Union Free School District No. 3 was organized on May 7, 1892. The Board of Education purchased the property and building from the Institute for $250, naming it Union Free School No. 3, and added a high school program. The first Regents exams were held there in 1892 and its first graduating class consisted of five students in 1895. The first principals were George E. Smith, W. M. Pierce, and D.B. Albert, who had five assistants in 1898. By 1902, there were 65 high school students and 143 in the elementary program.