Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn)
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Saint Ann's School is a private school in Brooklyn, New York City. The school is a non-sectarian, co-educational pre-K–12 day school with programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences. The students number 1,012 from preschool through 12th grade, as well as 324 faculty, administration, and staff members.
The campus, located in Brooklyn Heights, includes a central 15-story building, two adjoining brownstones, and a preschool and kindergarten located near the main campus. Annual tuition as of 2022 is between $48,000 and $52,000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
History

Saint Ann's School was founded in 1965 with 63 students and seven teachers in the basement of the St. Ann's Episcopal Church under the aegis of the vestry of the church and several interested parents. In 1966, the church purchased the former Crescent Athletic Club House, a building designed by Frank Freeman, which has since served as the school's main building.<ref name=nyt_13aug2000>Gray, Christopher: "129 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights; 1906 Building, Once an Athletic Club, Now a School", The New York Times, August 13, 2000.</ref>
Stanley Bosworth became its first headmaster.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1982, Saint Ann's School formally disaffiliated from the church, having been granted a charter from the Board of Regents of the State of New York.<ref>Rauma Ann. "Friends College Gets a Bill", The New York Times, December 13, 1981. "When Dr. Larry Weiss, a 31-year-old China scholar, became president of the college a year and a half ago, the institution was struggling with a growing deficit, a 65 percent dropout rate and a falling enrollment."</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2023, Kenyatte Reid became head of school.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Academic program
The school allows its high school juniors and seniors to design their own curriculum.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In a 2004 survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal, Saint Ann's was rated the number one high school in the country for having the highest percentage of graduating seniors enroll in Ivy League and other highly selective colleges.<ref name=":0">April 2, 2004 Wall Street Journal, Cover Story (Personal Journal)</ref> In late 2007, The Wall Street Journal again listed Saint Ann's as one of the country's top 50 high schools for its success in preparing students to enter top American universities.<ref name="WSJRanking07">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012, the New York Observer ranked Saint Ann's as the number one high school in New York City.<ref>New York Observer: "The Observer's Ranking of New York's Top 160 Schools: 2012"</ref>
Divisions and demographics
The school is organized into four divisions: preschool, lower, middle and high school. The vast majority of the students are from Brooklyn and Manhattan, although other boroughs are represented. Approximately 22 percent of the student body receive some level of scholarship aid (8.5 percent receive tuition remission; 13.5 percent receive financial aid). Approximately 33 percent of the student body are nonwhite.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In her memoirs, Claire Dederer wrote that when she was a student at Oberlin College, "all the coolest girls" had attended St. Ann's: "They had slept with Beastie Boys when the Beastie Boys were still a punk band. They had famous parents. [...] The Saint Ann’s girls didn’t need anyone besides themselves. They ruled the school."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Controversies
Allegations of sexual misconduct
In 2017, allegations of sexual misconduct by teachers were posted to Facebook. In response, the school commissioned an independent investigation, which announced in 2019 that it had identified nineteen former St. Anne's teachers or staff who potentially engaged in inappropriate behavior or sexual misconduct with students, going back to the 1970s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Suicide of Ellis Lariviere
In February 2021 an eighth grade St. Ann's student, Ellis Lariviere, committed suicide after being notified that he would not be permitted to continue at the school following the end of the year. Lariviere was noted as a talented artist who struggled with dyslexia. His midyear eighth grade reports noted his problems with writing and organization, but also noted the progress he had made that year, and praised him for creative thinking and contributions to his classes. Lariviere's suicide note specifically requested that the school not hold an assembly about his death, and the school's notification to parents failed to mention that he had been told not to return to the school. Two years later, in April 2023, Lariviere's parents filed suit against the school, its headmaster, and its board of trustees for wrongful death. A commentating law professor, David C. Bloomfield, stated that despite how private schools are not required to retain students, the school did make an ethical commitment not to give up on students.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Hiring of Winston Nguyen
In July 2024, St. Ann's math teacher Winston Nguyen was arrested and charged with "use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child and disseminating indecent material to a minor", among other charges.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was revealed that Nguyen had previously been convicted of grand larceny, stealing more than $300,000 from an elderly couple he worked for, and that St. Ann’s had been aware of his criminal past when they hired him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Nguyen pleaded guilty to the charges relating to the July 2024 arrest in March 2025 and was sentenced to seven years in prison on March 19.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Faculty and alumni

The school maintains a list called The Growing Shelf, which documents all published community members.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Notable faculty
- Pearl Abraham (novelist)<ref>Abraham, Pearl. "teacher's Notebook Leaving Her Mark", The Washington Post, November 5, 1995. "Pearl Abraham, author of the recent novel "The Romance Reader," taught English at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn."</ref>
- Staceyann Chin (poet and LGBT activist)
- Mark Denbeaux (lawyer)
- Jonathan Elliott (composer)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Oskar Eustis (artistic director of Public Theater)<ref>Green, Adam. "Inside the High-Drama Life of Hamilton Impresario Oskar Eustis" Vogue, February 24, 2016</ref>
- William Everdell (historian)
- Melissa James Gibson (playwright)<ref>Del Signore, John. "Playwright Melissa James Gibson Discusses What Rhymes With America", Gothamist, December 26, 2012. "I was a college counselor for many years at a private school in Brooklyn, St. Ann's. It's a wonderful school, really cool school. I was there pretty much since graduate school, other than two fellowship years."</ref>
- Adam Gidwitz (author)
- Laura Gilbert (flutist)<ref>"About", Laura Gilbert</ref>
- Jonathan Hafetz (lawyer)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Cara Hoffman (writer)
- Paul Lockhart (mathematician)
- Willard Midgette (artist)
- Anne Pierson Wiese (poet)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Leon Reid IV (artist)
- Colette Rossant (author)
- Greg Smith (artist)
- Dave Schramm, (musician)
- Tazewell Thompson (theater director)<ref name="AM">Midgette, Anne. [1], Washington Post. "He’s also a committed and inspiring teacher, including an early stint at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn where, full disclosure, he directed me in the high school musical."</ref>
- Heather A. Williams (historian)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Notable alumni
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- Actors
- Jon Abrahams<ref>Lee, Linda. "A NIGHT OUT AT THE: Paramount Hotel; The Pajama Game", The New York Times, May 27, 2001. Accessed November 3, 2007. "A product of St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, Mr. Abrahams, 23, had invited a batch of friends from high school to join him. He lives in North Park Slope, exactly 41 minutes from here, he said."</ref>
- Eva Amurri<ref>Aleksander, Irina. "Private-School Poppets Welcome Ferrell, Hugh Grant, Reality-Show Cameras", The New York Observer June 16, 2009.</ref>
- Jennifer Connelly<ref>Kalogerakis, George. "Mind Games", New York, February 18, 2002. Accessed November 15, 2007. "Connelly grew up mostly in Brooklyn Heights, the daughter of a clothing-manufacturer father and antiques-dealer mother. She attended Saint Ann's and started modeling when she was 10."</ref>
- Paz de la Huerta<ref name="LA">Levy, Ariel. "The Devil & Saint Ann's", New York. "And certainly, many a bright-eyed youth has passed through the halls of Saint Ann’s and come out the other end an artiste of one sort or another (Zac Posen, Jennifer Connelly, Paz de la Huerta, et al.)"</ref>
- Caitlin Dulany
- Cyrus Dunham
- Lena Dunham<ref name="Carr, David">Carr, David. "Young Filmmaker’s Search for Her Worth Is Rewarded", The New York Times. "Ms. Dunham grew up in SoHo, went to St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn and graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in creative writing in 2008."</ref>
- Alexis DzienaTemplate:Citation needed
- India Ennenga<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Michael Esper
- Josh Hamilton<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Maya Hawke<ref>"Maya Hawke, daughter of Hollywood royalty, on scaring men and making Little Women", Sydney Morning Herald, December 22, 2017.</ref>
- Fred Hechinger
- Lucas Hedges<ref>Kaufman, Sarah. "Lucas Hedges, Born and Raised in Brooklyn Heights, Gets Buzz for Role in 'Manchester by the Sea'", Patch Media, December 30, 2016. Accessed December 31, 2016. "Hedges was born and raised in Brooklyn and grew up in Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights. He graduated from Saint Ann's School, a private, arts-based school on Pierrepont Street."</ref>
- Michelle Hurd
- Monica Keena<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Jemima Kirke
- Lola Kirke
- Stephen Mailer
- Griffin Newman<ref>"Learning Curves: Saint Ann’s School Class of 2007 Graduates", Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 22, 2007. Accessed August 11, 2017.</ref>
- Mia Sara
- Eric Stuart
- Lee Seo-jin
- Filmmakers and screenwriters
- Akiva Goldsman (screenwriter)<ref>Levine, Bettijane. "A Beautiful Journey to Professional Nirvana", Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2002. Accessed October 25, 2010.</ref>
- Ry Russo-Young (director)<ref>Amdur, Neil. "Friends Reunite for Film, but Actress’s Death Casts Pall on Premiere", The New York Times, April 14, 2007. Accessed November 7, 2007. "Lily Wheelwright and Ry Russo-Young were friends while growing up in the West Village and pursuing their artistic dreams as classmates at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn."</ref>
- Lena Dunham<ref name="Carr, David"/>
- Jonás Cuarón (screenwriter)
- Dan Goor (screenwriter)
- Immy Humes (documentary filmmaker)
- Garret Linn (filmmaker)
- Sarah-Violet Bliss (filmmaker)<ref>Joshua Stecker, "SXSW: Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers Cause Millennial Mayhem in Indie Comedy ‘Fort Tilden’," "Script"</ref>
- Musicians and writers
- Mike D (musician, member of Beastie Boys)<ref>Ogg, Alex. "The Men behind Def Jam: the Radical Rise of Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin". London: Omnibus, 2002. p. 50." ""The son of an art dealer, Michael Diamond attended St Ann's, an exclusive private school in Brooklyn..."</ref>
- Stefan Zeniuk (musician)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Barbara Brousal (musician)<ref>Goldfein, Josh. "Brooklyn Zoo", Village Voice, May 16, 2006.</ref>
- Vera Sola (musician, singer-songwriter, poet)
- Dan Coleman (composer)
- Simone Dinnerstein (pianist)<ref>"Mixtapes: Simone's Dinnerstein's Teenage Turning Points from Stravinsky to Hendrix", WQXRWQXR-FM, June 10, 2015. "I was going to St. Ann's School at the time and taking an English class called "Towards Modernism" and I wrote a term paper on the quartet which I still have!"</ref>
- Tomás Doncker (guitarist)<ref>Brooklyn to Ethiopia: Doncker, Gigi, Selam, Laswell, and more", Tadias Magazine, September 28, 2011</ref>
- Erika Nickrenz (pianist)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Jeff Yang (author, journalist)
- Anna Ziegler (playwright)
- Meghan O'Rourke (poet)
- Anne Midgette (journalist)<ref name="AM"/>
- Sasha Frere-Jones (writer/music critic)<ref>Frere-Jones, Sasha, "Peace, Adam", The New Yorker, May 4, 2012. Accessed November 25, 2016. "I was sitting on the red steps in the lobby of St. Ann’s, where I was a sophomore in high school."</ref>
- Jaida Jones (fantasy author)
- Thomas Beller (author and editor)
- Rebecca Pronsky (singer-songwriter)<ref>Moseder, David K. Brooklyn Voices - March 2016, Brooklyn Roads, February 29, 2016.</ref>
- Zoë Jenny (writer)
- Emma Straub (writer)<ref>Straub, Emma. "Dear Stanley", The Paris Review, November 3, 2011. "When I was a senior at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, I was one of the editors of our school yearbook."</ref>
- John Pomfret (journalist)
- Ivy Pochoda (novelist)
- Joanna Fuhrman (poet)
- Alissa Quart (poet)
- Ann Herendeen (writer)
- Lynn Nottage (playwright)
- Sam Sifton (journalist)
- Samantha Gillison (writer)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Eliza Callahan (singer)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Lucy Wainwright Roche (singer-songwriter)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Dan Brenner (musician)
- Other notables
- Zac Posen (fashion designer)<ref name="LA"/>
- Katherine Healy (figure skater/ballerina)<ref>"Lookout", People.com, June 14, 1982. "[Healy,] the eighth grader at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights has resumed training with Gelsey Kirkland's former coach, David Howard."</ref>
- Meredith Rainey (athlete),<ref>Gambaccini, Peter. "Home Run", New York Magazine, June 17, 1991. "After high school at St. Ann's in Brooklyn, Rainey went to Harvard."</ref>
- Adam Bosworth (technology engineer)<ref>Gudrais, Elizabeth, "Playing With Health," Harvard Magazine, May–June 2012. "He [Bosworth] attended Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, where his father, Stanley, was the inaugural headmaster."</ref>
- Willa Shalit (entrepreneur)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Vito Schnabel (art curator)<ref name=interview>"Vito Schnabel on His Days as a 16-Year-Old Curator...", February 2013, Lauren Cristensen, VF Culture</ref>
- Benjamin B. Wagner (attorney)
- Daniel Weinreb (computer scientist)
- Christopher Bouton (technologist)
- Jean-Michel Basquiat (artist)<ref>Phoebe Hoban, "One Artist Imitating Another," The New York Times</ref><ref>Arthur C. Danto, "Flyboy in the Buttermilk," "The Nation"</ref><ref>Lisa J. Curtis, "Homecoming: Fort Greene's poet-painter Basquiat is fondly remembered," "Brooklyn Paper"</ref>
- Risa L. Goluboff (law professor)
- Derrick Niederman (mathematician and author)
- Tobias Frere-Jones (type designer)Template:Citation needed
- Chitra Ganesh (artist)
- Kate Shepherd (artist)
- Justine Cassell (professor)
- Christian Martin (television executive)
- Bernadette Meyler (Stanford Law School professor)
- Heather A. Williams (historian)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>