A new school opened in Hempstead Wednesday to ease overcrowding at the high school.

The HYPE Academy opened to about 200 students after more than 1,000 new students, mostly immigrants, moved to the community.

Officials say many of the students at the new Main Street facility were unaccompanied minors who had escaped poverty and violence in Central America to be reunited with family members on Long Island.

Elias Mestizo, president of the Hempstead Classroom Teachers Association, says the students at the new school do not speak English. He says six ESL teachers have been transferred from Hempstead High School. The school nurse, psychologist and guidance counselors will have to split their time between the two schools, he says.