John Burroughs School
John Burroughs School (JBS) is a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school with 631 students in grades 7–12. Its 49-acre (200,000 m2) campus[2] is located in Ladue, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Founded in 1923, it is named for U.S. naturalist and philosopher John Burroughs.
This article is about the school in Ladue, Missouri. For the school in Burbank, California, see John Burroughs High School. For the school in Ridgecrest, California, see Sherman E. Burroughs High School.
John Burroughs has long had a school philosophy of liberal and progressive education. It has been recognized as one of the nation's premier preparatory schools.[3] In 2007, the Wall Street Journal ranked it among the top 50 schools in sending graduates to eight top universities.[3]
As of 2020, the faculty includes 96 full-time and 32 part-time members. Since 2009, the Head of School has been Andy Abbott, formerly an English teacher and the school's head of college counseling. He replaced Keith Shahan, who served as headmaster for 23 years.[4]
History[edit]
In 1922, a group of St. Louisans announced their intention to open a private school in a suburb of St. Louis. "This school is being established to meet a very definite demand for another country day school, and is an outgrowth of a condition whereby existing schools are unable to accept all pupils applying for entrance," the St. Louis Star and Times reported.[5]
In "executive charge" of the campaign to build the school was Edna Fischel Gellhorn, a co-founder of the League of Women Voters.[6] The 18-acre site, located on the streetcar line from Clayton, was purchased for $18,000
($320,000 today[7]) and the initial campus buildings, including a gymnasium, were built for $180,000.[8] Tuition was $500 per year, with scholarships available to up to 10 percent of students.[8]
Classes began on Oct. 2, 1923, ahead of a formal cornerstone-laying ceremony the following week.[8] The gym was completed in December at a cost of $38,000; the main speaker at its dedication ceremony was Branch Rickey, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.[9]
The school's founders wrote, "Burroughs was established upon the conviction that each child has latent possibilities of power, and that it is the chief purpose of the school to cooperate with parents in discovering, fostering and developing that power so that in adulthood he shall make his contribution to the improvement of human society. The child's mind is not a tablet to be written upon or a cistern to be filled, but a living, growing entity to be guided, developed, trained and inspired."[4]
In the 1930s, JBS participated in the Eight-Year Study, an experiment that tested how American progressive secondary schools would prepare their students for college when released from the curricular restrictions of college admissions requirements.[10]
In April 2020, the school received $2.5 million in federally backed small business loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The school received scrutiny over this loan, which was meant to protect small and private businesses, and returned the money to the Treasury Department the following month.[11][12][13][14]
Extracurricular activities[edit]
Athletics[edit]
The Bombers football team won the state championship in Division 2A in 1975, 1980 (tie), 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995 (tie) and 2001; and won the 3A title in 2015. As of 2020, former NFL kicker Neil Rackers is an assistant coach.[15] Former NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte was head football coach from 2011 to 2013.[15][16] In 2016, the program was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.[17]
In 2023, John Burroughs' varsity baseball team won the state championship.[18]
