Education

The Sag Harbor School Board on Monday night offered an update on the district’s plan to buy five residential lots along Marsden Street, using a combination of Southampton Town community preservation fund money and a portion of its facilities improvement capital reserve fund.

Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island announced on Monday the launch of Youth Connect, a bilingual and prevention-focused crisis-counseling program. The goal is to provide middle and high school-age young people access to immediate support and guidance in Spanish or English through an anonymous, confidential helpline that can be reached via text or phone call

In an effort to improve the health of underserved communities, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, a branch of Northwell Health, has recognized the Bridgehampton School District as a breastfeeding-friendly workplace.

“My first impression of the school is that it was very deliberately designed from both the curriculum standpoint and physically, on campus,” Thomas Sturtevant, who in July started his new role as the Ross School’s head of school, said this week. “It’s thoughtful and innovative, so it’s an exciting place to work.”

Activities on the agenda for kids and teens this week include a celebration of LatinX culture at the Children's Museum of the East End, fun for would-be teenage sleuths, crafts, a salamander search, and opportunities to earn community service credits.

By June 2029, the East Hampton School District will have finished making annual $4.9 million debt payments from the $79.2 million renovation and expansion plan approved by voters in 2006. The following year, with a $1 million payment, the district will be done paying it off altogether. Looking ahead, school officials said this has created an opportunity for the district, which is about to begin prioritizing future capital projects across its campuses.

Born in the 2018-19 school year out of the desire for a more rigorous curriculum that also lined up with New York State’s changing academic requirements, Pierson Middle and High School’s PLANT program — Preparing Learners for a New Tomorrow — is finally blooming.

Ketamine, an illegal hallucinogenic party drug, also known as Special K, might hold the key to treating 10-year-old Rowland Egerton-Warburton of Water Mill, who was diagnosed in 2016 with ADNP syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder.

Big Truck Day returns Saturday to the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. Plus, pajama story time, leaf printing, and puppets at the Sag Harbor American Music Festival.

Working toward the goals of cleaner waters and stable shorelines, the South Fork Sea Farmers engaged students from the Springs School and East Hampton High School to help construct a new oyster reef in Accabonac Harbor this week.

Want to improve communications at the Springs School, or weigh in on topics like health and safety, school policy, or technology? The school is seeking parents and community members to volunteer for topic-based committees.

During a preliminary school board discussion on Sept. 6, East Hampton School District officials indicated they are looking into the idea of adding driver’s education — complete with on-the-road driving lessons — back into the school day.

The Bridgehampton School District is planning to reboot its social-emotional and equity task force, which it originally launched two years ago.

America’s 9-year-olds “are performing at a level last seen two decades ago,” said Daniel McGrath, the acting associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the United States Education Department. His announcement addressed a recent federal study that exposed the devastating effects of Covid-19 on the nation’s schoolchildren.

Adults and children of all ages have been invited to the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill for this year’s Welcome Day, set for Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., plus other activities for kids and teens.

The basketball court at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center was redone Sunday — the first step in a much larger plan that’s to include a new gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool, a regulation-size tennis court, and soccer, baseball, and kickball fields on the five-acre Sag Harbor Turnpike property.

Suffolk Health Department officials and environmentalists alike have been keeping an eye on the new, innovative and alternative septic system at the Springs School, hoping it will serve as a model for other large-scale septic systems in the county. Recent test results, as presented at the Sept. 6 Springs School Board meeting, showed that it was headed in a promising direction.

The Retreat, a local domestic violence shelter and awareness organization, is seeking high school students to join its Teen Leadership Council.

Kids and teens can learn about salt marshes on Saturday at SoFo. Plus: pirates, creative writing, art projects, and more.

The Stony Hill Stables Foundation is once again offering scholarships to South Fork children interested in horseback riding. Applications are due Sunday, Sept. 25, in person at the stables, 268 Town Lane in Amagansett, and scholarships will be awarded "right away in September," the organization says on its website.

There's been a change of plans: The Sag Harbor School District announced Tuesday that it will put the Sept. 29 Mashashimuet Park bond referendum on hold in favor of pursuing a land deal that would allow it to build athletic facilities next to Pierson Middle and High School.

Tuesday, Sept. 6

First day of school in

South Fork school districts have been beyond busy scooping up all the qualified teachers, teaching assistants and aides, special-education therapists, mental health providers, and substitutes they possibly can ahead of the first bell this year. Since May, school district records show that between Montauk and Bridgehampton, at least 50 teachers have been hired across various academic disciplines — most to replace people who retired, some to launch new programs.

The arrival of September isn't just about school supplies and classroom assignments -- it's also time to sign up for after-school activities, and for children and teens who enjoy dancing, or want to learn, opportunities are plentiful here.

School districts here are shaping curriculums to respond to students’ evolving passions, needs, and career aspirations. This year that means Latin American and African-American studies electives at Pierson Middle and High School, the return of mock trial classes and Bonac Broadcasting at East Hampton, and game design and film studies at Bridgehampton.

Every summer, Charlie Soriano, principal of East Hampton Middle School, picks a theme that sets the tone for students and staff to have a successful school year. The theme for 2022-23 is “perseverance,” and to prepare for classroom discussions of this, students have been asked to read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes.

The Sag Harbor School Board has set a date for a town-hall forum about the Mashashimuet Park bond proposal, and is weighing changes to its public-comment policy for meetings.

In such a small village, enrollment has always come in waves. This is something that Lauren Thayer has seen firsthand in her role not just as Sagaponack School Board president, but also as an alumna herself and a parent of two former Sagg students. “I think of it as a positive. . . . It’s the chance that parents dream of” for their children, she said.

Ayanna El, LeBron Napier, Bryan Solano, and Melanie Valladares are the recipients of this year’s scholarships from Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island (OLA).

New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday updated the official Covid-19 policies for schools, aligning the state with recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control. Notable among the changes is a relaxing of quarantine rules and testing requirements.