Huntington HS Was Uninformed Of State's Gang Prevention Plan, Superintendent Says

Huntington School District Superintendent James Polansky said he was "shocked" to hear that Huntington High School would have state troopers deployed the school as part of the state's MS-13 and gang violence prevention initiative.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that a new Gang Violence Prevention Unit, which would consist of 10 state troopers, would be deployed to 10 Suffolk County schools that are at high-risk for gang activity and recruitment.

Polansky said the state never reached out to the school district about this initiative.

"At no point did any state official or otherwise reach out and ask what we need or don’t need," Polansky wrote in a letter to members of the school district. "At no point did anyone request a visit or invite a conversation of any sort. At no point have we received even fragments of information about the proposal. Upon questioning this with multiple state officials, the best we received was a thorough apology and an admission that the 'ball was dropped.'"

The Gang Violence Prevention Unit is meant to target gang violence and recruitment at school districts identified as having the highest concentration of gang violence and vulnerability to recruitment. Those districts are Brentwood, Central Islip, Huntington, Longwood, South Country Central and Wyandanch.

The initiative intends to "Educate the Educators" on how to stop gang violence before it stops and to prevent a child from going down the wrong path. Another part of the initiative is to implement "Gang Awareness Training" to educate children on the dangers of joining gangs and how to respond to the pressure of joining these groups.

Polansky says the district has taken measures over the years to ensure the safety of all students. He says the the state's initiative does not look to generate healthy discussion, understanding and collaboration between students, staff members and members of the community.

"[Cuomo] is clearly misinformed and misguided about the role of educators in general and we can certainly speak for Huntington," Polansky said.

Image via HUFSD