Who Rules The Chapin School?--The Goldman Sachs & JP Morgan Chase Connection

Coincidentally, The Chapin School's board of trustees has included both a trustee of the Goldman Sachs corporate foundation and a corporate lawyer who represents JP Morgan Chase, in recent years.

The Simpson Thacher corporate law firm's site, for example, includes the following reference to a member of The Chapin School board of trustees named Jeremiah L. Thomas III:

"Jerry Thomas is Of Counsel in the Firm's Corporate Department. Mr. Thomas concentrates on general corporate, securities and banking law matters. He is also in charge of managing the relationship with some of the Firm's most important clients.

"Mr. Thomas represents J.P. Morgan Chase on a regular basis in its corporate activities and as issuer's counsel for its securities issuances. He also represents J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and other major underwriters as underwriters' counsel in connection with public offerings and Rule 144A/Reg S offerings of debt and equity securities. He has also represented Phillips Petroleum Company and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in their capital markets financing activities.

"Mr. Thomas joined Simpson Thacher in 1972 and became a partner in 1980. He is a long-time member of the Firm's Executive Committee and was one of the Firm's Administrative Partners from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Thomas has served as Legal Counsel to The Metropolitan Golf Association since 1983. He is a Trustee of The Chapin School in New York City..."

Another member of The Chapin School's board of trustees, Stuart Rothenberg, is a a former managing director of Goldman Sachs who has also sat on the board of trustees of the Goldman Sachs Foundation in recent years.

The Chapin School's board of trustees also includes Greenhill & Co. CEO & board member Scott L. Bok (who also sits on the Iridium Communications corporate board), Clayton Dubilier & Rice chairman and Williams College Trustee Emeritus Joseph L. Rice (who also is on the boards of Rexel, Uniroyal Holding and the right-wing Manhattan Institute), Dillard's Inc. and Takihyo LLC board member Frank R. Mori and the great-granddaughter of former American Surgar Refining President Henry Osborne Havemeyer, Metropolitan Museum of Art Special Counsel to The Board of Trustees Lindaen Havemeyer Wise.

Do Chapin School Administrators Make Big Money?

Although New York City has a public school system, some wealthy folks in Manhattan apparently pay the "non-profit" and tax-exempt prep school for young women that's located near East End Avenue and 84th Street in Manhattan, The Chapin School, over $33,000 per year to be allowed inside The Chapin School classrooms. And with assets that exceeded $31 million in 2008, according to its Form 990 financial filing, The Chapin School apparently pays its prep school administrators some hefty annual salaries for preparing its 717 female students for eventual entrance into elite universities like Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia.

In 2008, for example, The Chapin School paid its Head of School $302,257, its Director of Finance $206,609, its Director of Advancement $166,495, its Assistant Head of School $157,254, its Plant Director $132,999, its Head of Middle School $142,721 and its Head of Upper School 128,304, according to its Form 990 financial filing for 2008.

Between 2006 and 2010, 15 Chapin School graduates were accepted by Harvard University, 13 were accepted by Yale University, 14 were accepted by Princeton University, 8 were accepted by Columbia University, 10 were accepted by Dartmouth University, 24 were accepted by Cornell University, 18 were accepted by the University of Pennsylvania, 11 were accepted by Brown University, 3 were accepted by Stanford University, and 4 were accepted by Barnard College. And 15 percent of this prep school's Class of 2009 ended up enrolling at the most exclusive tax-exempt U.S. elite universities.

Coincidentally, the prep school students at The Chapin School apparently can get a lot more individual attention from their teachers than do most New York City public school graduates since the student to teacher ratio at The Chapin School is just 7 to 1, while the student to teacher ratio at most U.S. public schools generally exceeds 17 to 1.