2024 Educator of the Year: Dr. Patrick McKinney

In addition to prepping its students for success in the classroom and the post-grad world, Riverhead Charter School educators have taught them how to handle adversity. 

Aside from making sure they complete their homework or study for crucial exams, these students overcame countless other obstacles thrown their way, such as learning through the COVID-19 pandemic, lacking resources, lacking space and ongoing community opposition to the charter school. 

Despite all of that, the school did celebrate a few wins this year, most notably the thirteen seniors who made history for being the Riverhead Charter High School’s first-ever graduating class. Of course, this momentous achievement is attributed to the years of hard work and dedicated from these former 12th-graders.

However, it is just as important to recognize the school leaders who helped foster their growth, fuel their motivation and unlock their full potential to achieve whatever they set their minds to. In the eyes of his colleagues, Riverhead Charter School principal Patrick McKinney checks off all of these boxes and is a true champion for all students.

Riverhead Charter School Superintendent Raymond Ankrum said Mr. McKinney has made a “transformative” impact on the school with his innovative ideas, problem-solving skills and staunch belief that all students deserve a quality education. 

“Dr. McKinney embodies the qualities of an exceptional educator,” said the superintendent. “His selflessness shines through in his unwavering dedication to students’ best interests — he is a true innovator, constantly seeking new and effective ways to engage students and foster their growth.” 

Mr. McKinney, the current founding high school principal, has been with the Riverhead Charter School since its humble beginnings. He previously served several other roles including founding elementary teacher, chair of the humanities department, director of curriculum and instruction, and both the elementary and middle school principal. 

In the six years they have worked together, Nick Timpone, director of academics, said he has witnessed Mr. McKinney, 36, put his doctorate in educational innovation to good use. 

“He’s a brilliant person, his intellect is just unbounding,” Mr. Timpone said. “He’s been having to run a high school in that tight space and he’s making it work in so many amazing ways — he’s very calm, he’s always thinking about it, he’s always asking questions, always talking to people and coming up with solutions.” 

He added that even when confronted by public pushback, Mr. McKinney keeps a cool head, can shrug off any negativity and keep putting “one foot in front of the other.” 

Mr. McKinney also gives the term “open-door policy” — a literal meaning, as he doesn’t have an office. Like many educators at the charter school, his office is the hallway. Although it may seem strange from an outsider perspective, for Mr. McKinney, it allows him to be constantly connected and present with his students. 

Even when frustrations arise, he reminds himself that he gets to come into work and work with kids every day, and “it doesn’t get better than that,” Mr. Timpone said.

“We had a senior leadership meeting talking about how it’s important to have an open-door policy and I said ‘Patrick, you don’t even have a door,’ and he said: ‘I never have, and I never will,’” Mr. Timpone said. “He knows so much about every kid. He’s been with these kids, too, because he was their middle school principal as well. He’s had a relationship with these kids, he already knows the parents, so it gives him an advantage in that sense.”

Terrell Dozier, the high school’s dean and student counselor, said Mr. McKinney is someone who will always make sure everything is taken care of. For example, if a teacher is absent and the school can’t find someone to substitute, Mr. Dozier has seen the principal step in and teach a class himself.

As the founding principal, Mr. McKinney did not have a predecessor to turn to and had to build success “from scratch,” Mr. Dozier said. 

“We are the blueprint and he’s the mastermind behind it,” he said. “He’s not just here just being the principal; he’s being whatever is needed for our school and for our students to be successful.” 

And Mr. McKinney’s support for his students doesn’t end after graduation. In fact, with 26 seniors expected to graduate from the charter school this year, Mr. McKinney and Mr. Dozier are working on building their alumni support services program to further guide their students on how they can apply what they learned at the charter school in the post-grad world.

For being a morale-booster and advocate for his students in the face of adversity, his hands-on approach, innovation and achievements made without a blueprint, Patrick McKinney has been named our 2024 Educator of the Year. 

Previous Winners
2023: Shoreham-Wading River Central School District’s Special Education Department
2022: Rose Horton
2021: Dena Tishim and Laura Nitti
2020: Kimberly Benkert and Robert Brandi
2019: Sal Loverde
2018: Ed Meier
2017: Felicia Scocozza
2016: Melissa Haupt
2015: Robert Shilling
2014: Greg Wallace
2013: Keri Stromski
2012: Jeff Doroski
2011: Jim Schaefer
2010: Stacy Tuohy
2009: Laura Grable
2008: Vincent Nasta
2007: Marion Dorman
2006: Theresa Drozd
2005: Frank Rotenberg
2004: Kevin McAllister
2003: Leif Shay
2002: Bob Jester
2001: Jean Lapinski
2000: Pat Rose
1999: Pat Snyder
1998: Carol Masin
1997: L. Custer, J. Greenberger
1996: Terri Peters
1995: Jim Roth
1994: Tim Hubbard
1993: Dot Moran
1992: Dorothy Lipsky
1991: Willie Patterson
1990: Audrey Stupke
1989: Ray McKieghan
1988: Stanley Krouse