Riverhead Charter School

Riverhead Charter School third-graders made pinwheels for display outside the school as part of the international Pinwheels for Peace project.

Last week marked a lot of firsts for the Riverhead Charter School. But the biggest firsts were happening on Sound Avenue — miles away from the school’s main campus on Middle Country Road in Calverton — where its high school students started their classes in the newly renovated old Northville schoolhouse, and the Riverhead Charter School’s first graduating class began the first week of 11th grade.

Riverhead Charter School gained approval from the NYS Board of Regents Monday to expand to grade 12. The school also had its enrollment limit increased from 850 to 1,244 students over the next five school years.

The proposed expansion is "an organic concept," the charter school principal said. It would provide the opportunity for existing charter school students to continue their education in the charter school.

The charter school principal has publicly criticized the Riverhead school district for its "inability to properly educate" minority students.

The students of the Riverhead Charter School will be learning about environmental issues in the second annual Earth Day Festival.

“Every other school in this town has a school zone,” said Laurie Behrhof, Riverhead Charter School teacher. “Why don’t we?” Her sixth graders have been drafting a petition to establish a school zone outside Riverhead Charter School on Route 25, where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour.

After two years of construction, Riverhead Charter School is officially operating out of its new $14.1 million school building, which it unveiled at a...