Education

Muddy fields, gray skies, and unseasonably cold winds couldn’t stop Bonac’s annual homecoming festival and football game last weekend. The crowds were a bit light until kickoff, but the student section was packed for the game, a 28-19 victory over West Babylon. 

Halloween fun this week includes the Bridgehampton Lions Club's Carving Contest, the Ragamuffin Parade in Sag Harbor, the Kiwanis Club's Halloween Family Fun Day, an all-day party at the East Hampton Library, and parties at the Children's Museum of the East End.

The Springs Youth Association building and a new cafeteria program will appear on a special ballot in the Springs School District in December. 

East Hampton High School pulled out all the stops in a thrilling five-set varsity boys match against Westhampton Beach on Oct. 6 — all in honor of Tom Schultz, the junior varsity coach who is facing down colon cancer.

In honor of School Board Recognition Week, which starts on Monday, all three schools in the East Hampton School District made special presentations at the board meeting this week.

David Cataletto will be at the East Hampton Library with his work of historical fiction, “Kings of the Coast.” Also, Hamptons Doc Fest and ARF are looking for student submissions for contests, and there’s a celebration Saturday of the Long Pond Greenbelt.

Graduation requirements may look vastly different for students as soon as next year after state officials overhauled curriculum requirements earlier this month. The new rules minimize passing state-led testing, instead providing multiple pathways for students to show competence in academic areas.

The East Hampton School Board provided updates at its meeting this week on evacuation scenarios in the event of an emergency at the battery energy storage system on Cove Hollow Road and on capital projects covered by the $128 million trio of bond propositions that voters approved in May. 

The National Science Foundation has awarded Milan Curcic, Ph.D., a University of Miami ocean scientist, a prestigious $700,000 CAREER grant that includes funding for his ongoing partnership with East Hampton High School’s science research program.

Montauk School has a milestone year ahead in 2027, when it will celebrate its 100th anniversary and break ground on a $34.8 million building renovation.

The South Fork chapter of ReWild Long Island will celebrate its teenage participants in the 2026 summer program to fight hunger and climate change on Sunday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Matthew’s Garden at the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum. 

From our teen book reviewer, three novels read in just a few days' time.

The East Hampton School District finished the first day of classes with its September board meeting closing out the session with a hot topic — the battery energy storage system, or BESS, on Cove Hollow Road.

As elementary school students across town returned to school Tuesday, they found sidewalk-chalk welcome signs, new programs, and expanded opportunities for hands-on learning.

“Great things are coming. All of the buildings have a variety of new programs and initiatives beginning this year. Our students are going to receive an incredible experience” at the East Hampton School District, the superintendent, Adam Fine, said.

Pitch Your Peers Teen student members who complete 25 hours of community service each year qualify to present on behalf of a nonprofit, in the hope of winning a $10,000 grant for that organization.

East Hampton’s new athletic director, Todd Gulluscio, is spending time with Bonac's coaches and players as fall sports practices begin. “For me, it’s embracing the culture that’s here, getting to know everybody, and getting to know what their needs are,” he said.

Most of her contemporaries may be content with scrolling the internet, but 13-year-old Natalia O’Brien is hard at work concocting new recipes and designing new jewelry to stock her craft fair stand.

This week, the cafeteria at East Hampton High School was buzzing with innovation, ingenuity, and imagination, as Camp Invention took over, welcoming kids from kindergarten through fifth grade to develop their STEM skills through hands-on projects and problem-solving activities. 

Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, now showing the musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” will host a panel discussion, “Dear Social Media: The Search for Identity, Connection, and Belonging,” on Friday at 5 p.m.

Love of the Game — Bring It, this year’s Hoops 4 Hope summer benefit, will be held on Saturday from 3 to 7 p.m. in Springs.

They’re called REEB, which stands for Real East End Brass, but this eight-piece ensemble is more than a New Orleans-style brass band. They’re also all real East End teachers, retired and current.

Set against the picture-perfect backdrop of ocean and sky at Ditch Plain Beach in Montauk is a story of selfless devotion to those with special needs and a growing community and spirit of compassion in action. 

St. Michael’s Housing in Amagansett will soon be home to a new East End day habilitation program that will offer skill-building, community engagement, vocational support, and health and wellness activities for adults with developmental disabilities. 

Aside from the more than three dozen authors set to attend the East Hampton Library’s Children’s Fair on Sunday from 2 to 5:30 at Herrick Park in East Hampton, the afternoon will feature games, carnival rides, and bouncy houses, along with crafts and performers, all for free. 

The Sag Harbor Fire Department Carnival happens nightly through Saturday. The Clamshell Foundation hosts its sand castle contest Saturday and there's also a life-sized inflatable whale, music and storytelling at Guild Hall, and a Raptor Day in Bridgehampton are on tap for kids this week.

On a sunny Thursday afternoon, Matthew’s Garden at the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum was buzzing with hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and volunteers — including some high school interns — all working together for the local environment.

After 47 years behind the wheel, a much-loved Amagansett school bus driver, Russell Schaefer, has retired, leaving a void that won’t easily be filled.

The nonprofit Camp SoulGrow is celebrating 12 years of workshops for kids with a party for adults and then a week of fun for kids all over Montauk.

The 34th annual East Hampton Town Junior Lifeguarding tournament, the culmination of the town program that teaches ocean safety and lifesaving techniques to kids ages 9 to 15, will take place at Atlantic Avenue Beach in Amagansett on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.