(Ed. Note: The following letter was sent to school superintendents on Long Island from the Town of Southampton Supervisor. The Manhasset School District sent a copy of the letter to all high school seniors and their parents. It is printed here at the request of Manhasset High School and the permission of the author.)

I am writing to remind you of a situation with the Town of Southampton that you may or may not be aware of, but which I hope we can tackle together. For the past three years, many high school students throughout the area have made the Town of Southampton their destination for weekend long "after-prom" parties. Typically, we have seen approximately 60 high school students, predominantly minors, "rent" a single-family house in a residential neighborhood as the site for these parties. The cost to the students has been as much as $25,000 per weekend, or, in such cases, about $400 per student. In short, these homes are being rented as motels which is illegal within the Town of Southampton. I do not have to tell you the inherent concerns with a group of up to 60 minors consuming alcohol for three days while totally unsupervised. It is a dangerous situation, a nuisance to the community and one the town will not tolerate. Indeed, these landlords are willingly jeopardizing the safety and well-being of minors all for a fast buck.

During the spring of 2004, the town began an intense investigation of such illegal rentals with great success. Several homes were shut down before or during these "after-prom" parties, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars of fines payable to the town and leaving students with no place to go and often with no reimbursement of their rental monies. To that end, the town again pursued these illegal rentals this past summer with equally effective results, successfully stopping the operation of many of these houses and leaving students, at best, disappointed and, at worst, as named defendants.

As the new school year begins and anxious students begin planning for their prom, I invite you to again join the town in its efforts to keep minors and others safe and to stop this dangerous practice. It would be extremely helpful if you distributed this letter to your students and their parents so that everyone is clear that the above-described uses of these homes are illegal. By following through with their plans, students not only risk the interruption of their prom weekend, but also the loss of their rental fees and, where appropriate, the filing of both criminal and civil charges against them. We hope they will discuss this very serious issue with their families and reconsider any plans to engage in such dangerous and illegal activities. We look forward to your cooperation.

Patrick A. Heaney

Supervisor, Town of Southampton