| The Lillie Devereux Blake School (PS 6) | |
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| , United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1894 |
| Founder | Katherine Devereux Blake |
| School district | 2 |
| Principal | Lauren Fontana |
| Grades | K-5 |
| Mascot | Pale Male, the Redtailed Hawk |
| Website | http://www.ps6nyc.com |
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PS 6,TheLillie D. Blake School, is a public elementary school located on theUpper East Side ofManhattan, New York City. Founded in 1894, PS 6 is regarded as the top elementary school in New York City.[1]
PS 6 has about 800 students in grades K-5. Average class sizes are 23-28. The school is popular with families on the Upper East Side who often choose to send their children there rather than to private school. The school's former Principal,Carmen Fariña, claimed that the acceptance rate for out of district students was 1/7, lower than that of many top-tier Universities.[2]
PS 6 was founded in 1894 and named after the feminist author and reformerLillie Devereux Blake (though the school has misspelled her name, with an added "a" in Devereux). The school was originally located several blocks to the north on85th Street. The current red brick building onMadison Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets was constructed in 1953.
The school's first principal,Katherine Devereux Blake, the daughter of the school's namesake, served in that capacity for 34 years and demanded that the pacifist hymnI Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier be sung at every assembly.[1][3]
PS 6 is aTeacher's College "Mentor School." Students are expected to write plays, poetry, essays and short fiction by the time they graduate. The school also places a special emphasis on Art education. Its location, two blocks from theMetropolitan Museum of Art, allows the students particularly good access to view the works of famous artists. PS 6 was also the recipient of a grant from theAnnenberg Foundation to help fund art projects in the school.
Peter Yarrow played a special benefit concert in the school's auditorium for many years to raise money for the school.[4]
The school is featured in the 1979 filmKramer vs. Kramer, which won fiveAcademy Awards.[5][6]
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| National | |
40°46′39.33″N73°57′37.85″W / 40.7775917°N 73.9605139°W /40.7775917; -73.9605139
