Letters

As principal of Southampton High School for the past 12 years, I along with our talented faculty and staff were shocked, confused and disappointed at the representation of our long-standing relationship with students and families of the Shinnecock Nation as described in the article on the proposed Tuckahoe-Shinnecock High School [“Shinnecock Nation, Tuckahoe School Move Forward With Proposed Plan for New High School, Pending Governor’s Approval,” 27east.com, June 19].

While trying to understand the context of such allegations, I was directed to two Southampton Board of Education meetings (March 7, 2023, and October 24, 2023) where members of the Shinnecock Nation spoke about issues that they have experienced across our district. These issues ranged from specific incidents that took place several decades ago to current topics, including funding allocation, parent communication, academic achievement and more. At no time were any specific, credible allegations of student mistreatment at our high school lodged, nor were any investigations launched because of those comments.

To the contrary, the Southampton High School administration reflected on the themes that were raised at those meetings and took action to better understand and directly address them.

The Southampton High School administration, in partnership with the Shinnecock Nation Education Committee, developed a series of ongoing meetings where these topics were discussed, action plans were developed, implemented and monitored. Those ongoing meetings have only strengthened our partnership and our long-standing commitment to serve the students and families of the nation, along with all students and families of our district. This is not only evident from the internal system adjustments carried out by our faculty but also reflected in the new academic programming commencing fall 2024 at both our high school, and on the territory of the Shinnecock Nation.

Since the start of my tenure at Southampton High School, our building administration has remained focused on the delivery of programs and success of all students, inclusive of our students from the Shinnecock Nation. In fact, a review of academic performance, graduation rates, discipline responses and college acceptances of our students from the nation will show a trend of improvements in all of these areas over the past decade.

This is even evident by the cover story from last week’s Press detailing a specific scholarship awarded to one of our graduates from the Shinnecock Nation [“Shinnecock Resident Sa’Naya Morris Earns Prestigious Gates Scholarship,” 27east.com, June 19], along with the awarding of tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money to graduates from the nation at our recent awards ceremony, and proud announcements of college acceptances and career placements of our Class of 2024 students.

With that said, our administrative team and I fully acknowledge that there is still work to be done. We remain deeply committed to the success of our Shinnecock students and addressing all concerns raised.

Brian Zahn, Ed.D.

Principal

Southampton High School