I.S. 125, located at 46-02 47th Ave. in Sunnyside (Google Maps)
Nov. 12, 2021 By Allie Griffin
A newly-appointed principal at a Sunnyside middle school found a cache of knives and at least one gun in an office safe, where prior administrators apparently stashed the weapons instead of reporting them.
Principal Matthew Borelli opened a safe in the same office of his predecessor, Judy Mittler, at I.S. 125 to deposit some petty cash and made the startling discovery, the New York Post reported.
Borelli, who became principal of I.S. 125 this year, found several knives and other weapons — all believed to have been seized from students but never reported as required, according to the Post.
He discovered the weapons this week and immediately reported them, the Post said.
School administrators are supposed to seize weapons and immediately report and hand them over to school safety agents, who then pass them onto the NYPD.
“These items should have been reported to school safety – a standard procedure our school leaders are trained to follow,” Department of Education spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said in a statement to the Queens Post. “The new school leader at this school discovered these items, thoroughly followed proper procedures and immediately turned them over to school safety and this is being thoroughly investigated.”
The seized weapons are tallied up for each school and the number is made public in an NYPD report.
School safety agent union chief Greg Floyd told the Post that administrators don’t report weapons to soften statistics and save face.
“This is an example of what I’ve been saying for years,” Floyd said to the Post. “How many other schools have safes that are full of weapons?”
The incident is being investigated by the Special Commissioner of Investigation for the New York City School District.
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