- The Ross School
The Ross School in East Hampton, New York is the only private
K-12 school in theHamptons .The school was founded in 1991 by Courtney and
Steven J. Ross to follow the concepts ofNaturalist Intelligence espoused byHoward Gardner . [ [http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2004/november/html/spot-howardgardner.htm Interview with Howard Gardner, Harvard University educationupdate.com] ] The school expanded as their daughter Nicole Ross advanced through the school until she graduated. [ [http://thefutureofscience.org/speakers/Ross_S.htm Courtney Sale Ross - The Future of Science] ]In the 2006-07, the school had 380 students enrolled in grades 5-12 on its leafy campus on Goodfriend Drive. [http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc.mhtml?i=gginnews&s=newsday081706 East Hampton; Green School Back in Good Graces - Newsday - August 17, 2006 (reprinted on thegreenguide.com] ] . Since it is in the Hamptons its alumni include children of prominent New Yorkers who have houses on the east end such as
Billy Joel .As part of the
holistic approach to teaching the school offers two vegetarian meals in its cafeteria each day and bans vending machines. Students are graded unsatisfactory, satisfactory (which was added in the 2006-07 school year), proficient, or distinguished.In September 2003 Education Update described the campus: [ [http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2003/sept03/issue/spot_ross.html The Ross School: Rich in Ideas by Joan Baum] ]
:The school sits on 140 wooded acres in East Hampton founded by Courtney Ross Holst, whose first husband, Steve Ross, was head of Time Warner. Seeing Ross is to appreciate the truth of the cliché about the best that money can buy. The school is stunningly handsome, a new and renovated architectural wonder with interiors likely to stagger even a designer’s imagination. It also boasts—justifiably—superb high-end technology, including sophisticated projection systems, state-of-the-art pavilions, seminar rooms, smart boards, laptops for all, and knockout multimedia enhancements everywhere. Libraries abound, nothing is single or merely decorative. Classrooms recreate environments under study—the art and artifacts of a period, its textures, colors, materials, though the pervasive influence, warm and subtle earth tones, is Swedish and Asian. And would you believe a hall showing the history of art by way of vinyl reproductions done to scale?
Expansion attempts have dragged the school into the front pages of
New York City area newspapers.In 2000 the school proposed a 50-building, convert|600000|sqft|m2|sing=on expansion to its convert|140|acre|km2|sing=on campus which would have made it one of the biggest complexes in the Hamptons. Enraged environmentalists charged the Courtney Ross was polluting the debate by paying to protest proposed expansion of the
Pine Barrens protections into East Hampton. [ [http://www.pinebarrens.org/pdfs/Newsletters/spring00.pdf Largest Project Ever Proposed for South Fork - The Pine Line - Spring/Summer 2000] ] . The school eventually backed down on the expansion and in 2006 the same critics of this expansion were to applaud its "green" initiatives.In 2006 the school was picketed by residents of New York City when city residents protested its plans to locate the
Ross Global Academy , aCharter School on theLower East Side (with residents particularly fearing that the new school would take away space for the New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math school). The protesters declined an invitation to debate the subject when asked by an Upper School ethics class. The debate was ultimately decided when the school moved to theTweed Courthouse .In the 2005-2006 school year, the Ross School proposed a merger deal with the competition. The Morriss Center School, formerly the Hampton Day School, was the only other K-12 school in the Hamptons. This deal came through, and now Ross's lower school resides on the former elementary-middle school campus of the Morriss Center.
In the summer of 2007 the Ross School hosted a series of five musical concerts entitled "Social @ Ross" with
Prince (musician) ;Dave Matthews andTim Reynolds ;Billy Joel ;James Taylor andTom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The price of a ticket to the series is $15,000. [ [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=3371477&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 Only in the Hamptons: a $15,000 Rock Concert Rich and Famous Drop $15,000 for Five-Act Concert Series] ]The only other non-religious associated private school in the Hamptons is the [http://haygroundschool.org Hayground school] in
Bridgehampton, New York . This school teaches K-8.References
External links
* [http://www.ross.org Official page]
* [http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=477&bodyId=595 Education through Leonardo da Vinci at the Ross School] at [http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/ Convergence]
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