The CW’s Gossip Girl is a fabulous, fun hour of escapism–unless you’re a New York City parent of a private school teen. Then you start to worry about whether your kid will turn into Blair, Serena or worst of all, Chuck!

So we can’t even begin to imagine the kind of panic attacks that Bravo’s new reality show, NYC Prep, will instigate. The show hasn’t even premiered yet (the big day is June 23rd) and it’s already inspiring blogossip.

One of the girls on the show, Camille (the “Blair” character), attends the Nightingale-Bamford School, the all-girls UES alma mater of Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar. Although the show doesn’t mention Nightingale by name, being that this is New York, it didn’t take long for multiple news outlets to figure out where the kids are enrolled.

I happen to have attended Nightingale for kindergarten and first grade (full disclosure: it was strict and fancy, but I loved it). As an alum, I receive occasional email updates from the school. Today’s was quite unusual. The subject line: “[Nightingale] NYC Prep.”

The full letter is after the jump. Needless to say, the school’s not pleased with the exposure and dubs this reality show completely fictional. While I understand why the administration is on the defensive, the email only makes me want to see the show even more! (I am a reality junkie.) Will you be setting your DVR? Whet your appetite by watching the first ep online.

Dear Nightingale parents and alumnae:

Later this month, Bravo TV will premiere “NYC Prep,” a new series that purports to show the real lives of six teenagers in New York. A preview episode aired this week, and as one of our Upper School students is featured in the series, Nightingale has recently been receiving (and, we expect, will continue to receive) an undue level of attention from the press and from people at large.

The decision to participate in the show was made by the student and her parents without consulting Nightingale’s administrators. We counsel our girls to avoid such exposure, knowing that best intentions are usually subsumed by a media machine that too often simplifies the many facets of a Nightingale education into a shallow and stereotypical view of independent schools. (As with most series of this genre, the show is “reality” in name only.) Ultimately, though, these decisions reside with the families themselves. Our goal at Nightingale has always been to help each of our girls find her unique voice; it is up to each of them to determine how and when to use that voice.

This is not the first time that someone has presented a skewed version of our world, nor will it be the last, so we approach this situation as we have handled others previously: focused on providing our girls the world-class education that has long defined Nightingale.

There will always be people who question the opportunities we provide, and to them we will continue to tout the benefits of single-sex education and a community as devoted as Nightingale’s. But next week at our Commencement exercises, 37 strong and confident young women will receive a Nightingale diploma; they are all the response we need.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. From all of us here at the blue doors, I wish you a safe and happy summer!

Sincerely,

Dorothy A. Hutcheson
Head of School