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.
Featured Events
11 Comments
I’ve worked in this school for a long time.
Never, not once, have I seen or even heard about any gang activity.
The Post is sliming the school because that’s their method: ramp up fear.
The former principal(s) should have turned that stuff in. The new principal did the right thing. Most of those weapons are older than the kids who go to school there. This story is a nonsense.
Shame on the Sunnyside Post for re-printing this from the crappier New York Post.
And just think all those weapons found in a safe at a middle school in Astoria, mind you most of these kids come out of the local NYCHA projects, now how about some of the really dangerous schools in Brooklyn or the Bronx? That is why before you send a kid to school in the mornings you think about their safety if they will ever come home from school, school overrun by gangs, kids that holding your kid back from learning, schools that are dangerous and teach survival skills.
This is like an episode of 21 jump street!!!
Could have been cases of systemic racism and giving people another chance. If it were cases of white supremacy they would have been reported.
Me being a former student of that school, I’m not surprised. That place was extremely shady. The school’s worst component were the students. There was a lot of gang violence, smoking and bullying that could be seen both inside and out of school, yet deans principals did nothing in order to preserve the school’s already declining reputation.
Now, with their recently built new building and new administrators, I hope those involved from the dark past will face consequences.
Just like many said cops were doing before the budget cuts and defund the police. Playing with crime statistics and under reporting crime to make it seem like the city is safer than what it really was.
Nicole- It’s less sinister than that.
Is someone going to jail for illegal possession? This is pitiful. Absolutely pitiful. And frightening.
Don’t forget the new school on Barnett. Everyone warned the naive McGlouds
Wait for the school opening in sunnyside gardens,on Barnett and 48th st middle school thugs waiting to invade your neighborhood!You deserve it sunnyside gardens thanks to your out going councilman whose career advancement backfired No Public Office for you Jimmy.
I hope someone’s getting locked up!! That school deserved to be shut down