The district originally had three schools, the Main Street School, which accommodated all students in the area of the village of Irvington; and the Pennybridge School and East Irvington Schools, which took in students from their areas until they reached high school age. After the Dows Lane School was built, the two outlying schools were eventually closed down, and the Main Street School became the district's high school. Overcrowding was a problem, and when Greystone burned down, a new high school, accommodating students from grade 7 to 12, was built on the grounds around 1966. The Main Street School then became a middle school for grades 5 and 6. Shortly, the new high school proved to be less space then needed, and a temporary pre-fabricated unit, called "the Annex", was sited on the grounds south of the high school, This was used primarily for junior high school students. Many decades later, the high school's activities building was torn down and replaced and additional space was added for academics - the original high school building was retained. As part of this overall project, a new middle school was built to the east of the high school.
Students and ratings
The school system - the student population of which was around 1,900 in 2013 and 1,775 in 2018 - is known for its small class size and emphasis on academics; and about 98% of graduates go on to higher education. In 2012, the average SAT scores were 571, 583 and 573, compared to the statewide averages of 496. 514 and 488, and 74.7 percent of fourth grade students met state standards in English, and 66.1 percent in math, compared to statewide averages of 30.3 and 36.3 percent. In 2017, 74% of the school system's fourth graders met state-wide English standards, and 80% met the standards for math, as opposed to 41% and 43% for the state as a whole. In the high school, the mean SAT scores were 619 for "evidence-based reading and writing" and 625 in math, compared to 523 and 528 for the state. In 2015, U.S. News & World Report rated Irvington High School as number 32 in New York State, making it the ninth-best in Westchester, while the next year it was ranked as #198 in the United States, and #35 in New York, with a college readiness index of 70.3, and a student-teacher ratio of 12:1. In 2016, Niche.com, a rating and ranking website, listed Irvington High School as the #83 high school in New York, and #595 in the country. The next year, in 2017, U.S.News ranked the high school as #45 in New York state, and #377 in the country, which won it a gold medal for being in the top 500 nationally. In June 2016, Niche rated the Irvington school district as #42 in New York State. In October of that year, Niche also listed Irvington as New York State's #16 best school district to teach in. In January 2017, Niche rated the Irvington school system as #29 among all the public school systems in New York state. The Irvington School system was voted "Best of" Westchester Public Schools in 2016, 2017, and 2018 by readers of Westchester Magazine.
Controversy
In 2019, it came to light that the school district's Director of Technology, Jesse Lubinsky, was paid by the district to attend seminars to earn credits to maintain his state teaching license, but that Lubinsky actually taught many of those seminars in his position as a contractor for EdTechTeam, a Google contractor. Further, Lubinsky was paid a higher rate for this work by the district than other teachers receive, or than is required by union contract. Investigation showed that the district's chief administrator accommodated Lubinsky's "double-dipping", and that Lubinsky's rise through the district's bureaucracy was rapid, having started in 2005 as a teacher, and becoming a Tech Coordinator in 2006, the Tech Coach and Chief Information Officer in 2009, a Program Chair in 2013, and an Administrator in 2017. He started working with EdTechTeam in 2014. When Lubinsky became an Administrator, the school district's spending on Google products increased from $43,000 in 2016-2017 to $129,000 in 2017-2018. Lubinsky has resigned.
