Talk:Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn)

Question
Is the list of alumni in any particular order? — AnnaKucsma  (Talk to me!) 18:27, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Academic strength
The introduction says "Academically, Saint Ann's is extremely strong: the school allows its high school juniors and seniors to essentially design their own curricula." I don't think that allowing juniors and seniors to design their own curricula necessarily means that the school is academically strong; would anyone be opposed to changing this? (MGS, 22 March 2008) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Meghnaveli (talk • contribs) 15:58, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

alumni
I think that the list of alumni needs to be severely cleaned up. A good number of these "notables" are painfully obsecure and a few don't appear to have attended Saint Ann's at all. Is there anyone, who pays attention to this article, who would object if we limited the "notable" alumni to people with some name recognition and accomplishment? Lordjeff06 21:56, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
 * ... And put into some sort of order (alphabetical?). See my comment above. — AnnaKucsma   (Talk to me!) 14:22, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Never mind, I didn't see that you'd already handled it. — AnnaKucsma   (Talk to me!) 14:23, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Ok. So, in a premptive defense of my alumni edit (not that anyone seems to care except for AnnaKucsma): I used a twofold system. First, anyone who seemed to have their own (semi-legitmate) wikipedia page was left as "notable." For the others, if a google search didn't yield any meaningful references to them or their works, they were stricken from the list. While I certainly don't mean to discredit anyone's accomplishments, someone whose work has only been published in their college newspaper or the Saint Ann's Review would seem to pale in comparison to Jennifer Connelly, Akiva Goldsman or, even, Michael Diamond. Lordjeff06 03:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
 * (...and no, I don't "mind" Lordjeff06's edits, as they included imposing some sort of order on the list — which is what I said was needed in August.) — AnnaKucsma   (Talk to me!) 21:51, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I added alum writer Neil Gordon (meets criteria mentioned by Lordjeff06).David Couch 05:28, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Question: The biographies of Jean-Michel Basquiat all say he went to St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, but they call it a Catholic school. His family lived in Park Slope at the time. Does anyone know if it was this St. Ann's or not? --AaronF2 (talk) 21:59, 5 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Linda Kaufman, School Archivist and former Assistant Head of School, told me that Jean-Michel Basquiat did go to the Brooklyn Heights' Saint Ann's School for a year or so, at a young age--perhaps 1st or second grade, age maybe 6 or 7. I think Linda said she had seen or at least heard of old progress reports that teachers had written about Jean-Michel Basquiat. Mroam (talk) 15:07, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

He did go to st ann's. he was kicked out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.65.74.56 (talk) 03:15, 4 June 2010 (UTC)


 * I can't confirm for sure that this is the St. Ann's School that Basquiat attended, but the school was officially known as "St. Ann's Episcopal School" until 1982 despite being a secular institution, due to its affiliation with the St. Ann's Episcopal Church. It would not be unreasonable for a biographer to assume that it was a Catholic school. Tim Pierce (talk) 11:46, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

yearly culling
In what may become a yearly Christmas-time practice for me, I have once again gone through the list of "notable" alum and removed anyone who did not have a wikipedia article of their own or did not have significant Google search notability. Lordjeff06 (talk) 13:16, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

So typical.
You -do- know that no one really cares about the catalogue of children of NYC's second string social elite, right? If you're looking to bolster your selling points for inclusion on your grant applications for your latest creative project, my suggestion is to dredge the bottom of the St. Ann's review.

Really - so many alleged notable alum provided in the litany here are completely undeserving. It just looks pretentious and self adulating. I recommend the editors take a look at another High School entry and examine the recognized alumni list - you'll find legitimate entries and -not- simply people who paid to self publish their latest critical admonition of the latest urban theory. The number worthy of inclusion here is less than five. Should be fixed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.213.112 (talk) 22:19, 25 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Can't argue with that per se (and Per Se merits the same objection), but it's pertinent information.♥ «Charles A. L.» (talk) 23:05, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

"celebrity parents"
I've deleted the long list of "celebrity parents" from the intro section. Even assuming that it's noteworthy information about the school -- which I think is debatable -- I first marked it as needing citations in February 2007, nearly two and a half years ago. That's more than enough time to find documentation. If you are inclined to return the celebrity parents to the article, please be prepared to cite them from day one. Tim Pierce (talk) 12:01, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Please check the entries for every other comparable private school -- yes, EVERY ONE -- and note that they do not include ridiculous listings of "celebrity parents." This is irrelevant and makes the entry look ridiculous. Can the person who keeps putting it there please justify its presence? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.14.30.209 (talk • contribs) 00:19, May 22, 2011


 * I agree. I think it's time to put this to rest. —Tim Pierce (talk) 16:32, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

"notable alumni" needs references
The "notable alumni" section really needs to be strictly referenced. I'll give some time for everyone to find sources for all the alumni that are claimed there, but will soon start removing anyone who can't find a reference. I am pretty sure, for example, that Spike Lee did not graduate from St. Ann's. Certainly his existing Wikipedia entry doesn't think he did. Tim Pierce (talk) 01:20, 28 June 2010 (UTC)


 * It's been almost four months; I've removed the alumni claims without sources. Please don't add back "notable alumni" without a source confirming that they graduated from Saint Ann's. —Tim Pierce (talk) 12:40, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Material from headmaster's page
See the Stanley Bosworth page; the below is from it and should be incorporated into the article if it isn't already present.

Saint Anns is an unconventional school in Brooklyn Heights New York. Stanley said he founded the school "where talented students would learn for the sake of the learning, without the pressure of grades." As head master he expanded the school from a small classroom in the basement of St. Ann's Episcopal Church to a 13 story building which remains the main building of the school to this day. Under his guidance Saint Anns grew to unexpected levels when in 2004 the Wall Street Journal listed Saint Anns as number 19 in the United States for having a large percentage of their students enrolling in ivy league colleges.

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Suicide of Ellis Lariviere
I understand that the suicide of a child (or anyone, for that matter...) is serious business, and it is no doubt deeply sad and important to respect/reflect on, but WHY is it featured on this page?

There have been *many* stories, incidents, newsworthy moments across the history of Saint Ann's (including scandal!), yet none of them are listed here, only this one. Unless we're going to start adding a whole list of anecdotes and recording other events on this page, this should not be here. It does not seem appropriate for a school's Wiki page as it is relatively immaterial to what makes up Saint Ann's or the experiences of its student, faculty, or staff bodies. 160.72.70.114 (talk) 13:43, 26 July 2023 (UTC)


 * I agree, it seems to represent the terrible tragedy and experience of one family. Schools are sometimes notified if they have repeated suicides or are a hotspot, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here? Perhaps it could be mentioned in a sentence or two but not outweigh other sections such as the academic program that represent the existence of thousands of children there. 24.90.200.6 (talk) 02:44, 8 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Sorry, schools Wikipedia pages sometimes *mention* if they have multiple suicides (not “notified”). 24.90.200.6 (talk) 02:46, 8 April 2024 (UTC)