Page 19 - 1983 Wardlaw Hartridge

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at the Park School in Cleveland, the Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and the Harley School in Rochester.
In 1932, Miss Sleeper earned a master's degree in educa­ tional psychology from Columbia University. She joined the Hartridge faculty in 1933, became head of the Lower School in 1935 and associate principal in 1940.
Miss Sleeper was widely known in academic circles for her work in helping to write the Master Key Arithmetics series.
She directed Camp Marbury in Vergennes, Vt., for more than 20 years. After her retirement she spent her summers there and her winters in Montpelier, Vt.
In Plainfield, she was an officer of the United Family and Children's Society, but devoted almost all of her efforts to Hartridge and its activities.
Miss Sleeper was co-author of a textbook for educators, "The Creative Individual."
Miss Sleeper spent 35 years at Hartridge, 17 of those as principal. During her years as head, the enrollment nearly doubled and there were waiting lists for many grades when she retired.
In summing up her tenure, Miss Sleeper said she empha­ sized the policy begun by Miss Hartridge "to give the stu­ dents as much freedom as is compatible with sound scholar­ ship.’’
The early 1950’s saw more changes. In 1953 Margaretta Kuhlthau designed the new school seal which replaced the original Hart on a Ridge logo, which continued to be used for a number of years on class rings.
The new seal was an upright oval with a dark border on which the words "The Hartridge School" and "Knowledge is Power" were written. In the center was a banner with the date M iss Hargridge took over the school, 1903, and a shield.
For some years, the trustees had hoped to erect new buildings at Plainfield Avenue. Instead, in 1954. the money in the building fund was invested in the rejuvenation of the Main House.
While retaining the classic Victorian style, the third and fourth floors were removed, as were the north and west proches and the portecochere. A new south wing was added to give a main entrance.
Elsewhere on campus, the old clay tennis courts were replaced.
The changes stood the school in good stead until it be­ came apparent that Hartridge needed more classrooms and a full size gymnasium. In 1958 the Harriet Sleeper Gymnasi­ um and science labs were built. Because of this expansion the hockey field was turned on end from perpendicular to Plainfield Avenue to parallel. The cafeteria was enlarged.
A year later the Art Studio and History of Art room were added to the new gym. The old science labs were moved from the basement of the old gym, and additional locker rooms and a large music room resulted.
With all the changes, certain things remained constant, including the sound of Miss Sleeper’s bugle calling students to class when the bells weren’t working, the set of trains in her office, and the red engineer’s cap Miss Sleeper wore at varsity games.
In 1968, the Hue and Cry offered this summary of Miss Sleeper:
"To run a school, all it took was devotion, diligence, understanding, labor for as much as 18 hours a day, sympa­ thy, intelligence, capacity, resilence, love for the job. the school, the faculty, and the community: and, oh yes. fith. hope and charity. Miss Sleeper had them all."
When she retired an editorial in the Curier News said that a long-time trustee had described her as a person who adjusted to any situation with absolutely no fuss, while "inside she’s solid oak.”
The newspaper went on: "She can compromise on the means, but never on the ends, the trustee said, and while she has definite objectives, high standards and staunch principles — she manages to attain her goals by almost invisible means. She has touched the lives of many girls.
"In her position as teacher and principal. Miss Sleeper has been happily tireless in her attention to every facet of the schools operation and its extra-curricular activities as well. At the same time she has maintained an interest in each girl as an individual.
"Miss Sleeper can be absolutely objective in her attitudes, a longtime associate said of her. She has been praised for her sense of humor as well as her good humor — two entirely different attributes."
Miss Sleeper died in Vermont on October 13,1975. She was 73 years old.
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