Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District

History

In 1865, a one-room schoolhouse was built on land donated by John Whitson on the south side of Pleasantville Road, between the Pocantico River and the New York & Putnam Railroad (now NY Route 9A/100). The building (Whitson's School, District No. 6) became the first schoolhouse in the area. George A. Todd, Jr. was the first teacher and superintendent of the school. In 1867, the school was moved to the White School, named thus due to its exterior paint.

Its replacement building, Briarcliff Public School, was built in 1898 on the site of the White School. The building failed to meet requirements set by New York's commissioner of education, and thus in 1910, it became the Briarcliff Community Center, a social organization established by the village. Around the same time, in 1908, $50,000 ($1.33 million in 2016) was voted for Briarcliff Manor to buy a plot by Law Memorial Park, and the school moved again, to the Spanish Renaissance-style Grade School building, which was built there the following year. Students would attend that school from kindergarten to ninth grade and have the option to then attend the nearby Ossining High School. In 1918, the Briarcliff school began educating students through high school; in 1928, a dedicated wing for high school students was built onto the Grade School building. The enlarged school accepted students from Croton, Hawthorne, North White Plains, Valhalla, and as far as Granite Springs.

In 1953, Todd Elementary School opened to free space at the Law Park grade school for middle- and high-school students. The present high school opened in 1971 to ease the large enrollment at the Grade School building. The district under its current name was officially established in 1974.

In 1980, Pace University began leasing the middle school building, and the middle school was moved to a portion of the new high school building. The Grade School building was demolished in 1996, and a retirement home was built on its site the following year. In the early 2000s, the current Briarcliff Middle School was constructed adjoining to the high school. The wing was completed in 2003 at a cost of $24 million ($31.2 million in 2016) in the same red-brick-and-glass style as the high school wing. In 2008, the school district won first place for the small district category of that year's Digital School Districts Survey.

General information

The three schools within the district serve about 1,535 students, and the district spends an average of $24,858 per pupil; its student–teacher ratio is 11:1 (the national averages are $12,435 and 15.3:1 respectively). Demand for entrance to the school is high due to its strong performance and ratings.

Location and area

The Briarcliff Manor UFSD covers 6.58 square miles (17.0 km²) of land and most of the village of Briarcliff Manor. The district also serves an unincorporated portion of the town of Mount Pleasant. Parts of Briarcliff Manor not covered by the school district include Scarborough and Chilmark; these areas (about 28 percent of Briarcliff Manor) are part of the Ossining Union Free School District.

Demographics

In the 2015–16 school year, the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District enrolled approximately 1,469 students; of which 16 (1 percent) were eligible for free lunch and 6 students were eligible for reduced-price lunch. The student body is 52% male and 48% female. One percent of students are economically disadvantaged and nine percent have reported disabilities.

Todd Elementary School

Todd Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through to fifth grade. The current elementary school building opened in 1953 and is named after George A. Todd, Jr. who was the village's first teacher, first superintendent and taught for over 40 years. When it opened, the school was already too small; two more rooms were added. In 1956, another addition nearly doubled the school's size. In 2000, another expansion of the school began, creating distinct wings for students in kindergarten to second grade and students in third to fifth grade. It became a Blue Ribbon school in 2016.

Briarcliff Middle School

Briarcliff Middle School (BMS) serves students in grades 6–8. It is co-located on a suburban campus with Briarcliff High School. The school principal is Susan Howard. The school has 62 faculty members, including 29 teaching staff. As of January 2012, enrollment is 379. It became a Blue Ribbon school in 2005.

Student body

The student body consists primarily of incoming students from Todd Elementary School. Fewer than 3 percent qualify for free or reduced lunches; in contrast, 72 percent of the student body qualifies in nearby New York City.

The demographics of the school are 92 percent White (non-Hispanic), 2 percent Black or African American, 4 percent Asian, and 2 percent Hispanic or Latino. Its student–teacher ratio is 11:1.

The school runs the Greenhouse Club, which donated to charities, fixed old laptops, and started a recycling and composting program. The club runs an annual Charity: Water fundraiser, and has held coat drives, collected funds for Hurricane Sandy victims, and organized a holiday boutique to raise money for the American Cancer Society. As well, the students of the club have helped to create and maintain Academia, the school’s outdoor education center, greenhouse and garden built around 2008. The club also created a five-part video miniseries on planting and gardening for instructional use at Hawthorne Country Day School.

Briarcliff High School

Briarcliff High School (BHS) serves students in grades 9–12. The school is noted for student achievement, testing scores, its science research, world language, and performing arts programs, University in the High School and Advanced Placement courses, and graduation and college attendance rates. The school has a 10:1 student–teacher ratio, and 100 percent of students have proficiency in mathematics and English. In 2014, Newsweek ranked the high school 17th-best in the country.

The student body primarily consists of incoming graduates of Briarcliff Middle School. Additionally, students graduating from Pocantico Hills Central School have the option to attend high schools either at Briarcliff High School, Pleasantville High School, or Sleepy Hollow High School. The majority, 75 percent in 2016, attend Briarcliff High School. Through the district's affiliation with the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, students have the option for vocational education at the Tech Center at Yorktown, a program in Yorktown Heights.

The school was founded in 1928 at the Grade School building adjacent to Law Memorial Park. In 1971, the school moved to its current facility on the east border of the village.

Transportation

The district offers transportation to students through Briarcliff Bus Company, which holds its vehicles at a private lot of the Scarborough train station. Transportation is available to students who live within 15 miles (24 km) from the school they attend; that students living on Ingham Road do not have school transportation to the nearby Todd Elementary School.