McGehee School

Louise S. McGehee School
Address
2343 Prytania Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 USA
Information
Type	private, nondenominational, all-girls' college preparatory school
Denomination	Non-denominational
Established	1912
Founder	Louise S. McGehee
Chairperson	Ellen Coleman, Chair, Board of Trustees
Dean	Debby Pigman, Val Whitfield
Administrator	Jesse Morrell
Head of school	Eileen Powers
Faculty	159 (2013)
Grades	PK – 12
Gender	Girls
Number of students	530 (2012)
Student to teacher ratio	8:1
School colour(s)	Red and Grey
Athletics conference	Louisiana High School Athletic Association
Sports	volleyball, soccer, golf, basketball, tennis, softball, swimming
Mascot	Hawks
Accreditation	Independent Schools Association of the Southwest, National Association of Independent Schools, National Coalition of Girls' Schools
Yearbook	Spectator
Website	http://www.mcgeheeschool.com

For the school district and schools in McGehee, Arkansas, see McGehee School District.

The Louise S. McGehee School

The Louise S. McGehee School is an all-girls secular private school in the Garden District in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The McGehee campus, which is one city block, has nine buildings and over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²) of space. Eli S. Evans, author of The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South, described the school as "[t]he debutante West Point, the playing fields of Eton, the New Orleans version of Choate-Chapin-Cordon Bleu all rolled into one".

History

The school, founded by Louise McGehee, opened in September 1912. It was originally called Mrs. Chapman's School. It later moved into a mansion in the Garden District. The 1938 Works Progress Administration New Orleans City Guide described it as one of the most popular private schools in New Orleans.

Evans said that "For decades McGehee has been the institution by which the elite in New Orleans shield their young women from the blacks, the Jews, the poor, and the different, protecting them from ideas and associations that might lure them from their manifest destiny."

Louise S. McGehee School was founded in 1912 by Louise S. McGehee and opened in September of that year at 1439 Louisiana Avenue with thirty students. In 1929, Miss McGehee’s School moved to the current location at 2343 Prytania St. and became a corporation known as the Louise S. McGehee School. In the fall of 1929, there were 209 students and classes began with the fifth grade. In 1962, a new Lower School building was dedicated for grades K through sixth and in 1973, the first Pre-Kindergarten class started school. In the 1990′s, McGehee started an Early Childhood Program “Little Gate” which is a co-educational program for ages one through four. Today, Little Gate has an enrollment of over 150 students.

Since the 1950s, with the addition of grades kindergarten through fourth grade, the school has greatly expanded in size.

Pre-Hurricane Katrina the school had about 500 students. After Katrina hit in August 2005, the school resumed classes in October and by November 2005 the school had about half of its pre-Katrina enrollment.

Campus

The campus of McGehee has evolved quite a bit since moving to the current Garden District location. McGehee currently encompasses almost an entire city block with nine buildings and over 100,000 square feet of space. The school celebrated its centennial celebration during the 2011-2012 school year. The Bradish Johnson House serves as the main building for McGehee and was formerly a private home in the Garden District. It was designed by James Freret and constructed in 1872 for Bradish Johnson, a man whose family fortune was based on sugar cane plantations. According to tradition, the home was built at a cost of $100,000. The Louise S. McGehee School moved to its present campus in 1929. Located in the Bradish Johnson House are the school libraries, classrooms and the office of the Headmistress.

Little Gate

McGehee’s pre-school Little Gate is a co-ed early childhood program based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy. Little Gate focuses on developing the whole child – intellectually, socially and emotionally. 2012-2013 enrollment at Little Gate is 150.

Academics

Lower School science lab and specialist immerse young girls in scientific concepts as early as Pre-K. Lower School uses “Everyday Math” curriculum developed by University of Chicago. French language begins in Pre-K, with French and Spanish offered in Middle and Upper Schools. Latin requirement in Middle School Nationally recognized Service Learning program in Middle School Oldest Honor Code in the city, adopted in 1921 Honors courses offered in every academic discipline in the Upper School Senior student/faculty mentorship program

Technology

Wireless Laptop program integrated in grades 6-12 Computer integration starting in Pre-K Wireless technology Middle and Upper School Smartboards in every classroom iPads in PK & K classrooms

Extracurricular

Competitive athletic program including volleyball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis, basketball, swimming, golf, and track Volleyball team captured the State Championship title in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Extracurricular opportunities include choir, Service-Learning, student government, Science Olympiad and Mock Trial, 2008 State Champions.

Service Learning

McGehee is a National Service Learning Leader School and was awarded the NAIS Leading Edge Award in Community Service.

Students

2012-2013 enrollment of 530 students Student retention rate of 96% Minority enrollment of 18% and 20 different cultures represented 100% of McGehee graduates attend college

Curriculum

As of 1997 McGehee is the oldest surviving New Orleans school that offers the German language as a course subject.

School culture

A former teacher at McGehee said in the 1997 book The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South by Eli N. Evans that "We started out as a preparatory school for girls who would 'set styles' fr the community. I thought that meant come into contact with ideas in the world—like Jeremy Bentham, Marx, Freud, and John Stuart Mill. Parents began calling the headmistress complaining that I had referred to New Orleans society as upper middle class, instead of upper class; or that I had said aristocracy in the United States is based on wealth instead of inherited ability." A teacher at McGehee quoted in Evans's book said that she chose to send her children to the Isidore Newman School instead of McGehee because "I didn't want my girls picking up the artificial social attitudes cultivated at McGehee."

Traditionally mothers in Gentile families organized the dances for students at McGehee and Newman. The dances for seventh graders were called "ice-breakers." Girls progress into "Younger Set" dances for students in the ninth and tenth grades. The dances excluded Jewish students. An alumna quoted in The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South by Eli N. Evans said "if you are at McGehee's the question [on whether to invite Jewish people to the dance] never comes up. I mean, we just didn't know any Jewish boys. I thought they were like American Indians."

As of 1997 every graduating McGehee student is required to do a sketch of her graduation dress and display it, so there are no duplications of dress styles.

Student body

A former teacher from the school quoted in the 1997 book The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South by Eli N. Evans said that students were, as paraphrased by Evans, well-adjusted hard workers who manipulated the social system, their teachers, and their parents, and that they were "not empty-headed debutantes". The teacher said "These are steel butterflies who love to project the image of helpless femininity, but they have wills of iron. They get what they want."

A Jewish girl who attended a coeducational high school and who was quoted in the book said that McGehee students were "brought up as Southern belles. They're aloof, they know how to be sweetly snobbish. Most of them are trapped into blind dates all the time with guys from the prep schools in the city, so they learn to snow a guy in one night. Because of the pressure, they are more aggressive in a camouflaged Southern way. It's not relationships they're after, but a good enough time to be asked out again." A former McGehee student quoted in the same book argued instead that "our snobbery was just an act. The truth is that we were terrified of boys."

Progression from McGehee

Historically most McGehee graduates attended the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College of Tulane University. Eli N. Evans said in the book The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South that was because "Mardis Gras heavily intrudes itself in college life" at Newcomb and because the area's debutante season lasts from November to March. Historically the Newcomb admitted graduates of what is now the McGehee School without any further examinations. It was the only school Newcomb recognized in that manner.

References

• Evans, Eli N. The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South. University of North Carolina Press, 1997. ISBN 0807876348, 9780807876343.
• Merrill, Ellen C. Germans Of Louisiana. Pelican Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1455604844, 9781455604845.
• New Orleans City Guide (1938) Works Progress Administration. Re-published by the Garrett County Press, 2011. ISBN 189105340X, 9781891053405.