George F. Baker High School

George F. Baker High School is the public secondary school educating students in grades 6 through 12 in the Tuxedo Union Free School District. It is located on NY 17 in Tuxedo, New York, United States, near the gates of the village Tuxedo Park.

George F. Baker High School
Address

,
10987

United States
Coordinates41°11′18″N 74°11′06″W
Information
Funding typePublic school
School districtTuxedo Union Free School District
PrincipalRoy Reese
Staff9.80 (FTE)[1]
Grades6-12
Enrollment100 (2018-19)[1]
Average class size18[2]
Student to teacher ratio10.20[1]
LanguageEnglish
Campus typeSuburban
Colour(s)Red, white, and black
AthleticsMen - soccer, basketball, wrestling, baseball; women - soccer, volleyball, softball, rowing
Athletics conferenceOrange County Interscholastic Athletic Association
MascotTuxedo Tornado
RivalS.S. Seward
Communities servedTowns of Tuxedo
Feeder schoolsGeorge G. Mason School
WebsiteGeorge F. Baker High School

It educates students from the town of Tuxedo and the village of Tuxedo Park. Northern parts of Tuxedo however send their students to Monroe Woodbury. Greenwood Lake had sent their students to George F. Baker for nearly 30 years with that agreement ending around 2015 leaving Tuxedo with a difficult decision to keep the school open or tuition its students to surrounding towns. Greenwood Lake left largely due to the cost per student at Tuxedo v. lower bids to do the same from Warwick, Goshen and Chester. This led enrollment to drop by over 200 students leaving the full school around 80 students. It also created a $2.5M shortfall in an operating budget without the Greenwood Lake tuition. At the end Greenwood Lake provided all options other than Tuxedo to their residents and Tuxedo decided to keep the school open despite lower enrollment as it was determined that they would only save between 6-12% by tuitioning students to other schools including Suffern, Ramsey or Northern Highlands.

Also in 2015, the school's principal and superintendent resigned their positions.[3]

The school itself was a gift to the town by Tuxedo Park resident George Fisher Baker, an American banker and philanthropist. The school was built in 1931. Baker was known as the "American Dean of Banking" and was a cofounder of the First National Bank of the City of New York, which was the forerunner of today's Citibank N.A.. By the time of his death, Mr. Baker had amassed such a fortune in banking and railroads that he was estimated to be the third richest man in the United States, after Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller. The George F. Baker High School building is modeled after the Harvard Business School's Baker Library and putting the buildings side by side gives a remarkable resemblance. Baker provided much of the initial funding for Harvard Business School with a 1924 grant of $5 million, for which Harvard gave him an honorary doctorate and named the library after him. The high school imposed a demanding all-Regents curriculum on students before the New York State Education Department began requiring it.


While the school was built in 1931, it was not a typical public high school with large classrooms with extra tall ceilings, marble, granite and ornate decorations in the main auditorium and details such as chair rails in classrooms. The building has stood the test of time and is beautiful in detail inside and out.

References

  1. "GEORGE F BAKER HIGH SCHOOL". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  2. "New York State School Report Card, 2006-07, Accountability and Overview Information for George F. Baker High School" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
  3. Easley, Hema (26 August 2015). "Tuxedo high school principal quits week before school starts". Times Herald-Record. GateHouse Media. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
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