Derry Area SHS

Located at 988 North Chestnut St Ext, in Derry, Pennsylvania, Derry Area SHS is a small 9-12 campus that serves 598 students (grades 9 through 12), operated by Derry Area SD.

Derry Area SHS is one of 3 schools operated by Derry Area SD, a district that works with 1,791 students overall.

Demographically, Derry Area SHS lists that the student body is overwhelmingly White (94%); the rest consists of 4% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Derry Area SHS has 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.2:1. The state averages about 12.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 98% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Westmoreland County runs at roughly 53%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Derry Area SHS sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 35.5%; this one delivers 47.1%.

In the broader community, Westmoreland County reports that median household earnings sit near $74,109, about 33% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Derry Area SHS is one of 85 public schools in Westmoreland County (combined enrollment of about 41,302 students).

Derry Area MS is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Derry Area SHS. On composite proficiency, Derry Area SHS comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 52.8%.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Over the past 7-year window. Derry Area SHS's enrollment has changed only slightly since 2018, when it stood at 604 (now 598). Class-load math has pulled in: from 14.4:1 in 2018 to 13.2:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Derry Area SHS typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.