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ABOUT US

Our Story

The Workingmen's School, the original building of the Society for Ethical Culture
The Workingman's School, the original home of the Society for Ethical Culture, 54 West 54th Street

The Ethical Culture Fieldston School was founded by the humanitarian leader Felix Adler in 1878 to ensure that all children would have access to a quality education. Then known as the Workingman's School, it emphasized moral education, psychological development, and integration of the creative and manual arts with academics — key components of what we now know as progressive education.

In 1895, the Workingman's School became the Ethical Culture School and its management passed to the governing board of the Ethical Culture Society. In 1899, the School established a secondary school.

In 1904, the Ethical Culture School constructed a new building at 33 Central Park West, which currently houses the Ethical Culture division, one of our two lower schools. By the mid-1920s, the School had outgrown its quarters and sought to expand its vision for both primary and secondary education. In 1928, the School opened a beautiful wooded campus in the Bronx. A second lower school, Fieldston Lower, followed on the Bronx campus in 1932.

In 1995, the New York Society for Ethical Culture voted to set up the School as its own legal entity with a self-governing board of trustees.

In 2007, we opened Fieldston Middle, also on the Bronx campus.

Our CEO & Head of School, Kyle Wilkie-Glass, began his tenure in the winter of 2024. You can read a welcome note from our leadership to learn more about the vision and values guiding the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

Students at Ethical Culture Fieldston School
ECFS community members together
ECFS students and faculty
Fieldston Middle students
ECFS campus life
Fieldston Lower campus exterior
Fieldston Middle students
ECFS students and faculty
ECFS campus life
Fieldston Middle campus exterior
Fieldston Upper students
Fieldston Middle students
Fieldston Upper students
ECFS community members together
Ethical Culture Fieldston School offers a world-class progressive education in Pre-K–12th Grade at two historic campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx. The core of our educational program is the study and practice of ethics, which prepares us — and compels us — to take care of our world, ourselves, and each other.
CFS is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to be a welcoming community of professionals that broadly reflects the people of the metropolitan New York City area, our students, and families. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion or religious practices, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, citizenship status, national origin, age, ability status, military status, unemployment status or any other category protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. We are committed to hiring practices that ensure all candidates are given fair consideration in alignment with our institutional mission and goals.

Ethical Culture Fieldston School; ECFS; Fieldston; and the distinctive Starburst logo are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as trademarks of Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
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