Mrs. Charlotte Comfort became headmistress and adjusted to her new position after being second in command for a long time. The fifties also ushered in a new era of Hewitt graduates attending colleges. By 1949, almost the whole class was applying for and pursuing a college degree. The rigor she was applying to the school began with Lower Schoolers. She implemented a “modern method of teaching arithmetic.”

 

Miss Hewitt’s Classes also found their more permanent building when they purchased the 45 East 75th Street building with the help of Dr. Earnest Stillman’s heirs. Mrs. Comfort considered this building “perfect.” Dr. Stillman’s heirs were happy that the building was being kept together intact and not divided. The building was suited for education because it included a library, roof, garden, room for classrooms, and a prime location. The moving day was June 5, 1951, and much like moves in the past the whole community helped move what they could.

 

A catalog was published with the new building earning the cover. This was consistent with the consumer culture of the fifties. Tuition that year was listed as $550 for beginners and the price rose until $1,150 for grades six through twelve. In 1955 the number of students stood at 230 girls. In 1952 the school acquired a permanent charter from the New York Board of Regents.

 

The visiting committee evaluated the school in 1954 and gave recommendations for the school to follow as well as commending the school on its work. Many improvements were made to the school and Miss Hewitt’s Classes were placed on the List of Accredited Schools by Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The statement highlights the advantages of a small school such as class sizes, leadership opportunities, and support for students. A section from the “Statement of Philosophy” reads:

 

Because of the socio-economic level of our community, we can stress only vicariously the “worth and integrity of the individual, regardless of race, creed, color or economic circumstance,” yet we feel that our school is exceptionally free from the ugly taint of snobbery of any kind. The backgrounds of our girls are very similar, but in poetry, art, history, English, we try to make them conscious of the contributions of many different peoples to our culture. We also try in these courses and others to make them aware that as young women, they owe a particular debt to society, not only to be effective citizens of the nation and world but also to assume the tremendous responsibilities that go with parenthood.

 

Parts of the statement feel very antiquated in terms of the role of women and the inclusion of different socio-economic statuses, yet, there is also a sense of teaching the young women a broad and inclusive course which is a philosophy still held by our teachers and administrators today.

 

Only a year later Mrs. Comfort had taken steps to improve the school based on the committee's recommendations. A cafeteria that could hold up to 109 people was added as well as a “modern laboratory.” The changes also included raising the teacher’s median income and adding a free faculty lunch. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools also placed Miss Hewitt’s Classes on its List of Accredited Schools in 1957. This achievement manifested itself in the following three lines which appeared below the school name in a viewbook:

Accredited by the

University of the State of New York

And the Middle States Association.

 

Due to the looming threat of an atomic bomb, drills and practices were put in place for students to understand the situation and what they should do. The drill for responding to a “sneak attack” is hiding under a student’s desk. Debates were also being had in the mid-fifties about the role the United States should play and if the United States should follow Great Britain's policy of reducing conventional armaments in order to develop nuclear weapons.

 

By the end of the decade, the “non-collegiate track” was eliminated and there was no longer a distinction between the “College Entrance Course” and the “General Course.” This change represented the new priority of the school and the young women who attended. College was no longer an option, but a natural next step after finishing high school.

 

The Student Council became more active and acquired new power in the fifties. Members of the Student Council had the ability to hand out demerits for a number of infractions including swearing, wearing nail polish, or being a disturbance. These demerits had an impact on grades and the number of misbehaviors could result in a lowered grade on a report card.

 

A 1958 Newsweek article published an article that featured Miss Hewitt’s Classes under the “Education” Section. The article explained the role of independent schools: "At Miss Hewitt’s Classes, for instance, a girls’ school on New York’s smart East Side, the student-teacher ratio is 11-1, compared with the public school’s 27-1. Miss Hewitt’s, founded in 1920 by English-born Caroline D. Hewitt, has twenty teachers for the 225 students. A typical graduate of Miss Hewitt has been speaking French since first grade and has coped with art, music, literature, sports, dramatics, sewing, dancing, and drill in the social graces. She has typed her way through a summer job, the observed government in action during junkets to the United Nation headquarters, Albany and Washington, worked in a neighborhood youth center- and has been accepted on graduation at the college of her choice."

 

Mrs. Comfort was not a fan of the term finishing school, because as she put it, “Back in the ‘20s when the majority of the girls didn’t go on to college, some schools deserved it. Now it’s outmoded. The trend is to prepare the girls, not ‘finish’ them.” So many changes occurred in the fifties as Mrs. Comfort ushered in a new era of Miss Hewitt’s Classes that included receiving a charter and adapting to the times in terms of girls' education and the importance of college.

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