Education

Summer’s almost over, kids — school is right around the corner.

The East Hampton School Board on Tuesday approved spending $81,735 from its repair reserve account to make sure the Blue Point Lockdown System — a key component of the district’s safety infrastructure — is working properly. The district has also hired a new bus driver, while putting out the message that still more drivers are needed.

Project Most will host an exploration hike on the Paumanok Path on Saturday at 3 p.m. Plus: pirate adventures, crafts video games, international snack night and candy taste testing, an outdoor movie, and more activities coming up for kids and teens.

In an era when digital connectivity is ubiquitous, the role of cellphones in educational settings has sparked significant debate: Should high schools ban them from classrooms, hallways, and even cafeterias? While they can serve as valuable tools for learning and communication, their widespread use by teens during school hours has raised concerns about distractions and mental health across the country and right here on the South Fork.

Project Most, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing meaningful after-school programs, day care, and weekend activities for children of all ages, has an aptly named fund-raiser coming up this weekend: Building Blocks.

The circus performers Johnny Peers and the Muttville Comix are coming to LTV Studios for the Friday Family Frolics series tomorrow at 5 p.m. to make the whole family hoot and holler. Plus: Summer reading wrap-up parties, family art activities, fun at the library, an outdoor movie, and more coming up for kids and teens.

“We found Faith through a fluke,” said the award-winning singer and PBS-TV host Cristina Fontanelli, referring to Faith Mullaly, a 13-year-old Montauk student who will be performing at the Basilica of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Southampton on Saturday as part of a charitable concert organized by the Cristina Fontanelli Foundation.

The East Hampton Star’s Summer Academy took a field trip to Amagansett this week for a stop at Bonfire Coffeehouse, which opened in May. Laura Donnelly, the East End’s expert food critic and longtime Star food columnist, offered a primer on restaurant reviewing. After tasting a range of Bonfire’s sweet and savory offerings, here’s what our students had to say.

The East Hampton School District has embarked on a study with a consultant on the feasibility of putting electric school buses into service beginning three years from now.

Story times, craft projects, a family beach cleanup and much, much more are on the schedule for kids this week.

The Hayground School is planning a major capital project that will add a new arts and science building and an amphitheater to its 12.8-acre campus in Bridgehampton.

East Hampton Library’s annual free Children’s Fair is set for Sunday from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at Herrick Park, with rides, carnival games, food, performers, crafts, and authors signing their children’s books.

To solve the problem of Montauk School parents needing care for their prekindergarten-age children after the in-school program ends at 2 p.m., the school district and Project Most are working together for the first time. Plus, the school has some curriculum changes on the horizon.

Puppets and purses have little in common, save for their respective charms, but together they'll make for a fun mashup in a workshop at the Leiber Collection Museum in Springs on Sunday with Liz Joyce of Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre. Plus: Aromatherapy, chess, summer reading, Latin music for kids, puzzle races, and more coming up this week for kids and teens.

With the goal of helping parents bring up children who can cope with unexpected change and challenges, the Ross School will kick off a new series of educational talks about parenting on Monday.

Rafaela DeMartis, a teen who loves to read, is here to help Y.A. readers like her discover their next favorite books. Here, she suggests three series, "because if you enjoy them, you have lots to look forward to."

The curtain rises Friday on the latest black-box-style production from South Fork Performing Arts, “The Music Man Jr.,” an adaptation of the classic musical for young performers. Plus: arts and crafts, Magic: The Gathering and Uno games, tie-dye T-shirts, international snacks, a scavenger hunt, and more coming up for kids and teens.

Some 80 young basketball players spent Monday afternoon at the Ross School in Bridgehampton drilling their footwork, practicing dribbling and ball-handling skills, shooting hoops, and simulating offensive and defensive tactics under the expert eye of a celebrity coach: John Wallace, a former Knicks player visiting for a junior basketball clinic.

The Hampton Ballet Theatre School will perform its long-running annual production of “Peter and the Wolf” at two locations this week. The show, involving nearly 50 young dancers, will open at LTV Studios in Wainscott at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. Monday, and be repeated at the Children’s Museum East End in Bridgehampton at those same times on Wednesday. 

The Town of East Hampton is offering kids two more opportunities to dive into its free swimming lessons this summer. Plus: D.I.Y. T-shirts, memory bowls, beachy crafts, a family festival, and much more coming up for kids and teens this week.

The highly regarded Perlman Music Program will give a rare East Hampton concert on Tuesday in celebration of its 30th anniversary, bringing students from around the world and the maestro Itzhak Perlman as conductor to the high school for “a rousing program of orchestral and choral masterworks.” Three East Hampton High School students will be on the stage when it happens.

The Art Barge on Napeague, a nonprofit institute formally also known as the D’Amico Institute of Art, continues Victor and Mabel D’Amico’s tradition of the Children’s Art Carnival this summer in weeklong sessions. Plus: Story time, puppet shows, children's museum fair, arts and crafts, yoga for toddlers, and more coming up for kids and teens.

Since age 4, Ryder Nadel and his father have spent endless hours roaming dunes and shorelines collecting the garbage that harms the marine animals Ryder loves. Some of his finds are now on display in an exhibition at the East Hampton Town Marine Museum, where he has been a camper in the summer program for the last three years.

“Today you stand on the brink of new beginnings,” the fashion designer Donna Karan said in her keynote address to the Pierson High School graduates. “You have faced challenges, setbacks, and moments of doubt. But these experiences shape you, they teach us to evolve.”

From thriving in the face of a global pandemic, to building a welcoming and inclusive classroom environment, to bringing their principal enough nonperishable food items to stock the entire school district’s Little Free Food Pantries at least all summer long, East Hampton High School’s class of 2024 “understood the assignment.”

This weekend starts an inaugural program of all-ages art classes hosted at the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum, “fun for the whole family,” as the saying goes. Plus: kids' movies, cookie decorating for teens, story time, skateboarding clinics, and more.

Bridgehampton High School’s class of 2024 worked hard and played hard, helped one another overcome obstacles, and made lots of memories together along the way — all accomplishments that were celebrated during an emotional graduation ceremony on Saturday.

For parents looking for wholesome activities to do with their kids this summer, the Duck Creek Arts Center in Springs may be an answer: Family Night, kicking off Monday. Plus: Kids' movies, summer reading, crafts, mermaid story time, a hermit crab meet-and-greet, and more.

The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons has piloted a new and much-praised program this spring, in which life skills students from local high schools volunteer their time to care for and support the animals. Shelter officials say it’s a mutually beneficial relationship: the students learn crucial life skills, while the animals clearly welcome the attention.

East Hampton High School students who want to improve their grades can sign up for summer school, running this year from July 8 to Aug. 8 with classes every Monday through Thursday.