Education

A Southampton Elementary School student has contracted Covid-19, according to the School Covid Report Card, a state website that tracks cases in public and private schools and colleges, but the student had not been on campus and classes had not yet begun before the diagnosis.

Charles Soriano, the principal of the East Hampton Middle School, announced this week that after-school clubs will return for in-person meetings starting on Oct. 5. Homework help sessions will also be reinstated. All standard Covid-19 precautions and rules will be in place.

The goal is to "provide social, artistic, and creative stimulation for our youngsters, so critical for this age group," Dr. Soriano said in an announcement. "Restarting our clubs and activities is more important than ever, particularly with the countywide postponement of athletics."

The Sag Harbor School Board on Monday opened a discussion of recognizing Juneteenth on the school calendar and renaming Columbus Day as Indigenous People's Day. Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19 each year to mark the day that the last enslaved people were freed in post-Civil War Texas in 1865. New York State passed legislation to officially recognize Juneteenth as a holiday.

As to the process of preparing for this unprecedented school year, James Crenshaw said he has a tendency to approach anything by planning for everything. "The understanding is that you're probably going to miss a ton of things," and by going into overdrive at the beginning, there are fewer surprises along the way.

High school students on the East End are invited to join the Retreat's eight-week Teen Leaders program, which starts Wednesday and runs through Nov. 18.

Before the start of the school year, the Sagaponack organization Supplies for Success announced it had donated 20,000 backpacks filled with new school supplies to local children whose families cannot afford them.

Since Mindy Richardson established the organization in 2002, Supplies for Success has helped 135,000 underserved local children. And since March 5, 2020, when Ms. Richardson's son Eric died in a ski accident, the organization has responded to the pandemic in his honor. 

Motivated by the patterns of tobacco use among their peers, a student group called Breathe In Change is renewing its efforts to educate other students about the dangers of tobacco use — including cigarettes in addition to e-cigarettes, according to the students.

Two school districts here have brought independent investigators on board to look into sensitive incidents and school residency.

The East Hampton School District will be providing meals to remote and hybrid students who are on the federal free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch programs. The district will also be providing meals to Springs School students in the same categories.

The winners of the East Hampton Town Anti-Bias Task Force's bumper sticker design contest were announced this week.

Madeline Grabb, the Bridgehampton School's 2020 valedictorian, is one of 200 people chosen to compete in a research competition known as the World Food Prize. Her gap-year project focuses on ideas for fighting malnutrition in Pakistan, where 68 percent of the population suffers from anemia.

With school back in session, online homework help is being made more available to library patrons across the East End. The sessions, hosted by Brainfuse, an online tutoring provider, offer one-on-one help and test prep in a wide range of subjects for students in kindergarten through 12th grade on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.