Riverhead Central School District

A lot of unanswered questions remain about the change in title and responsibilities of former Deputy Superintendent Sam Schneider, as district officials side-stepped inquiries about Schneider's appointment with tenure Tuesday night to the assistant superintendent position and other changes involving the business function in the district.

The deputy superintendent position at the Riverhead Central School District is set to be abolished if the board of education approves a resolution on its agenda tomorrow night.

The Riverhead Central School District is moving forward with the creation of an equity plan to drive the Board of Education’s future initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Updated: A Riverhead school district bus with children aboard was rear-ended on Flanders Road in Riverside this afternoon. The driver of the truck was airlifted to Stony Brook with serious injuries. The school bus driver an six children were taken to area hospitals with minot injuries, police said.

School bus drivers are a hot commodity. There's a nationwide shortage and the Riverhead school district has been struggling to recruit enough drivers to handle its transportation needs, Deputy Superintendent Sam Schneider told the Board of Education Tuesday night.

Some Riverhead Central School District residents continue to speak out against mask mandates, despite an indoor mask mandate being adopted by the Board of Education and mandated by Governor Kathy Hochul. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul dove head-first into controversial waters on her first day in office with the announcement of a back-to school plan that includes a universal mask requirement in all schools, as well as pursuing options for a potential vaccine mandate for school employees, with a weekly testing requirement for staff who remain unvaccinated.

The reopening plan follows the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics for universal masking indoors and social distancing requirements.

A split board voted 4-3 Tuesday night to approve a school reopening plan recommended by the superintendent of schools that requires students, teachers and staff to wear masks when they return to school in September,

Citizen groups are organizing protests aimed at stopping various school boards, including Riverhead’s, from implementing mask mandates intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus in schools.