The Yonkers Board of Education was formed in May 1880 when the New York State legislature approved consolidating the schools. The following year, the Trustees of the Board met to hold an organizational meeting, and to elect officers and adopt a code of by-laws.

In the years since then, the Board of Education has held an Annual Meeting to elect officers from the Trustees, and to adopt what is now known as the Policy Manual.

The first officers of the Board of Education were elected from among the Trustees in 1881. Duncan Smith was elected president and Matthew H. Ellis was elected vice president.

The other Trustees of the Board, all of whom were appointed by Mayor Norton P. Otis, were:

• Rudolph Eickemeyer
• William F. Cochran
• Thomas B. Caulfield
• Frederic Shonnard
• Rufus Dutton
• Peter Mitchell
• F.C. Oakley
• William H. Thrall
• Etheibert Belknap
• Frederick A. Back
• Charles Lockwood
• Michael Mooney
• John Thurton