Education

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.