Private Schools in New York-- WOW!

“Where are the schools and the grocery stores?” is a frequent question from tourists. After explaining that large grocery stores with parking lots don’t exist in Manhattan, I point out Whole Foods, Gristedes, Fairway and a few others.  But when it comes to schools, the sky is the limit… guides talk about the various public schools, especially the specialized high schools (Fashion, Business, Math & Science, Performing Arts, etc.).
But when there’s time and interest, I take it a bit further and get into an in-depth explanation of the world of private schools and how there are more elite private schools crammed onto Manhattan’s 22 square miles that any other place in the world…filled with the children of the Rich & Famous. It’s quite a cut-throat experience interviewing and trying to get your children accepted into these elite schools where tuition can range from $21,000--$46,000 yearly!  In fact, there are more than 300 private schools in Manhattan. It’s been comically suggested that women register children into the best schools when they are still fetuses in the womb, because of a typical 5-6 year waiting list!
Notable schools in town: Hewitt School, Brearley School (Caroline Kennedy is a famous graduate), Trinity School, St. John Cathedral School, York Preparatory, the Calhoun School, Avenues The World School (Suri Cruise attends), the Beekman School, the Collegiate School (boys), St. David’s (boys), the Lycee Francaise, the Steiner School (Jennifer Aniston), and many more.
 Some of the most desirable:
  1. Spence School for Girls- E. 91st St.- Founded by Clara Spence in 1921, it’s a combination “finishing school” and prep school. Anna Wintour, editor of VOGUE, sent her daughter Bea here. Gwyneth Paltrow went here, so did Katie Couric’s girls, Mayor Bloomberg’s daughters and many more.
  2. Dalton School- Co-Ed- E. 91st St.- Robert Redford’s kids, Barbara Walters’ daughter, Claire Danes, Anderson Cooper, etc.
  3. Convent of the Sacred Heart- E. 91st St.- Regis Philbin’s daughters, Lady Gaga and her sister, Nicky Hilton, many more.
  4. Nightingale/Bamford School for Girls: E. 93rd St.
  5. Chapin School for girls- Ivanka Trump, various heiresses
  6. Buckley School for Boys-E. 75th- lotsa Wall Street sons’
  7. Stevenson School for Boys- see above
  8. Alexander Robertson School- W. 95th St.- founded 1789
  9. Browning School for Boys- E. 62nd St. & Park Avenue
  10. Dwight School-Central Park West- Paris Hilton (can you believe she actually went to school?)
One of my favorite schools is Professional Children’s  School- W. 60th St.- founded in 1914-   I’ve visited here and my cousin Lesley was a music teacher there and in fact, she met her husband there.  She tells me that it was a very freaky experience to try to teach music to kids who are already on Broadway, making movies, starring in their own TV shows or playing Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She says: “It’s also quite an experience when you have child stars whose designer clothing and handbags are a month’s salary to me!”
Famous graduates of P.C.S. include: MacCaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin (they lived in the tower next door), Sarah Jessica Parker (when she was ANNIE), Scarlett Johanssen, Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci, Ricki Lake, Vera Wang, Savion Glover, Gelsey Kirkland, Suzanne Farrell, Joan Blondell, Marvin Hamlisch, child prodigy violinist Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony Michael Hall, Irene Cara (FAME), Ann Blyth, Phoebe Cates, Beverly Sills, Adam Arkin, Milton Berle, Sandra Dee, Melissa Joan Hart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Francis, Carrie Fisher, Jane Krakowski, Ruby Keeler, Elliott Gould, Diane Lane, Donald O’Connor, Jennifer O’Neill, Phyllis Newman, Rita Moreno, Jerry O’Connell, Amy Irving, Patty McCormack, Christian Slater, Susan Strasberg, Tara Reid, Martha Plimpton, Leslie Uggams, Lesley Ann Warren, Christopher Walken, Dick VanPatten, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, Tempest Bledsoe, Buddy Rich, Sidney Lumet, Peggy Lipton, Lorna Luft, Brooke Adams, Pinchas Zuckerman and many more.
From Metropolitan Diary:
Overheard on a crosstown bus: three high school girls in school uniforms from a fancy Upper Eastside girls’ school:
High Schooler #1: (in the middle of a conversation about the coming weekend and their respective country houses): “I always feel like a stupid rich kid saying we have a place in ‘The Hamptons’, you know?”
High Schooler#2: “I NEVER say ‘The Hamptons’. I just say we go to Long Island. The Hamptons sounds, you know…..”
High Schooler #3: “ I LOVE saying ‘The Hamptons!’ That way people don’t think we’re so rich. Only renters say ‘The Hamptons.’ “

Jim Dykes, licensed New York guide and GANYC member, is the co-founder of Rich and Famous Tours, www.richandfamoustours.com

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