Admissions

LREI seeks to enroll students who are bright, curious, motivated and who show strong academic promise. The School is committed to creating an environment that is reflective of the wider community by enrolling students from diverse religious, ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds and gender identities. Creating this diverse student body fosters opportunities for deeper cultural learning and understanding.

We Are LREI

Welcome to LREI. We are now, as we have always been, guided by our school's mission. As a truly progressive school community, we never shy away from the challenges and the possibilities of change and growth. It is this bold, experimental, progressive vision of education that continues to inspire and guide the LREI community today. What we did yesterday, what we are doing today, and what we will do tomorrow are all a part of a coherent 14-year experience inspired by our mission.

Academics

Since its founding, the LREI experience has been grounded in progressive principles that shape the design of program in each of our divisions. These principles place students at the center of their learning experiences, call on us to narrow the distance between the world around students and their school experiences, and engage learners in authentic problem solving on a daily basis. Our mission driven approach informs all aspects of our 14-year experience.

Life @ LREI

Our founding ideals of learning that is grounded in experience, inquiry, collaboration, growth and active democratic citizenship inform every aspect of daily life at LREI. LREI truly is a community of learners; it is a place where students, faculty and families come together each day in the spirit of creativity, collaboration and consequence.

Our Community

LREI is a community built on understanding and respect for others. Like New York City, we are diverse in every sense of the word. We are scientists, artists, historians and more. We embody a wide range of interests, beliefs, family structures and backgrounds. We thrive on the unique ideas and perspectives each person brings to the school.

Spirit Week in the MS with Principal Ana Chaney

LREI

Principal Ana Fox Chaney explains the relevance of 'Play' within the middle school community as Spirit Week culminates with brave performances from our students:

The faces of lower schoolers and some parents were pressed against the doors of the auditorium this afternoon as the middle schoolers performed for each other - by team - in the culminating lip sync competition of our Spirit Week ‘Olympics’. This was without a doubt the most festive, good-natured, rousing lip sync battle yet. The spectators were drawn to the doorways by the music, cheering and laughing. They couldn’t help but smile at the sight of middle schoolers - costumed, smiling, dancing to pop music from many decades and cheering each other on. Everyone in every team had a role in the performance; no one was left out. Each routine had unlikely stars - the fifth grader doing a handstand, the eighth grader you didn’t know could dance, the shy seventh grader strutting, a sixth grader unrecognizable in their costume. This unbridled acceptance, risk and good feeling defies stereotypes of middle school life.

A day like this has important developmental and educational benefits. Play is as important in middle school as it is in early childhood. Play - which today meant crafting an original lip sync performance with 20 classmates drawn from all four grades - gives middle schoolers the space to navigate relationships, to try on new roles, to strategize, create and compromise. It provides an opportunity for students to be celebrated for their unique talents and test new skills in a safe space. Teachers are coaches, but leadership comes from the students themselves.

The product this afternoon spoke to the value of the process. The performances were thematic, unique, and elaborately choreographed; evidence that student leaders in each team had delegated responsibility and that student choreographers had taken the challenge. The jokes were inclusive. Each routine managed to spotlight the lesser-known performers in the group. This was no accident. Teammates watched out for each other and kept watch over the group as a whole. The music choices were wild mashups that ranged from Chuck Berry to A-Ha to Beyonce; a sign of debate and compromise. Teams cheered as unreservedly for each other as for themselves. I was so entertained today and so proud - you would have been too.