Charter High School Could Gain Approval by October

As part of its application to state education officials to create a charter high school in Riverhead, the school's Board President presented the plan to town leaders at Thursday morning's work session, and noted that word should come down by mid-October on whether or not it will get a green light.

Timothy Hill Children's Ranch on Middle Road will serve as a partner for the charter school, and Thaddaeus Hill, executive director of "the ranch," told the board that should approval come, he would hope to have a space rented to start out the 2014 school year.

The all-boys high school could be the first charter high school on Long Island, and officials on Thursday morning were hard pressed to even think of an all-male high school in Suffolk County the school would compare to. While no location has been determined as of yet, Hill said the school would likely start out in a rented space, with the possibility of building on the grounds of the Timothy Hill Children's Ranch in the future.

Hill – who would serve as president of the board of directors that would oversee the school – said that he foresees about 250 students at the school, the state application for which is early September. While they had originally considered making the school grades 7 through 12, Hill said the plan was modified after Riverhead Charter School decided to expand through middle school.

Hill said that his experience at Timothy Hill – a 70-acre home for young males who come from troubled families  – has taught him that not only is a learning environment different from the typical public path helpful to some kids, but one where young men can focus only in the company of one another has been one that inspired the charter school application.

"Given the work we do at Timothy Hill Children's Ranch, one of the triggers for us to start down this path is we noticed some of the kid we work with have kind of fallen through the cracks," he said.

"In some ways, the public school system does an exceptional job providing a lot of services," Hill continued. "But also within the current public school model – and not just Riverhead – there are some handicaps that I think schools have, and restrictions they have, where some flexibility is built into the charter school system that allow for more creativity in some areas."

Namely, he said, while a typical course model in a public school may center around classroom teaching and sometimes explore outside the four walls, courses at the charter school – named the S.M.A.R.T. Academy Charter School (for Science, Math Art, Real World Experience, and Technology) – are being conceptualized to focus around technology and supplement that with textbook learning.

Members of the town board seemed receptive to the idea, Supervisor Sean Walter so much that he is on the school's Board of Trustees. While Councilman Jim Wooten joked that he wouldn't support it since he only has a daughter, Hill stated that should the proposed school succeed, a replica school – hosting all females – could be created down the line.