North Shore Elementary

North Shore Elementary is one of the mid-sized K-5 schools in Big Bear Lake, California, overseen by Bear Valley Unified, with 517 students on its rolls from grades K through 5.

North Shore Elementary is one of 6 schools operated by Bear Valley Unified, a district that educates 2,176 students overall.

On demographics, North Shore Elementary records that the most-represented group is Hispanic (54%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest is composed of 41% White, 4% multiracial. That composition is broadly in line with San Bernardino County as a whole.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 23.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 70% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

After controlling for student poverty, North Shore Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 37.5% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 39.7%.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (San Bernardino County) shows that median household income runs about $85,478, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across San Bernardino County's 583 public schools (combined enrollment of about 393,648 students), North Shore Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Big Bear Middle, around 1.6 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around North Shore Elementary. On composite proficiency, North Shore Elementary comes 2nd of 5 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 40.6%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 5%: 542 students in 2018 compared to 517 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 36% to 54% across the same window.

On this page, members of the North Shore Elementary community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.