Tuckahoe district weighing Shinnecock Nation request for high school
The Shinnecock Tribal Seal is seen on the Shinnecock Indian Nation's second billboard on tribal land. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
The Tuckahoe school district plans to study the feasibility of constructing a high school following a request from the Shinnecock Nation, officials said Thursday.
The school would have a curriculum designed in part to address and incorporate the history and culture of the Shinnecock people, officials said.
They stressed that the proposal is in the preliminary stages, and if it ever did come to fruition, it would likely take years.
“Initial reaction from our community is very positive,” said Bryan Polite, a leader of the Shinnecock Nation.
“When you can help plan a high school from the ground up, that is an amazing opportunity,” he said. “And I think any community, be it the Shinnecock community or the Tuckahoe community, would really jump at it.”
He added that the proposal for a high school was first made nearly two decades ago.
Enrollment would be small — perhaps about 170 students, said Len Skuggevik, superintendent of the Tuckahoe school district. About a quarter of the students would be Shinnecock, Skuggevik said.
Shinnecock children currently attend Southampton High School, while those in pre-K through 8th grade — about 40 children — attend school in the Tuckahoe district.
“It’s definitely not impossible. It is very possible,” Skuggevik said of the potential for a new high school. “It is up to our community as to whether or not they want to do it.”
He said the district received a request from the Shinnecock Nation to examine the idea of building a high school, and will conduct the feasibility study — ultimately putting the idea before voters.
“I am absolutely honored as a school administrator that somebody would appreciate the work that we are doing enough to ask us to build a high school so that we continue to educate their students,” he said.
“It is a process. It wouldn’t be overnight,” he said. “This is a decision to be made by the residents of the Tuckahoe Common School District and by the Shinnecock Nation.”
While the school would be small, he said that could carry advantages.
“That is one of the more appealing aspects of it,” Polite said. “I think the smaller the school the more intimate you get and the more focus you get on each student.”
