Ethical Culture Fieldston School | |
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Fiat lux (Let there be light)
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Location | |
New York City, New York United States |
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Coordinates | 40°53′23″N 73°54′23″W / 40.889674°N 73.90641°WCoordinates: 40°53′23″N 73°54′23″W / 40.889674°N 73.90641°W |
Information | |
Type | Private Day School |
Established | 1878 |
Founder | Felix Adler |
Head of school | Jessica L. Bagby |
Grades | Pre-K through 12 |
Enrollment | approx. 1,600 |
Color(s) |
PMS 021 orange PMS 289 blue |
Mascot | Eagle |
Accreditation | National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) |
Newspaper | Fieldston News |
Yearbook | Fieldglass |
Other publications | Season Pass, Eagle Eye, Fieldston (Historical) Review, The Gouda, Ars Magna, The Fieldston LP, Fieldston Lit Mag, Middle School News, Dope Ink Prints, The Hill Chronicle, Inklings, Colors of Fieldston Magazine |
Song | "Fieldston Lower School" (Fieldston Lower School) "I Walk Through The Doors" (Ethical Culture) "I'm On My Way" (Middle School) "Iam Canamus" (Upper School) |
Website | http://www.ecfs.org |
PMS 021 orange
Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), known as just Fieldston, is a private, highly selective independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1700 students and 325 faculty and staff. Jessica L. Bagby has been the Head of School since June 2016. The school consists of four divisions: Ethical Culture, Fieldston Lower, Fieldston Middle, and Fieldston Upper. Ethical Culture, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and Fieldston Lower, located on the Fieldston campus in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, serve Pre-K through 5th Grade. The two lower schools feed into Fieldston Middle (grades 6–8) and Fieldston Upper (grades 9–12)—also located on the Fieldston campus in Riverdale. Ethical Culture is headed by Rob Cousins, Fieldston Lower is headed by George Burns, Fieldston Middle is headed by Chia Chee-Chiu (New Principal), and Fieldston Upper is headed by Robert J. Cairo (Interim Principal). Tuition and fees for ECFS were $43,265 for the 2014–15 school year.
The school opened in 1878 as a free kindergarten, founded by Felix Adler at the age of 24. In 1880, elementary grades were added, and the school was then called the Workingman's School. At that time, the idea that the children of the poor should be educated was innovative. By 1890 the school's academic reputation encouraged many more wealthy parents to seek it out, and the school was expanded to accommodate the upper-class as well, and began charging tuition; in 1895 the name changed to "The Ethical Culture School", and in 1903 the New York Society for Ethical Culture became its sponsor. The economic diversity which was important then is threatened by an annual tuition that exceeded $43,000 in 2016. To help continue the school's original mission, Fieldston awards over $13 million in financial aid to 22% of the student body.
The school moved into its landmark Manhattan building at 33 Central Park West in 1904. The entire school was located in that building until 1928 when the high school division (Fieldston) moved to its 18-acre (73,000 m²) campus on Fieldston Road in the exclusive Fieldston section of Riverdale; the Manhattan branch of the Lower School remained there, and in 1932 a second Lower School was opened on the Riverdale campus. In 2007, a new middle school was opened on the same Riverdale campus, for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.