This is Huntington UFSD

The first day of public education in Huntington was more than 368 years ago. A few years after the town was settled a group of community members came together to hire Jonas Holdsworth as the first school teacher in Huntington. Given a four year contract, he commenced class on February 11, 1657 in a private home. Huntington UFSD traces its origins to that day.

It’s a long time ago, but it’s those same traditions and values that continue to guide the district. Students have always stood tall for who and what they are; with all celebrating the uniqueness of each.

The melting pot that continues to be Huntington UFSD includes every possible group with everyone learning, playing and growing side by side in harmony. Every individual is accepted regardless of differences from the next. All coming together, united in blue and white as Blue Devils. They always have each other’s backs. It’s nothing new. It’s been this way for hundreds of years.

Different ideas and beliefs; different wants and needs; different likes and dislikes. But the same love for each other and the same pride in who and what each person is and what they bring to the table.

Few communities in the country can match such a long association with public education. Teachers came and went, but classes continued without interruption. The first public schoolhouse was erected in 1660. Precise records are sparse, although there is documentation that Robert Macbeth was hired to teach in 1713 and Samuel Plum was retained in 1728.

At a town meeting on May 3, 1763, six men were “chosen to provide a master and take care of the new schoolhouse,” according to a written record that still exists. In essence, this was Huntington’s first school board. It is believed that the school building was located in the area of East Street or along today’s Park Avenue.

Additional schoolhouses were built, including one at the harbor in Halesite and another “on the road to Woodbury.” They were little more than one room buildings with a fireplace.

Since 48 leading citizens came together in 1793 and pledged the funds needed to erect a school building devoted to providing the young people of the community with a classical high school education, Huntington has been on the cutting edge of classroom instruction and has been sending its graduates to the top colleges in the country and into every career field imaginable.

The Huntington Academy was a two-story structure with a belfry. It was built on a hill across the street from the Old First Church. The site is now occupied by Town Hall.

A private institution, the Huntington Academy charged nominal tuition on a quarterly basis. It was outside the common-school system and was not under Regents supervision. “It was intended to, and generally did, furnish the means for a more liberal education than was provided by the surrounding common schools,” wrote town historian Charles R. Street more than a century ago. “Many of the best educators of the period taught generation after generation of Huntington youths within its walls. It prepared for college the sons of those who were ambitious to give their sons a liberal education.”

The New York State Legislature passed a law on April 13, 1857 authorizing creation of the Union School District of Huntington. The community gathered at a “special meeting” on September 7, 1857 and approved formation of the Union School District. It is said to have been the first district organized in the state for providing public education beyond eighth grade.

Huntington Academy was demolished in April 1858 and the Union School was erected over that same summer. It offered the young people of the community an educational program through twelfth grade. The building opened in November 1858 with Algernon S. Higgins as its first principal. He also taught most subjects. Enrollment totaled 220. The first class numbering six seniors graduated in 1862.

In November 1858, the Board of Education approved the “rules and regulations of the Union School.” The school year was to begin the first Monday in September and “shall consist of forty-four weeks – five days for a week. There shall be a vacation from Christmas to New Years [sic], inclusive. The Spring Term will be followed by one week’s vacation and the Summer Term by six week’s [vacation]. The Holidays shall be Fourth of July and Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week.”

With near unanimous support of the Board of Education, the Union School began offering free education in 1864. The Union School formally changed its name to Huntington High School in 1897.

As the decades passed and houses were erected where farms once stood, many buildings were constructed. Two new high schools were erected, including the current one in 1957/58.

Eventually three junior high schools were brought into service, including one named for the district’s first superintendent, Robert K. Toaz. It was the first junior high school in Suffolk County. Enrollment continued to grow, eventually totaling more than 9,000 students in the 1970’s when graduating classes numbered 750 or more. The district once operated 13 buildings.

Huntington UFSD has always been regarded to have an excellent faculty, cutting edge facilities, highly regarded programs in every academic field as well as in the arts and athletics. Huntington was a pioneer in developing a girls’ athletic program as well as a junior high school sports program. It’s marching band and drama club programs preceded those at almost every other high school in the state.

There is something for every young person within the walls of Huntington UFSD’s eight current school buildings. Every student is provided with an opportunity to thrive. Every student is given the respect they deserve. Every student is valued.