The school was named after Solomon Schechter, a Romanian who was educated in Austria and Germany. He was the Chief Architect of Conservative Judaism in the United States. The school was founded for the school year that started in September 1965 in provisional facilities co-located with Congregation Beth Shalom in Union, New Jersey with a first grade consisting of 18 children. A class was added each year for the initial class, and there were nine remaining to graduate from high school in 1977. This was the first high school affiliated with the Solomon Schechter Day School Association.