Emily's Notes

December 16, 2019 “If I ran a school, I’d give the average grade to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made a lot of mistakes and told me about them, and then told me what... Read More

  Dear Parents, As you know, American high school students are sadly torn between the goals of genuine learning and the demands of the “college process.” I don’t know anyone who works in high schools, colleges or universities that doesn’t agree that the system is a poor one. That said,... Read More

October 15, 2019 Dear Parents, It was lovely to see so many of you here this weekend, and it was a delight to watch new students share their new world with their families. I also appreciate the opportunity to share ideas with you, to talk about what we are working... Read More

Dear Parents, We’re off and running! The student leaders, who have been here for a week now, did a truly wonderful job of organizing the welcome for our new students and setting up their own areas of leadership responsibility this year. They have also been enormously helpful to Karen Guttentag,... Read More

Dear Parents, I hope this finds you all well. It’s been a busy summer at Putney, and a good one. We’ve welcomed our new Dean of Students, Karen Guttentag, and our new Director of Equity and Inclusion, Lisa Muñoz. Both are hard at work and eager, as am I, to... Read More

Dear Parents, The past few weeks have loudly reminded me of how lucky Putney is to have Putney parents. First, there was the college admissions scandal, which is sad for so many reasons. I confess that I was not surprised to learn that some parents were bribing their kid’s way... Read More

  Dear Parents, As I write, students are talking with teachers about their plans for Project Week and lining up their faculty sponsors. Although Project Week doesn’t start until December 3rd (and is actually almost two weeks long), we start the planning phase early. Each student is writing a proposal... Read More