WHMS School History

Up to the 1979-1980 school year, junior high school pupils residing in the rapidly growing west side of Hernando County attended classes in shared space at Spring Hill Elementary and Springstead High School. With western Hernando County becoming increasingly more populous, it became apparent to the Hernando County School Board and Superintendent James K. Austin that the district was in dire need of a second junior high school.

West Hernando Junior High School was established and opened for the 1980-81 school year, located on Fox Chapel Lane and Deltona Boulevard (present-day Fox Chapel Middle School campus). The school’s inaugural principal was Don Brown.  In 1993, West Hernando Middle School moved its staff and student body to its present-day location situated between Central High School and Pine Grove Elementary on Ken Austin Parkway.  This migration was authorized by the School Board to alleviate an overcrowding situation at Springstead High School; the Deltona/Fox Chapel site became the Springstead 9th Grade Center and WHMS moved into the newly built middle school facility which was originally intended to be Hernando County’s fourth middle school with a different name.

Today, West Hernando Middle School is an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) Center, a Title I school, and a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) school with an enrollment of approximately 700.