West Hempstead district voters reject bond issue

Voters in West Hempstead on Tuesday night overwhelmingly rejected a $46 million bond issue that administrators said would fund building and classroom upgrades as well as the demolition of an elementary school it has not used to educate its children for 30 years.

Residents cast 989 votes against the measure, while 599 people voted for it, school officials said, adding that the 2,100-student district still must find a way to make changes.

"Thank you to everyone who voted," Superintendent John Hogan said after polls closed at 9 p.m. and the votes were counted. "Although the bond was not approved by voters, the need for major repairs and renovations is still real. The board of education will meet in the next few weeks to discuss their next steps."

Among the tasks the funding would have paid for are the demolition of Marian Delaney Elementary, an 88-year-old edifice that the district has been leasing out to private entities, most recently housing a private school for children with autism.

After the razing, the 4-acre parcel on which the school stands would have been converted to three grass multiuse fields, two basketball courts, a redesigned playground and a field house, officials said.

The bond issue would also have paid for new science labs in the middle school and high school, five new classrooms at the Chestnut Street School and the overhaul of the cafeteria and kitchen at Cornwell Avenue and George Washington elementary schools, officials said.

Had the proposal passed, it would have cost the average homeowner an additional $381 a year over 20 years, a hike that would have begun in the 2017-18 school year.