The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-educational, college-preparatoryboarding school, with a day-student component, 12 miles (19km) outside Brattleboro, Vermont. Danny O'Brien became head of school in 2022.[1] The school enrolls approximately 225 students on a 500 acres (2.0km2) hilltop campus with classrooms, dormitories, and a dairy farm on which its students work before graduating.[2]
Based on its founder's principles,[3] the school continues to emphasize academics, a work program, the arts, and physical activity. Its curriculum is intended to teach the value of labor, art, community, ethics, and scholarship for individual growth.[4][5]
Animated panorama from the center of the quadrangle on the Putney campus.
The original buildings on Putney's campus were overhauled or constructed by Putney work camp attendees, students, and faculty in 1935.[6] The Currier Center is a departure from Putney's customary white, colonial-style architecture, instead using stone and concrete walls in an angular design. It is used for dance, music, movie-making and visual-art presentations. The Field House, which opened in October 2009, was designed as a "net zero-energy building".[7]
There are ten dormitories on campus: Old Boys, Huseby, New Boys, Keep, Noyes, White Cottage, JR, Old Girls, The Heights, and Gray House. A few faculty members live in each dormitory.[8]
Then-Director Brian Morgan addresses the graduating Class of 2004.
In 1995, the Boston Globe described Putney as combining "a New England work ethic and a strong academic program."[9] It is a member of the Independent Curriculum Group and in 2009 received a 10-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.[10]
Tuition for the 2023-24 academic year is $74,500 for boarding students and $45,400 for day students.[11]