Hewitt School

The Hewitt School is an independent, K-12 girls school in New York City, New York. The school serves girls from Kindergarten through 12th Grade, in three divisions: Lower School (K-3), Middle School (4-8), and Upper School (9-12).^[1]

History

Caroline D. Hewitt founded the Hewitt School in 1920. Miss Hewitt, as alumnae lovingly refer to her, was born in England and educated there. She came to the United States in 1902 as a private tutor or governess to a prominent family of Tuxedo Park, New York. After a decade in that position and at the suggestion of the Hoffman family Miss Hewitt began private classes for children in a townhouse on the Upper East Side. At this time the school was referred to as Miss Hewitt Classes and highly sought after by New York City’s pre-war elite. By 1920, Hewitt had established a small kindergarten for boys and girls located at the Mannes Music School. In 1923 Hewitt purchased a brownstone at 68 East 79th Street. The school expanded and began to cater exclusively to girls.

In 1942 Miss Hewitt retired and was succeeded by faculty member Charlotte Comfort. In 1950 the school was granted a charter as a nonprofit corporation. The school moved to its current location at 45 East 75th Street in 1951. In 1955 Miss Hewitt’s Classes became The Hewitt School. In 1968 the Gregory Building, named for Board of Trustees president William Gregory, was built.

In 1969 Janet Mayer succeeded Miss Comfort as Headmistress and served until her retirement eleven years later. In 1976 the Building Fund Drive added three new stories to the Gregory Building.

In 1980 Agathe Crouter succeeded Miss Mayer as Headmistress and served until her retirement in 1990. In 1986 major renovation of the 75th Street Building was completed, adding classroom space and the John and Elizabeth Hobbs Performing Arts Center.

In 1990 Dr. Mary Jane Yurchak became Head of School and then took on a leadership role in integrating academics and technology.

In 2000 Linda MacMurray Gibbs became Head of School and initiated a long-term strategic plan for its growth. In 2001 the Hewitt community went online, and a revised course of study based on the curriculum mapping process was initiated. In 2002, with a generous gift of the McKelvey Foundation, Hewitt purchased another townhouse to accommodate the Lower School beginning in the Fall of 2003. This building is named McKelvey in honor of trustee Andrew McKelvey. Also in 2003 a major renovation of the library was completed.

Ms. Joan Lonergan served as Hewitt's seventh Head of School. Ms. Lonergan assumed this position in July 2010. In her five year tenure, Ms. Lonergan lead the expansion of the school; the townhouse to the west of the Gregory Building was purchased. Beginning in July 2015, a complete gut-renovation of the buildings was funded and planned under Ms. Lonergan's leadership.

In November 2014, The Hewitt School's board president announced that Dr. Tara Christie Kinsey will be the eighth Head of School. Dr. Kinsey's tenure began on July 1, 2015. ^[2]

Campus

Hewitt's main entrance – Stillman Building – 45 East 75th St

The Hewitt School is housed in three buildings on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The Upper School (9-12) and Middle School (housed in the adjoining Gregory Building) (5-8) and (4) are housed at 45 East 75th Street near Met Breuer between Madison and Park Avenues. The McKelvey Lower School (K-3) is in a townhouse at 3 East 76th Street just off Central Park.

Hewitt's Lower School – McKelvey Building – grades k - 3, 3 East 76th St

Hewitt's four townhouses contain state-of-the-art science labs, art studios, performing arts center, gymnasium and photography labs. The nearby Central Park provides grounds for outdoor activities at St. Jean's Theater is used for arts productions.

Hewitt is expanding. An adjoining townhouse on 76th Street has been purchased. Robert A.M. Stern Architects have developed a comprehensive campus master plan and renovation began in the summer of 2015. Expansion plans include a fabrication lab for STEM programming, along with additional arts and classroom space.

Academics

The Hewitt School offers a Creative Arts program, and all girls have the opportunity to explore and develop their talents in both the Visual and Performing Arts in all three divisions. Facilities include a photography darkroom, digital media studios, black box theater and fully equipped art studios. The Hewitt School also fosters students' interests in journalism with a completely digital, completely student-run school newspaper, The Hewitt Times.

Co-curricular Activities

• Hewitt annually participates in New York City's Middle School Model Congress.
• Hewitt also competes in rowing (the only NYC girls' school to have crew), track and field, tennis, soccer, volleyball, squash, basketball, and badminton.

Notable alumnae

• Christina Onassis, Greek heiress and daughter of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis
• Judith Peabody, philanthropist
• Nikki Finke, journalist
• Athina Livanos, celebrated socialite and heiress of shipping magnate George S. Livanos
• Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans, philanthropist and heiress
• Brenda Frazier, celebrated Depression era debutante
• Julie Harris, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, Academy Award nominee.
• Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, British socialite
• Lee Remick, Academy Award-nominated° actress
• Phoebe Cates, American actress and entrepreneur
• Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune
• Lady Pamela Hicks, daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a British admiral and statesman
• Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, daughter of Earl Mountbatten
• Edith Kingdon Gould, poet and heiress to the Jay Gould fortune
• Betsy von Furstenberg, German aristocrat and actress
• Jean Stein, heiress and writer
• Cobina Wright, actress and gossip columnist
• Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, former Press Secretary to First Lady Betty Ford and Special Assistant to President Gerald Ford
• Sophie Beem, songwriter

In media and popular culture

• In Mary McCarthy's "The Group (novel)", a New Yorker Society-Girl Mary Prothero's (nicknamed Pokey) sister Phillis attends Miss Hewitt's Classes;
• The 2001 film, "Tart (film)", was loosely based on The Hewitt School.

Memberships/Affiliations

• The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)
• The New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS)^[3]
• The Parents League of New York^[4]
• Independent School Admission Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY)^[5]
• The National Coalition of Girls Schools^[6]
• Prep for Prep^[7]

References

• Time Magazine Obituary of Miss Hewitt:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872547,00.html

External links

• The Hewitt School Website
• The Hewitt School on Facebook
• The Hewitt School on Twitter