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Who We Are

North Salem is a small, highly-performing school district located in Westchester County less than 60 miles from New York City. We serve students from Westchester and Putnam Counties in the Towns of North Salem, Southeast, Somers, and Carmel.  Our faculty, staff, building, and district administration are highly-qualified, caring professionals who are devoted to providing all students with an exceptional education.  We have a highly supportive Board of Education and Community that enable us to provide all our students with small class sizes and exceptional programming above and beyond the general education curriculum.  

Our two public schools are committed to our Mission and serve students in grades K-12:

Pequenakonck Elementary

Pequenakonck, affectionately called PQ, is the North Salem Elementary School that serves approximately 452 students in kindergarten through grade five.  Originally built in 1972, subsequently building projects have added a modern gymnasium, several impressive classroom wings, spacious offices, air conditioning throughout, a maker space in the library, and a large multi-purpose room making PQ a state-of-the-art learning facility. Students at Pequenakonck learn a general education curriculum and use their content knowledge to solve a variety of academic problems. Our fifth graders participate in a capstone project aligned to the Profile of a North Salem 5th Grader as a Problem Solver.

In addition to the academic program, all our teachers and staff are highly skilled and knowledgeable and are committed to providing students with the skills they will need to solve a variety of social problems through the use of North Salem Best Practices, which include North Salem Learning Principles, Visible Thinking Routines, Computational Thinking, Habits of Mind, Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity, Calm Classroom, and Multi-tiered Systems of Support. Students benefit from small class sizes, the support of their teachers, and support staff which includes a principal and assistant principal, two school psychologists, a speech pathologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, a library media specialist, a gifted and talented teacher, one full-time and one part-time nurse, teaching assistants, paraprofessionals, School Resource Officer and security.  Bus transportation is available to all our students and the school is served and maintained by a full-time custodial staff.

North Salem Middle School/High School

North Salem Middle School/High School, serves approximately 511 students in sixth through twelfth grade.  North Salem Middle School/High School staff is highly qualified, supportive, and committed to providing all students with the highest quality education which builds on the work of our faculty and staff at PQ and makes use of North Salem Best Practices.  North Salem Middle School/High School also provides students with small class sizes and support from their teachers and support staff, which includes a principal, assistant principal, two school psychologists, four guidance counselors, a speech pathologist, an occupational and a physical therapist, as needed. The school is also served by a School Resource Officer, security guards, and a full-time custodial staff.  Bus transportation is available to all students.

North Salem Middle School/High School is a top ranked school in New York State and nationally. In 2023, North Salem Middle School/High School was ranked 27th in the State and Westchester Magazine ranked us 8th in our region.  Our students' AP participation rate is 78 percent. In 2022, our school earned the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for the number of female students enrolled in AP Computer Science. Our student body makeup is 52 percent female and 48 percent male, and our total minority enrollment is 17 percent. The student to teacher ratio is 8 to 1. Our graduation rate was 97 percent, well above the state medium. All our seniors participate in an internship called the Seal of Civic Readiness and O.P.T.I.O.N.S. which stands for opportunities for professional training in and out of North Salem.  O.P.T.I.O.N.S. provides our students with the opportunity to intern in a work setting of their choice.  Students receive social emotional support and Social Emotional Learning through the Yale RULER program.  All students are challenged to not only learn their curriculum but, more importantly, are provided with multiple opportunities to develop themselves and achieve the ideals of the Profile of a North Salem Graduate as a Problem Solver.  We aim for all our students to be positive and productive citizens who will apply the Habits of Mind that will give them the skills and dispositions to be successful critical and creative thinkers and problem solvers in their present and future endeavors.