Riverhead changing its laws to help the Riverhead Charter School site a new high school is the “biggest threat” facing Riverhead schools, the school district’s teacher’s union president said last night, as town officials consider allowing private schools to be developed in more areas around town.
Supervisor Tim Hubbard and Town Board members are “moving full steam ahead” to allow private schools on industrial zoned lands, which will enable the charter school’s expansion plans and “defund” the school district, Riverhead Central Faculty Association President Gregory Wallace said during the Riverhead Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening.
“If the town adopts the proposed changes in the comprehensive plan, the impact on our school will be two-fold,” Wallace said. “Any special permit granted to this charter school for construction on industrial zoned land will remove that parcel from the tax rolls permanently; the school district would forgo tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue annually.”
“Furthermore, the school would be on the hook for millions in increased tuition costs,” he said. “The effects on Riverhead schools public education system would be devastating.”
Town officials, Wallace said, are “fully aware” of the union’s and the school district’s concerns about the charter school’s effect on the district. They “feign outrage,” he said, then use their power to help the charter school.
“Town officials want us all to believe that the biggest threat to the Riverhead Central School District is the Riverside redevelopment plan,” Wallace said, referring to Riverhead’s opposition to new large-scale mixed-use development in the Riverside hamlet. “I believe that the biggest threat facing our school district is Supervisor Hubbard and the rest of the Town Board, who are turning their backs on the 5,500 students enrolled in our public school system.”
Town officials are considering a change to the town’s industrial zoning district code to allow private schools on industrially zoned land. They put the idea in the draft of the town’s comprehensive plan update, a policy document currently being considered for adoption. The draft plan is the subject of a public hearing on Monday at 6 p.m. at Riverhead Town Hall.
The Riverhead Charter School recently expanded its enrollment capacity and has been looking for land to build new school buildings. The school is a nonprofit funded primarily by tuition collected from the home districts of attending students. More than half of the charter school’s students are from the Riverhead Central School District, its superintendent has said, and the district is budgeted to pay roughly $11.6 million to the charter school this school year and $13.7 million to it next school year, in addition to the costs of busing and other services for students enrolled there.
The school was previously in contract to purchase and build a high school on vacant land adjacent to its current high school on Sound Avenue in Northville — in a zoning district that allows private schools — but dropped that plan in response to backlash from some area residents, the Riverhead Board of Education and the RCFA.
An attorney for the charter school said it was eyeing land adjacent to its K-8 campus on Middle Country Road in Calverton for a high school. The current charter school property and the properties surrounding it are all zoned for industrial uses.
The fight between the school district and the charter school is a “completely different fight” than the zoning issues being discussed in the comprehensive plan, Hubbard said on Wednesday in response to Wallace’s statement.
“We’re working with them to try to provide them a space to build their high school and do it appropriately, which we’d do for anybody — whether we agree with how it affects the public school district or it doesn’t,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard, a former school board member, said that while it’s unfair how charter schools are funded, “that’s a fight for another day, and that’s not necessarily a fight for the Riverhead Town Board.”
He said he disagrees with Wallace’s opinion on the Riverside redevelopment plan. Town officials are vocally opposed to the plan, which calls for the construction of thousands of affordable rental units immediately outside the town border and within the Riverhead school district, and have been gearing up for a possible lawsuit against Southampton Town.
“He’s got his head in the sand and he needs to wake up, and the school board needs to wake up, and realize what’s coming down the pike,” Hubbard said.
When asked for comment on Wallace’s statement, Riverhead Charter School Superintendent Raymond Ankrum did not address the union leader’s remarks.
“Our primary focus remains on providing an excellent education for all students in the Riverhead Charter School,” Ankrum said in an email to RiverheadLOCAL. “We’re confident in the abilities of our dedicated teachers and the programs we offer. Ultimately, the choice of where to send their children lies with parents, and we respect their decision-making process.”
Colin Palmer, president of the Riverhead Board of Education, said in response to Wallace’s comments that the board is “opposed to any sort of expansion of the charter school.”
“It’s just a result of privatization of public education” he added.
Palmer said he would probably be at Monday’s public hearing to speak about the comprehensive plan as a resident, not as a board member. “We’d rather have the community itself voicing their opinion, which they seem to be doing so far,” he said.
Denise Civiletti contributed reporting.
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