Farmers and backyard gardeners alike have told us that the 2015 tomato crop was late this year, at least on the narrow, farthest end of the South Fork. This, they say, appeared attributable to weather, specifically that the ocean stayed cold later than usual this year, which, in turn, kept a chill over the land. And so now, as winter’s last touches have all but been erased, the tomatoes have come into fullness, bright dots of orange and red winking from the vines.

One of the things that makes the present day here worth all the hassles, in our view, is the incredible proliferation of all things food. Yes, this area has a notable history in this regard, shown, perhaps, in the gloriously earnest Ladies Village Improvement Society cookbooks, forged from fresh ingredients at the urging of the great Craig Claiborne and his generation of pioneering chefs and food writers. Now there is a whole new generation of growers, cooks, and enthusiasts, whose passions can be seen in the myriad tomato varieties laid out at the many farm stands and markets, and passed among friends.

It’s a great time to be a tomato, and it’s an even greater time to love to eat them.

The East Hampton School District is hoping its latest homework assignment will take the concept of summer reading to the next level.

The entire student body of the East Hampton Middle School has been asked to read the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman, and all of the high school students, including the incoming ninth graders from other school districts, are being asked to read the book “I Am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai. Their parents, teachers, administrators, and even school board members are also being asked to read these two works.

“It’s a chance for the community, when you do this kind of reading, to come together and ask questions around a common text,” Charles Soriano, the middle school principal, said. “Your experiences are what drive your perceptions about the piece. All of us have unique experiences in life and we bring that to bear in the reading.”

Last year, with the theme “we are our choices,” the entire middle school was asked to read the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken.” This year’s theme is “knowledge is power,” and it will be incorporated into lessons and projects throughout the school year, not just in English classes but also in subjects like social studies, science, math, and art. Reading that common text, Mr. Soriano said, is a way to promote interdisciplinary learning.

In a June 4 email to parents detailing the summer reading project, Mr. Soriano offered sample questions to think about when reading “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” including “What is knowledge? How do you ‘know’ something? How does knowledge empower us? How does it help us to make decisions?”

The poem is available for free online at poetryfoundation.org.

Similarly, East Hampton High School has made “I Am Malala” available for free on its website in both English and Spanish. The book details the struggles of its young author, who fought for the rights of girls to have access to education in her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, which came to be occupied by the Taliban. Taliban fighters attacked Malala with gunfire on a school bus, but she survived and went on to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 16.

In an email, Adam Fine, the high school principal, told parents, “The idea behind a shared summer reading is not only to foster a love of reading, but also to foster a greater sense of academic community through mutual experiences and discussions surrounding a text. We at E.H.H.S. hope to create a greater sense of academic community, as well as to set an appropriate ‘academic’ tone for our students, as we encourage everyone to share in this common reading experience.”

Mr. Fine later said the book was chosen because he believed Malala’s advocacy for education for women is very important. “Especially because we are raising standards and expectations across the board,” he said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, BookHampton in East Hampton was sold out of the full version of “I Am Malala,” with only a handful of copies of the abridged version left.

“It’s been a best seller for us since it came out in hardcover. Everybody is inspired and charmed by Malala,” said Kim Lombardini, the store’s social media manager.

Ms. Lombardini, who has read the book, said it is an important work that both inspires kids to do great things and underscores things that children in this area may take for granted, such as quality education. “Anything that makes kids stop and appreciate what they have creates better adults,” she said.

Also as of Tuesday afternoon, Annelise Mendelman, a 14-year-old ninth grader who graduated from the Springs School as valedictorian in June, was on page 138 of “I Am Malala.”

The book, which is divided into three sections, was a little slow at first but definitely interesting, Annelise said. The pace has picked up now that she is into the second part, which details the arrival of the Taliban in Malala’s hometown. Annelise said she is reading the full text rather than the modified version that has been suggested for younger readers.

“It’s a good book,” she said. “I can understand why they picked it. It has good lessons on why education is important.”

Annelise compared it to the 1958 book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor who also received a Nobel Peace Prize. In it, Mr. Wiesel tells of his experiences as a teenager in concentration camps in Germany and Poland during World War II. “I Am Malala” is also difficult material, Annelise said.

“I feel like it will be valuable,” she said. “You can talk to people about it and share your opinions.”

Katy’s Kids

Kids who have experienced the recent loss of a loved one will find other youngsters dealing with the same issues in a series of Katy’s Kids group sessions at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. Developed by Katy’s Courage, an organization founded in memory of a Sag Harbor girl who died of a rare form of cancer, Katy’s Kids will “create a safe, caring place where children, teens, and their families can grieve and share their experience,” according to a release. Sessions are offered twice a month on the first and third Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. The next session will be on  Wednesday.

Your Life as a Musical

Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor has two musical theater workshops coming up for kids, an intensive four-hour one for teens and a weeklong camp for ages 9 to 12. The camp will have kids draw on pop music, favorite Broadway songs, and more to imagine “what it might be like if their lives were musicals,” according to the theater. Campers will meet from Monday through Friday, Aug. 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the former Stella Maris School in Sag Harbor. The cost is $465 for the week.

In the teen workshop, which will take place on Aug. 25 from 1 to 5 p.m., participants will get one-on-one coaching from the theater’s artistic director, Scott Schwartz, and finish up with a showcase for friends and family. The cost is $125. Advance registration is required for both.

Butterfly Hunt

In a family program on Sunday at the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, children and their parents will seek out feather butterflies in the gardens, and then use them to make mobiles they can take home. The cost is $25 per child, and the program, which runs from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., is limited to 25 children. Reservations can be made at 329-3568.

Music and More

Hot on the heels of its Children’s Fair, the East Hampton Library is bringing something of the fair atmosphere to its home base. On Monday, Evan Gottfried will present a family “music extravaganza.” The interactive show for kids up to age 8 will run from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. On Wednesday, face painting is on the schedule from 2 to 4 p.m. for ages 3 and older.

Critters in the Water

George Held will present selections and images from his new children’s book of poems about animals, “The Water Critters,” on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum. A book signing and refreshments will follow, and there will be temporary tattoos for kids.

On Sunday the museum will introduce children to some real live water critters — those that inhabit the pond in its field. Participants will use a screen to search out frogs, turtles, and salamanders. A program for those 6 to 9 meets at 10 a.m., and another for younger children 2 to 5 will be offered at 2 p.m. Reservations have been requested for all of the above.

Great Danes

Victor Joseph, who wrote the children’s book “Danes Are Great,” will visit the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton on Saturday with Brando and Kruger, the Great Danes who inspired the book. The program starts at 10 a.m.

Brushbots

Kids 8 to 12 will use toothbrushes, small motors, and a battery to make tiny robots that they can race during a program next Thursday at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. The class runs from 4 to 5:30 p.m., and advance registration has been suggested as only 10 participants can be accommodated.

Sag Harbor’s new athletic director is a familiar face with past experiences in the district that he hopes will allow him to “hit the ground running.”

Eric Bramoff, a 1996 graduate of Pierson High School who was a three-sport athlete, was appointed as Sag Harbor’s athletic director during Monday’s school board meeting. His new position, though, spans much more than athletics: Mr. Bramoff’s formal title is the director of athletics, physical education, health, and wellness, and supervisor of buildings and grounds.

He joins Sag Harbor after a year as a physical education teacher and athletic director at the Bridgehampton School.

The position at Sag Harbor “was probably the only job in the world that would pull me away from Bridgehampton,” Mr. Bramoff said after Monday’s meeting.

On Tuesday, he said is ready for the challenge of running the buildings and grounds in addition to the athletic department. “I promise to do a lot of listening at the beginning,” he said. “There are people that have been doing a wonderful job there for a long time and I can learn from them. It will be a challenge, but I’m ready for it, and everything I do is going to be based around the student. I’ve approached my whole career like that.”

Lois Favre, Bridgehampton’s superintendent, said in an email that the district “wishes Mr. Bramoff all the best in his new position.”

Ms. Favre also said she and other local superintendents, including Katy Graves of Sag Harbor, initially worked together to see if a shared athletic director position could be created. “In each instance it would have impacted our budget, as we also need a full-time physical education teacher,” Ms. Favre said. “So for our own efficiencies we created a position that combines a physical education teacher and the athletic director, which seems to be the most cost effective for Bridgehampton.”

She added: “We have advertised for our opening, and we had wonderful candidates during last year’s search, so I am confident we will find a terrific candidate.”

Prior to coming to Bridgehampton, Mr. Bramoff taught for nine years in a large school district in Syracuse, where he also won a county championship in boys basketball as a coach. His first job was as the middle school gym teacher at Pierson in 2003, where he said he enjoyed working side by side with the teachers he himself had while a Pierson student.

Before his appointment on Monday, Elena Loreto, the president of the Noyac Civil Council, stood up and asked why the position had been advertised as part-time. Ms. Graves said they wanted to see what other skills the candidates could bring to the table as a means of being fiscally responsible.

“We were looking to be as creative as possible under the tax cap,” she said, noting that a full-time position would not have been sustainable in the district. One person they interviewed was also a bus driver.

Ms. Loreto asked whether the part-time stipulation deterred people from applying.

“Anyone applying for the job had to take the potential it was a part-time job,” she said.

Chris Tice, a board member, said that of the 32 candidates interviewed 6 made it to a second round.

“I have never heard of having this many interviews,” she said, reiterating that the district wanted to find the best candidate while being aware of monetary restraints.

The board unanimously approved Mr. Bramoff’s appointment and congratulated him with a round of applause. Mr. Bramoff, who had brought his wife and two young sons, approached the board after the 20-minute meeting adjourned and shook hands with each member. He thanked them and said he was excited to work with them. Mr. Bramoff, whose salary will be $117,000, begins his four-year probationary term on Friday.

Sag Harbor gave him his first job, he said, and “I’m hoping they can give me my last job.” He acknowledged he had a difficult time leaving Bridgehampton, but is excited about Sag Harbor’s new coaching hires, including Bethany Semlear for varsity field hockey, Daniel Garvey for the middle school girls soccer team, and Kayla Yardley for junior varsity field hockey.

As Mr. Bramoff left the meeting and walked past the gym on his way out, he pointed to his sister’s jersey hanging on the wall. Optimistic about the future, Mr. Bramoff said, “This could be a golden age for Pierson athletics.”

At its meeting Tuesday night, the East Hampton School Board will hear comments from the public concerning potential changes to the district’s student code of conduct. The changes could affect the coming school year.

Such changes require a public hearing before they are enacted, according to state education law. East Hampton’s superintendent, Richard Burns, said at the board’s Aug. 4 meeting that a representative from each of the district’s three schools would be on hand to explain the proposed changes and how they would affect students.

Once the administration explains the changes, which have not yet been made public, residents will have a chance to express their opinions.

The hearing will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the district office at 4 Long Lane.

The “C” in SCORE stands for cooperation, not consolidation. So said ­Patricia Hope and Chuck Hitchcock, the leaders of a new citizens group with an acronym that stands for School Cooperation Regional Effort.

The 10-member group was organized recently to explore ways that school districts in East Hampton Town can share services and find efficiencies. SCORE’s members include former educators and each one has a tie to at least one school district here, whether in East Hampton or one of its sending districts.

Ms. Hope, a retired East Hampton science teacher and former president of its school board, said in an interview Tuesday that SCORE members believe change is possible “if we concentrate on areas that involve each of the districts and topics that would not involve raising taxes, increasing costs, or laying off personnel.”

Ms. Hope and Mr. Hitchcock said the group was starting by focusing on transportation and pre-kindergarten programs. “There’s an uneven distribution of resources in local districts. I think we can all safely agree on that,” Ms. Hope said. “And most suggestions that we’ve heard or read involve huge changes to one district or another, or every district that would be involved.”

 “We don’t want to run roughshod on anyone’s home rule,” Ms. Hope said. “We’re like friends of the court. We’re friends of the districts.”

SCORE has met 12 times during the last several months and is preparing a survey to be sent to the East Hampton, Montauk, Springs, Sagaponack, Amagansett, and Wainscott School Districts to collect information. The group will use the data to prepare an application for a New York State grant that could be used to fund a formal study that theoretically could have a ripple effect, saving money for taxpayers.

 Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. met this week with SCORE to discuss that grant, which would come from a $150 million fund intended to help municipalities explore ways to share services or consolidate functions. Reached by phone yesterday, Mr. Thiele said SCORE was to be commended for its vision and efforts so far. He called the members proven community leaders.

Given the state cap on tax increases and the fact that school districts on the South Fork are small, Mr. Thiele said SCORE was correct that they could benefit from shared services. “I applaud their efforts to explore this issue,” he said.

 A few local school districts already share some services. For instance, students in Wainscott and Sagaponack often take field trips together and share the cost of a bus. In Montauk and other schools, many supplies are obtained through advantageous purchasing agreements with the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

“We would like to see them do more shared services because there are some financial savings to be had, and we feel there are some academic impacts that would be greatly appreciated by the population as a whole,” said Mr. Hitchcock, a Springs resident who is a retired Southampton College dean and former school board president.

Ms. Hope and Mr. Hitchcock acknowledged that there was a hefty workload ahead for SCORE’s volunteers. “For me, education has been my life’s work,” Mr. Hitchcock said.  “When I look at East Hampton and see that there are multiple ways that we could improve the services if indeed they were shared over a broader population, and in the same breath improve youngsters’ academic performance, then it seems to me that I will spend this time doing that.”

“If we could have one or two successes,” Ms. Hope said, “that might eventually lead to districts recognizing that it’s going to be better all the way around if they looked toward sharing services that maybe they have not considered sharing.”

All athletes and students in grades 7 and 10 are required to have physical examinations before the start of school and the beginning of their sports seasons. To satisfy these requirements, the Sag Harbor School District has announced two dates for free physical exams: tomorrow and Friday, Aug. 21, between 3 and 5 p.m. in the Pierson nurse’s office.

Parents can choose to have their children’s family doctors complete their physical exams, but those health care professionals must fill out a corresponding school form. The athletic department says on its website that other forms will not be accepted.

Students wishing to play sports must also submit a student-athlete contract, to be filled out and signed by parents. More information can be found on the district’s athletics webpage, sagharborschools.org/athletics.cfm, or by calling the department at 725-5302, extension 450 or 451.

A handful of Bridgehampton School maintenance and renovation projects are on track to be completed before school starts, ranging from the first major renovation of the art room in more than 20 years to electrical upkeep in the portable buildings to the painting of the school’s signature cupola.

Bob Hauser, Bridgehampton’s assistant superintendent for finance and facilities, said Monday that the big-ticket items will cost the district around $192,000 and will improve both the facilities and the quality of life for the students and staff.

“Everything seems to be running smoothly and we’re in good shape,” he said.

A $90,000 facelift for the gym will involve new scoreboards — including a repositioned “home” scoreboard for Bridgehampton fans, whose section of the gym previously faced the smaller of the two scoreboards — as well as replacements for broken glass panes in the skylight, a refinished floor, a fresh coat of paint on the walls, and replacement of the air vents.

A $20,000 renovation of the art room began Monday and will include a new smart board, computers for graphic design, and more.

Bridgehampton is spending about $27,000 to equip the portable classrooms and modular offices outside the main building with their own connections to the power grid. Previously, Mr. Hauser said, their electricity came through connections to the main school building, but that arrangement was very limiting.

“Unfortunately, we can’t do any electric upgrades to the main building because we’re maxed out, so we’re going to give the portables their own power,” he said. “If we decide to do some more upgrades to the main building, we have that additional electrical capacity.”

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Ron White, the president of the school board, described the electrical project as critical. “In terms of efficiency and being able to use our resources correctly, I think it was really important,” he said.

Bridgehampton will also spend just over $25,000 on an asbestos abatement project to remove traces of leftover asbestos insulation. Mr. Hauser explained that the district underwent a large abatement project in 1988 to replace insulation that had been installed prior to the 1980s, but in a recent routine check of soil from a crawl space in the basement, evidence of asbestos was found. He said it is not a space that is regularly used by either staff or students. The project will take place over five days starting Aug. 17.

“Just as a precaution, we’re going to go in there and do another abatement project — it’s very small — just to clean up those areas,” Mr. Hauser said.

The district is also spending about $15,000 to apply a sealing agent to the school’s exterior brickwork. Mr. Hauser explained it has to be done every seven years, “otherwise the bricks will absorb too much moisture.” He said the masonry sealant project would be done toward the end of the summer, when the summer school and recreational programs have ended.

Another big-ticket item was the repainting of the cupola, which Mr. Hauser said takes a beating due to the ocean winds coming from the south. The cupola, which stands about 75 feet above the ground, was stripped and repainted by a contractor for about $15,000. “From the main road, I think it’s the focal point of the school, so we like to keep it presentable,” he said.

Mr. White said all of the upkeep projects fall in line with the district’s five-year plan for facilities maintenance. “A lot of these things are essential. We have to get them done,” he said.

New high school students and all students who are planning on playing sports in the East Hampton School District are required to have physical exams, which the district is offering for free next week.

The exams will be given from 4 to 7 p.m. from Monday to Wednesday at the high school on Long Lane and are open to all students, not just those who plan to play sports. Students are not limited to physicals from the school physician; any New York State-certified physician can do an exam for a student and fill out the corresponding school form.

“The school physical should not be considered a replacement for your child’s routine examination with your primary health provider,” Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, the high school athletic director, said in a letter to all current and entering high school and middle school students.

A packet of athletic forms must be completed prior to going to the high school for a physical exam. These packets will be available at the high school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Springs School from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and at the Montauk School from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The forms are also available online via the East Hampton School District’s website, easthamptonschools.org, and include a parent permission slip, an emergency contact sheet, a health history form, a concussion policy letter, and permission to administer medication. Additionally, students who use inhalers or take other medications must have a new medication form filed with the nurse’s office.

For more information, the East Hampton athletic department can be reached at 329-4143.

The Springs School Board on Monday voted to spend just under $79,000 on seven different repairs to the school building.

Liz Mendelman, the president of the school board, likened the projects to what a homeowner might do every so often in his or her own house. “It’s just like owning a home,” she said. “You have to keep your maintenance up.”

The money for the repairs will come from a reserve fund specifically set up to handle these types of expenses. According to Thomas Primiano, the district’s business administrator and treasurer, Springs has $765,922 available in its repair reserve fund, but will only use a little over 10 percent of it this time around. The reserve came from leftover money at the end of each school year since the school board established the fund in the 2009-10 school year.

Mr. Primiano said the administration compiled cost estimates by either talking to contractors already vetted by the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services or by collecting price quotes on its own from qualified contractors.

“Where we can do it before school starts, we will. It’s already kind of late in the game,” he said, when asked about the projects’ timelines.

The costliest item addresses the rust stains and cracks on the outside of the building and includes repainting the school, at a price tag of about $26,934. Another big-ticket item is the replacement of all exterior doors, at a cost of about $24,544, which will ensure that they lock properly. The new doors will then also be compliant with Americans With Disabilities Act requirements.

A nonworking irrigation system will be fixed at a cost of about $7,970. Jeff Miller, a school board member who sits on the district’s buildings and grounds committee, said the fix will also help the school with the problems it is experiencing with its well. The entire system is between 52 and 54 years old, he said, “and it’s just so old that it’s done.”

Two surveillance cameras will be replaced at a cost of $4,200, and gutters will be repaired at a cost of $1,175.

Lockers will be resurfaced and repaired, though that project may not be completed before school starts. The fix is estimated at $8,894. “Many of the lockers are rusting and are dented,” Mr. Primiano said.

He also said there is also a plan to replace the shrubbery that was removed from the front of the school, which will not exceed $5,000, but the exact amount has not yet been determined because the district is still awaiting cost quotes from contractors. Students designed the landscaping plan for the front of the school toward the end of the 2014-15 school year.

The board’s resolution followed a brief public hearing during which members of the public initially questioned the district’s methods for obtaining cost estimates.

Carole Campolo, a resident who sits on the district’s facilities committee, suggested the district publish more advertisements seeking competitive pricing on various projects. She also suggested regular maintenance contracts with service providers might alleviate the need for last-minute repairs.

“I’m not the only one in the community who would like to see more transparency on this stuff,” she said. “The most competitive you can get . . . would be the best for the taxpayers.”