LREI is and has always been a mission-driven school. The school’s mission permeates everything that transpires here. This is true for the present, as well as the past.
LREI Mission Statement
A leader in progressive education since 1921, LREI teaches children to be independent thinkers who work together to solve complex problems. Students graduate from our diverse community as active participants in our democratic society, with the creativity, integrity, and courage to bring meaningful change to the world.
Little Red School House Founded by Elisabeth Irwin
Elisabeth Irwin founded the Little Red School House in 1921 in the attic room of the P.S. 61 Annex at 535 East 16th Street as an alternative public elementary school. Parents and students loved the new dynamic learning community. It..Read More
First June Camp
From 1925 through the early 1960s, all LREI students spent the month of June in the country. This was called June Camp. LREI continues this tradition with a four-day trip for lower school students we now call the Farm Trip.
International Exhibit of Children’s Paintings Benefit
In 1934, LRSH organized the first International Exhibition of Children’s Painting at Rockefeller Center, representing work from forty countries. It honored the creativity of children on a scale that had never been imagined before, let alone attempted. Eleanor Roosevelt, the..Read More
Children Experiment with Life
Students examine farm equipment at June Camp in the 1930s. “Just this, I should say is the task of education today – to change our school from monasteries into laboratories, laboratories not where educators experiment with children but where children..Read More
Critical Thinking
Students work independently, together, and with their teacher in this 1930s science classroom. Critical thinking must involve complete freedom of speech in the classroom. The child is not told what to think but rather is challenged to think straight. An..Read More
Democracy Pamphlet
As is promised in LREI’s mission statement, “Students graduate from our diverse community as active participants in our democratic society,…” Elisabeth Irwin and three of her early colleagues, in the language of the times, shares their thoughts on this important..Read More
THE LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE Published
Agnes Delima’s The Little Red School House is published. Contributors include Elisabeth Irwin, John Dewey, and LRSH teachers.
EI Students Get to Know their Neighbors
EI students interview journalist Celila Ventura about her Italian heritage in an effort to understand the Italian-American community just east of the school. “Instead of interviewing, I was interviewed by thirty well-behaved, friendly children,” Ventura writes. “Their questions ranged from..Read More
Students Mobilize for Yugoslav Relief
LRSH students participated in the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief’s Winter Clothing Campaign to aid Yugoslav children in need.
LRSH Student Gives Speech Before State Legislature, Receives Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt
Paul Coburn, a ten-year-old at LRSH, made a speech before the State Legislature, in favor of the Ives-Quinn Anti-Discrimination Bill, which would make New York the first state to enact legislation curtailing the practice of discriminating against job applicants and employees based on race, religion, or creed...Read More
Democracy in the Classroom
On democracy in the classroom: Of course the approach to this idea with very young children would necessarily and naturally be very different from that used with older children. … One does not use the word itself …[ b]ut one..Read More
EI Students Send Christmas Boxes to European Children
EI students send ninety Christmas boxes of goods to European children in need in Russia, Yugoslavia, France, and Greece.
Students Visit Phelps-Dodge Strike
Ninth graders visit the Phelps-Dodge Strike at the Phelps-Dodge Copper Products Corporation plant in Elizabeth, NJ. The eight-month-old strike was one of the longest major industrial disputes on record in the nation, resulting in a 18.5% hourly wage increase and..Read More
Integration in Baseball
INFO, the school newspaper, devotes the majority of its February 1, 1946 issue to advocating for integration in baseball. INFO editors, harnessing the power of the press, write to sports writers of their day, and excerpted responses from eight journalists,..Read More
Avon Long Performs at EI
Broadway star Avon Long performs at EI as part of Black History Week celebration.
Freedom of Speech in the Classroom
Students in Mabel’s 9s class explore a map of the United States in the 1940s. Needless to say, this critical thinking must involve complete freedom of speech in the classroom. The child is not told what to think but rather..Read More
Israel Drive
EI held a month-long drive to aid people in Israel. The money collected was given to the United Palestine Appeal (UPA), a member of the a member agency of the United Jewish Appeal and a major fund raising agency for..Read More
EI Marches with NAACP
Elisabeth Irwin students marched with a delegation from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Washington D.C. on January 16, 1950 to advocate for Congressional action on the passage of the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). EI..Read More
Sophomore Girls Visit Welfare Island
Three tenth grade EI students volunteer at the Metropolitan Hospital on Welfare Island. The students were members of the Councillettes of Jewish Women, an organization composed of girls from thirteen to seventeen years of age. Their job was to “keep..Read More
Frank Silvera Visits EI
As part of E.I.’s observance of Black History Week, Tony-nominated actor Frank Silvera, spoke to students about the history of Black actors in American theatre.
Tribune Forum Exchange Students
For many years, LREI participated in the Herald Tribune Forum, which brought students to the U.S. from all over the world for a period of twelve weeks. LREI hosted students from many countries, including Kimiko Fujii from Japan, and Wentworth..Read More
W.E.B. Dubois Visits
Dr. W.E.B. Dubois, well-known scholar, philosopher and writer, spoke to the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades on February 14. His topic was freedom of opinion in the United States. In a short analysis of the fight for freedom of opinion..Read More
A Lasting Imprint
Students attend a campaign assembly in the 1950s. A focus on politics not only will help our students learn about history, geography, math, science, and language arts, but also will allow them to fashion their own political lives. It will..Read More
Natural Inquisitiveness
Progressive education works with a child’s natural inquisitiveness and desire to do, to experiment and to be involved. Progressive education asks students to truly understand a topic and to demonstrate and to defend their understanding. It asks them to think..Read More
Pearl Primus Visits LRSH
Pearl Primus, one of America’s greatest interpretive dancers and PhD candidate in Anthropology at Columbia University, performs at LRSH. “There is music everywhere,” she said. “Music is in the wind whistling by my ears. I hear it in the quiet..Read More
EI Students Attend Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
The date was May 17, 1957. Three years ago on that date the Supreme Court of the land added a new verse to freedom’s song. “Desegregate and state to integrate” chorused the nine men in black. And now three years..Read More
Getting Along
EI students on a field trip in 1957. Just as our little children often say at home, “We don’t learn anything, we just have fun,” we would like our older children to feel “We don’t learn about democracy, we just..Read More
10s Play About Integration
A play by the 10s about integration was performed at an assembly in 1957, and then later at the high school. Teacher Mimi Levy transcribed phrases from class discussions of integration and turned their words into the script, which was..Read More
We Need Our Park
LRSH students make an appeal to Mayor Robert F. Wagner, explaining why building a highway through Washington Square Park would be detrimental to the community.
Jackie Robinson Visits EI on Behalf of NAACP
In 1958, Jackie Robinson, ambassador of the NAACP, came to LREI with Herbert Wright, Youth Leader of the NAACP, to accept a check from EI students, funds raised to support their efforts in the fight for racial justice and to..Read More
NAACP Youth Secretary Visits EI
Herbert Wright, NAACP Youth Secretary, speaks to the EI student council
EI Students Attend Youth March for Integrated Schools
On Saturday, October 25, 1958, EI students traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the Youth March for Integrated Schools led by A. Philip Randolph, Jackie Robinson, Coretta Scott King, Harry Belafonte, Bayard Rustin.
Prime Minister Nehru Writes to Students at LRSH
In 1958, LRSH students sent Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India letters and drawings wishing him a happy birthday. In response, he wrote: I am glad to know that you have been learning about India in your class. India is..Read More
Operation Pennsylvania
EI students take a week-long trip to Pennsylvania to visit Amish farms, a steel plant, and a coal mine, among other stops, to learn about the work and lives of others. Read the trip objectives and itinerary here.
Lorraine Hansberry Visits Book Week
On November 5, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry visited students to talk about her writing, including the play A Raisin in the Sun, as part of Book Week. LREI prides itself on shrinking the distance between the schoolhouse and the “real world.”..Read More
Student UNICEF Drive
LRSH students organize an annual drive to raise funds for UNICEF.
EI Students Picket Woolworth’s
Students from EI picket Woolworths at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue as part of a Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) drive.
Sensory Experiences
Students sketch Our Lady of Pompeii Church on Carmine Street from Father Demo Square in 1960. Whoever took this photo likely recognized the beauty of being given time to explore materials and to engage in the sensory experiences that are..Read More
Students Visit Pennsylvania Coal Mines
As part of our social studies course, the 11th grade took a 6 day trip to Pennsylvania. The three main objectives of the trip were to study coal mining conditions in the mining towns themselves and to visit farms of..Read More
Democracy in Children’s Own Terms
Students negotiate their play during recess on the roof in the 1960s. For the teacher whose eyes are open to the many human situations arising in group life, there is ample opportunity to discover and discuss problems of democracy in..Read More
A Real Life Plan
Students study and play together in the 1960s. Happiness comes from many sources but primarily, we believe, from an ability to make good social relationships and to find adequate expression for normal creative impulses. —Elisabeth Irwin: from A Real Life..Read More
Progressive Education in Action
Joe’s story about his days at LREI reflect a progressive education in action. Listen here.
LREI’s First Affinity Group
The Organization of Afro-American Students (OAAS) forms in 1970, becoming LREI’s first affinity group. The stated purposes of the OAAS were: To promote unity among the Black students in the school To promote awareness of the Black Revolution To promote..Read More
Parent-Created Big Books
Students read together from a parent-created big book in the 1980s. Whenever parents offer their time and talents to students, a message is embedded within. The message is: you are important, your education can be fun and exciting, we believe..Read More
The Democratic Classroom
Cleo Banks with her students in the 1980s. It is wrong to think that in a democratic class, the teacher abdicates and contents himself with counting votes. He must always remain the leader and the guide. The children must be..Read More
LREI Intramural Basketball
LREI launches its all-inclusive intramural basketball program for fifth and sixth graders. Through participation on athletic teams students develop their physical skills and the ability to work together toward a common purpose; they also learn to represent the school within..Read More
Willam Kunstler (P’94/P’96) Speaks at MLK Assembly
Lawyer, civil rights activist, and LREI parent William Kunstler spoke to students at the annual Martin Luther King Day assembly.
LREI Lesbian Gay Straight Alliance (LGSA)
Lower School Principal Elaine Winter and parent Alice Krauss, along with other parents, found the LREI Lesbian Gay Straight Alliance (LGSA).
Visibility/Love Makes a Family
Beginning in 1997, LREI hosted an annual traveling photography exhibition entitled “Love Makes A Family” — focused on the families gay and lesbian couples create. In 2010, the LREI community decided to curate its own exhibit, “Visibility: Our LGBTQ+ Community..Read More
New Middle School Building Opens
The new three-story Middle School building opens at 272 Sixth Avenue, linking the existing lower school at 196 Bleecker Street and the middle school at Nos. 200 and 202, creating space to better support the school’s progressive practice. It stands..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 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.
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
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.
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
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
Fourth Grade Play
Each year, the fourth grade writes and performs a play centered around their social studies curriculum, which is typically focused on contemporary immigration, historical immigration, civil rights, current events, and social justice. These topics are never fully predetermined – students’..Read More
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”.
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.
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
The Democracy Project
LREI launches a collective, school-wide effort called The Democracy Project to uphold this country’s core democratic values. The Democracy Project is a student-led initiative to help the LREI student community become more knowledgeable on and involved in the democratic process,..Read More
The rights of those who differ from ourselves
Fourteen students from the high school ‘Exile and Immigration’ class came together in conversation with four of New Sanctuary Coalition’s community members – three friends recently released from detention and a family member. This series, “Finding Light: Sharing Experiences of..Read More
100 Acts of Service
In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of LREI, we are cataloging 100 Acts of Service. Click here to see the photos. Each of these opportunities will incorporate a service-learning component. The service-learning component frames and contextualizes the service opportunity through..Read More
Vision Zero
Zane Walker ‘22, co-leader of the Vision Zero Youth Council, a student-led group that works with local schools, organizations, and elected officials in the fight for street safety, publishes an Op-Ed in The Daily News about the urgent need to..Read More
Senior Project + Service Learning
Beginning spring 2022, all Senior Projects will be required to include a service component. The Senior Project is the culmination of each student’s LREI career. The Senior Project takes the values and academics of LREI and allows students to explore these..Read More
Romance and Adventure of the World
What better way to look ahead to the new year than seeing the first graders help the NYC Parks Department plant bulbs in the newly renovated Little Red Square? We’ve been told that these tulips, donated by the Washington Square..Read More
Critical Thinking
Sixth graders begin their chemistry studies by learning how to use the tools of chemists as well as proper measuring techniques to ensure precision in their experiments. Through this lab, students discover the possible sources of error that can affect..Read More