South Huntington To Educate Students On Social Media After Threat Made Against School

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — After a threat made against two Stimson Middle School students and the school itself was deemed non-credible after an investigation by Suffolk police, says South Huntington Superintendent Vito D'Elia, the district plans to educate its students on the dangers of social media.

The school district and police department are continuing to investigate the threat made on social media against the students and school, D'Elia told the community in a letter. The district increased police presence around its schools on Monday as an added layer of security "out of an abundance of caution," D'Elia said.

The district plans to turn the threat into a learning experience.

"We will continue to educate our students on the dangers of social media and how it can impact other lives and their own," D'Elia said. "It is unfortunate that when someone is behind a computer, they don’t think anyone is watching. Now we have vigilant eyes from federal, state, and local law enforcement watching, and there can be serious implications including arrest and jail time. These threats cause unnecessary panic and high levels of anxiety. In addition, a lot of time and energy goes into investigating the credibility of a threat, taking away from having the focus on educating, because the safety of our schools is a top priority."

D'Elia said cases like this is "one of the reasons" why the South Huntington School District joined some other Long Island school districts in a federal lawsuit against major social media companies.

"I know it is not their intent to generate these threats, but they need to help us and provide more oversight," D'Elia said. "We ask that you continue to speak with your child about the dangers of making statements of a threatening nature on social media and digital forums, and supervise the use of technology in your home. There are positive uses, but there are also dangers associated with it. South Huntington is continually looking at our curriculum to educate our students at all levels about the proper and safe use of social media."