Port Chester High School

Port Chester High School is a public high school in Port Chester, New York. It is the senior high school of the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District and its principal is Mitchell Combs. The school is ranked #134 in the state and #1481 in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2018 "Best High Schools" rankings.^[2]

Port Chester High School
Address
1 Tamarack Road Port Chester , New York 10573 United States
Coordinates	41°00′42″N 73°40′43″W
Information
Motto	Truth and knowledge are the fruits of learning
Established	1929
School district	Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District
Principal	Luke A. Sotherden
Teaching staff	106.16 (on an FTE basis)[1]
Grades	9-12[1]
Enrollment	1,558[1] (2021–2022)
Student to teacher ratio	14.68[1]
Campus size	20 Acres (871,200 sq ft)
Color(s)
Athletics conference	Section 1 NYSPHSAA
Nickname	Rams
Rivals	Mamaroneck, Greenwich
Accreditation	Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Yearbook	Peningian
Website	shs.portchesterschools.org

The school was founded in 1929. The building, on the former grounds of a country club, was designed by Tooker & Marsh in "Harvard" style with a prominent clock tower, and completed in 1932. As constructed, it contained 140,000 square feet (13,000 m²) of space including a 94 by 72 feet (29 m × 22 m) gymnasium, a 1250-seat auditorium, 38 classrooms, two study halls, four shops, and a model apartment for homemaking classes. The building had radio equipment and an electric fire alarm system, and all its clocks were synchronized to an electric master clock.^[3]

The district (and therefore the high school's attendance boundary) is located within portions of the Town of Rye. All of Port Chester is in the district.^[4] About 30% of the village of Rye Brook is in the district, and the remainder is in the Blind Brook School District.^[5]

Academics

The school offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma in addition to Advanced Placement and college-level courses.^[6]

Athletics

Port Chester High School competes in Section 1 of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.^[7] The school has teams in football, soccer, volleyball, cross country running, cheerleading, tennis, swimming, basketball, wrestling, indoor track, bowling, baseball, softball, track & field, and golf.^[8]

Notable alumni

• Herman Barron (1909–1978), professional golfer^[9]
• Jonathan Del Arco (class of 1984), actor and activist
• Joe Langworth (class of 1984), Broadway actor, choreographer and director
• Dan McDonnell (class of 1988),^[10] college baseball coach, Louisville Cardinals baseball team head coach
• Ruth Roberts (class of 1944, but does not appear among Senior portraits in yearbook), songwriter of "The First Thing Ev'ry Morning (And the Last Thing Ev'ry Night)" and "Meet the Mets"
• David Tutera (class of 1984), celebrity wedding planner, reality television personality
• Edwin B. Wheeler (class of 1935), General of the US Marine Corps
• Ed Sullivan (1901 - 1974), American television personality

Notable faculty

• Kenneth R. Force (1966-1971), band director^[11][12]

References

1. "PORT CHESTER SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL". School Directory Information. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
2. "Port Chester Senior High School in Port Chester, NY". US News. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
3. "The History of Port Chester High School (Foreword to the 1963 Peningian)". Tollaland.com. Archived from the original on 2005-01-12.
4. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Westchester County, NY" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
5. Platzman, Cheryl. "IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN/RYE BROOK, N.Y.; 1 Close-Knit Village, 2 School Districts." (Correction Appended) The New York Times. July 2, 2000. p. 1. Retrieved on July 8, 2013.
6. "Port Chester High School". Retrieved 2017-02-07.
7. "Membership by Section" (PDF). New York State Public High School Athletic Association. p. 2. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
8. "Port Chester High School Profile: 2020-2021". Port Chester High School. Retrieved 30 December 2020. ^{[dead link‍]}
9. "The Terre Haute Tribune from Terre Haute, Indiana on February 4, 1963 · Page 8". 4 February 1963.
10. Josh Thomson (2013-06-18). "McDonnell still hopeful after Louisville falls" – via LoHud Baseball Blog.
11. Langer, Emily (2023-10-27). "Kenneth Force, standard-bearer of military music, dies at 83". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
12. "Official Naming Ceremony for The Captain Kenneth R. Force Instrumental Music Room". portchesterschools.org. 2023-05-31. Retrieved 2024-04-15.