First-Rate Schools For All Our Kids

Criticism of the public schools in East Hampton Town seems to be gaining vigor, and there's no question that private schools in the area are not only thriving but multiplying.

The Ross School in East Hampton drew a remarkable 150 people to an open house in January, plans to start its own high school this fall, and already has attracted several former faculty members from East Hampton High School.

When the Hayground School opened last September in Bridgehampton, it received twice as many applications as expected, even though it was in temporary headquarters. It now boasts 60 students from 3 to 13 years old and is readying an innovative building. The well-established school from which Hayground split, the Hampton Day School in Bridgehampton, has retained about 160 of its own students. And there is talk of a new Montessori school.

Neal Gabler, a co-chair of the committee searching for a new principal for East Hampton High School, last week registered a complaint that has been heard before, including on The Star's letters pages, about the local public schools: that they do not sufficiently challenge all their students; that programs for the academically gifted too often give way to those for students with other needs or interests.

But that is an issue inherent to any school committed to educating every child, including those whose first language is not English, those who have developmental problems, or those who for other reasons require a leg up. It is an issue private schools do not necessarily share.

Not to let the public schools off the hook. School districts like those on the South Fork that enjoy the distinct advantage of having second-home owners who pay taxes but do not send children to the public schools have no excuse for less than challenging programs for the gifted. In fact, it seems reasonable to expect the districts here to shine academically, given the solid tax base which supports them.

The proliferation of private schools on the South Fork probably has more to do with changing demographics than with educational quality, or the lack of it, in the public schools. More and more families today have articulate ideas about the sort of educations they want for their children - alternative, multicultural, international.

Families who seek to join the year-round community could do worse, however, than to start by enrolling their children in its schools. Several letter-writers from the East Hampton schools insist on today's letters pages that this district does in fact produce a first-rate education.

The point is, it can't afford not to.

To lose too many children to private education would be to repeat a pattern of polarization all too familiar to those who live about 100 miles west of here. We are in this together, after all.