Riverhead Charter School abandons plan to build new high school amid community opposition

The Riverhead Charter School is abandoning plans to build a new high school on Sound Avenue in Northville amid mounting community opposition.

David Edwards, president of the charter school board, announced Tuesday morning that the school would withdraw its $4.5 million bid to buy 71 acres of farmland for the new school.

“The recent discussions surrounding Riverhead Charter School’s pursuit of new land has stirred deep emotions in Riverhead residents, on both sides of the debate,” Edwards wrote in a letter to the community. “Recently those adult emotions have been directed at our students, causing them to feel as though they are not a part of this community.”

Edwards said the decision was made in response to public pushback and “direct attacks” on students that “have threatened their psychological safety.” He did not elaborate on the nature of those attacks.

School officials wanted to build a larger high school next to the schoolhouse they currently rent on Sound Avenue. Farmers, neighbors and public school advocates mobilized against the plan, decrying development on farmland and impacts of the school on traffic, noise and property values.

Maureen McKay, of Aquebogue, collected more than 600 signatures on a petition against the proposal and said she was “thrilled” to hear about the change of plans.

She refuted that opponents of the expansion attacked students.

“We have never made this about the children,” she said. “It was always about the location. Open space is really important to a lot of people.”

The four properties included in the proposed sale are all within the town’s agricultural protection zoning district, which limits building beyond farm structures. Suffolk County owns the development rights to the largest 60-acre plot, which would have limited building to three sites closest to Sound Avenue.

Schools are allowed with special town approval, though the charter school hadn’t yet applied for that permit.

“I didn’t think from day one it was the right place for them,” Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said Tuesday, adding that the town is working with school leadership to find alternative locations, including near their existing campus or in the Calverton Enterprise Park. 

A standing-room-only crowd packed a Feb. 21 town board meeting with more than 50 people speaking both for and against the project for nearly three hours.

Students said a new school would give them more space for extracurricular activities and a proper cafeteria, gymnasium and library. “It would give me and my peers the same opportunities as students in the districts around us,” said eighth-grader William Pierce.

Others fiercely advocated for keeping farmland in protection to preserve the area’s charm and economy.

“Once you give it away, it’s gone,” said Raaya Churgin, who runs a flower farm in Northville.

Kevin D’Amato, who lives near the farmland for sale, said Tuesday’s decision is “an unbelievable turn of events” but that the fight isn’t over. He wants to see the rest of the property preserved for agricultural use only.

Some critics of the plan took issue with charter schools getting funding from public school districts.

Riverhead Charter School enrolls students from about 17 districts, though the majority are local students. The Riverhead Central School District spent $11.6 million on charter school tuition this year.

“Next year, it’s slated to be $15 million in a year when we’re laying off 38 teachers,” said Greg Wallace, president of the Riverhead school district teacher’s union. “If that money had not been taken from us we’d be able to add staff rather than retract staff.”

The charter school was established in 2001 offering kindergarten through sixth grade. In 2022, the state Board of Regents allowed the school to expand grades 11 and 12 and increase enrollment from 850 to 1,244 students over five years, according to the state Education Department.

Students are split between the Northville high school and main charter school campus on Middle Country Road in Calverton.