# West Hempstead Union Free School District

The West Hempstead Union Free School District (or West Hempstead School District) is a union free school district situated on Long Island in the hamlet of West Hempstead, Nassau County, New York.
As of the 2022-23 school year, the district had an enrollment of 1,548 students in grades K-12. The district comprises one secondary school (grades 7-12), one intermediate school (grades 4-6), one elementary school (grades 1-3), and one kindergarten.

## History

The West Hempstead School District was established in the early 19th century in order to serve the children residing in the western rural areas of Hempstead. The Chestnut Street School was the first schoolhouse in the district to be established, the school was a single-room building, crowned by a bell tower on the intersection of Chestnut and School Street. Originally, the institution was known as the Trimming Square School, named after the hamlet Trimming Square (now Franklin Square), a village located directly west of West Hempstead. The name has since been changed to the Chestnut Street School, after the street it resides on.
After the establishment of the Chestnut Street School, to accommodate the growing student population the West Hempstead UFSD began construction on a second school on Eagle Avenue, known as the Eagle Avenue Public School, being opened on November 5, 1928. The school was renamed the Marion M. Delaney school following the retirement in 1963 of the then principal, Marian Delaney, in favor of her 35 years of working with the district. After enrollment took a significant decline in the early 1980's, the district vacated the Marion M. Delaney school building, which was then rented to Nassau County educational officials in usage for the BOCES program, which lasted until 2013. As of 2024, the building is currently leased to the Gersh Academy, a K-12 autism academy.

## Demographics

According to the American Community Survey Education Tabulation (ACS-ED) for 2018-22, the West Hempstead UFSD has a population of 18,539 residents total across 5,366 households. The total median household income is $148,542, with 4.5% below the poverty line, and 6.8% receiving SNAP benefits. 90.4% of dwellings are houses, with 9.7% being some other form of lodging. 91.6% of houses have access to Broadband Internet.
Among public school parents, the median household income is $139,309, with 89.6% of parents in the labor force. 87.3% of public school households live in dwellings owned by the householder, while 12.7% are renters. 39.7% of public school parents in West Hempstead have a bachelor's degree or higher, 29.3% with an alternative college degree or associate's degree, 23.5% are high school graduates or equivalent, and 7.5% did not complete high school nor have equivalent qualification. Of the district's 1,586 enrolled students, 61.9% of student's aged 5 years or over speak only English at home, 30.9% speak English well, and 7.2% speak English less than well. 3.2% of students classify as having a disability, and 94.5% of students have health insurance coverage.
According to the ACS-ED and National Center for Education Statistics, the estimated racial/ethnic identification makeup of the residents in the area, generally including the school district's enrolled students specifically is as follows:
* White: 61%
* Black or African American: 14%
* Hispanic or Latino: 25%
* Asian: 5%
* American Indian/Alaska Native: 0%
* Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: 0%
* Some other race alone: 11%
* Two or more races: 9%

## List of schools
### Current schools

The West Hempstead Union Free School District currently operates the 4 following schools:
* Secondary Schools (Grades 7-12):
** West Hempstead Secondary School (as of September 1, 2022)
* Intermediate Schools (Grades 4-6):
** George Washington School
* Primary Schools (Grades 1-3):
** Cornwell Avenue School
* Kindergartens:
** Chestnut Street School

### Former schools

As of September 1, 2022, the West Hempstead School District merged West Hempstead High School and West Hempstead Middle School into a single institution, now known as West Hempstead Secondary School.