as several other books on the topics of gender and identity, have played an important role in..Read More
Heads of Schools Speak Out Against Gun Violence
In February 2018, Heads of independent schools in the New York metropolitan area write an open letter in The New York Times speaking out against gun violence following shooting at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL that..Read More
ideas Speaker Series with TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky
ideas Speaker Series and Sustainable LREI Present: Eliminating the idea of waste and changing the way people look at garbage, with Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle.
Earth Day Beach Cleanup
Sustainable LREI sponsors an annual beach cleanup at Rockaway Beach. In 2018, they collected over 200 lbs of trash.
The Commons Project
The Commons Project was initiated as a framework for approaching service learning, and civic and community engagement. The school choose to interpret the idea of the “commons” broadly in examining our role as citizens of our school community and of the larger world as..Read More
Silent March for Climate Change
The Fours didn’t want to be left out of the climate change movement. They rallied in the hallways of Sixth Avenue, visiting classrooms and proudly displaying signs to build awareness through their own “Silent March for Climate Change”.
Service Learning in the Deepest Sense – 11th Grade Trip
One practice that is grounded in our progressive principles is the field trip, an approach to learning that was pioneered at LREI. Through the trip, we seek to take learning out into the world and to then bring the world..Read More
STEM in South Africa
Ellana Lawrence ’18 travels to South Africa with a group that seeks to train and inspire a new generation of ethically minded STEM workers.