Interactive Family Trivia Night at Washington School

Washington Primary School’s Family Engagement Committee recently hosted a fun and interactive trivia night that kept everyone searching for answers.

Families of students in kindergarten through third grade were invited to join their children for an evening of teamwork, collaboration and friendly competition.

“Together, teams worked collaboratively to solve age-appropriate trivia questions, encouraging communication, problem-solving, and community connection,” Washington Principal Dr. Michelle J. Richards said. “This event aimed to strengthen family-school partnerships while giving students a chance to learn and play alongside their loved ones.”

Washington’s Family Engagement Committee is working overtime, striving to bring together every stakeholder at the school for fun educational events.

Washington School will host its annual holiday songfest on Wednesday, December 17. The Washington PTA will meet again on Wednesday, January 7 at 6:30 p.m. The Washington PTA’s Bingo Night is set for Friday, January 23 at 6:30 p.m. The next Family Engagement Committee will hold its next evening event on Wednesday, January 28.

Most people are surprised to learn that Washington’s enrollment reached an all-time high of 629 in June 1962 and stood at 550 less than four years earlier in November 1958 when the structure featured only 13 classrooms. The school regularly housed more than 500 students through most of its first 25 years of service to the community.

In a public vote at a special community meeting on Wednesday, June 17, 1953 at Robert K. Toaz Junior High School, district residents approved spending $60,000 to acquire 11.15 acres on Whitson Road in Huntington Station as the site for a school and $544,000 to construct the building. (The cost of the entire list of propositions amounted to $1.73 million to cover construction of what would become Flower Hill, Southdown and Washington schools and for land acquisition for Southdown and Washington.)

Architectural plans for the schools were approved by trustees in August 1953 and forwarded to the State Education Department. Bids were advertised in September and were accepted in the auditorium of Village Green School on Thursday evening, September 25, 1953. Construction started shortly thereafter in early October.

Dedication ceremonies for the three new schools were held at each respective building on Saturday, September 18, 1954 with School Board President Richard McCormack presiding. Washington’s was held at 2 p.m. Residents had an opportunity to tour each of the structures beginning at 1 p.m. and continuing throughout the afternoon.

Washington Elementary School, like its sister schools, originally consisted of 13 classrooms for students from kindergarten through sixth grade. All three schools came about as a result of demographic studies conducted in 1952 and 1953 for the Board of Education, which worked with a citizen’s advisory committee consisting of parents, administrators and teachers.

The history of Washington School is quite fascinating, even to the casual student of history. While it was under construction, it was known as Whitson Road Elementary School, before School Board members later decided to name new elementary schools erected south of 25A after U.S. presidents. (Interestingly, this policy was ignored when Roosevelt Elementary School was demolished and replaced by Huntington Elementary School.)

During its early years, the parcel of land adjacent to Washington’s west boundary was a horse training and racing facility, with barns and tracks. Crowds turned out on weekends to watch horse races. The site was later sold to developers and now features traditional suburban housing.

The Huntington School Board turned to an old hand when it came to assigning Washington Elementary School’s first principal. Trustees selected Leslie Read, who came to Huntington High School in 1928 as a math and science teacher. When Robert K. Toaz Junior High School opened in September 1939, Mr. Read began teaching there. In 1943 he became principal of both Nathan Hale and Main Street schools (it was common then for one principal to supervise two separate elementary schools) and moved to Lincoln Elementary School in 1946.