Education

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be on a softball travel team in middle school going to tournaments almost every weekend, traveling two hours in the car early in the morning, and having practice for two hours twice a week? That’s what the players on the 12-U Riptides have gotten used to in their first season together.

This month, I’ll be doing a deeper dive into some of my favorite young adult books. We’ll cover everything from people trapped in playing cards to unexpected romance and combat training! These books all feature strong female characters who can face anything thrown their way.

Welcome to "Worth Another Spin," a youthful take on vinyl with the only caveat being that the album in question has to be at least 30 years old and should have faded into relative obscurity. In other words, it's worth another spin. Read on.

The Bridgehampton School Board voted unanimously after an executive session last week to mandate another psychiatric evaluation for a popular English teacher who was reassigned to home leave less than a week into the school year in September.

Whether the East Hampton High School varsity and junior varsity girls volleyball teams won or lost matches with Amityville here Tuesday mattered little in light of the news that the players coached by Abigail Downs and Jacqueline Bates had raised around $15,000 for the Side-Out Foundation, a national organization that provides breast cancer treatment for women who can’t afford it and also finances breast cancer research.

The organizers of Hamptons Doc Fest have put out a call for student-produced films from across the East End. Middle and high school students have been invited to submit a short documentary film about the “Hometown Heroes” who have significantly impacted their lives and communities. The deadline for submissions is coming up quickly, with the window closing Friday, Oct. 11.

The Montauk School District has received community support to tackle student hunger with its “food table,” an idea that originated with its PTA and was so successful the district made it a permanent part of its operating budget.

Pumpkin-decorating in Sag Harbor, ghost stories in East Hampton — it must be fall.

Have you ever wondered what band and chorus life is like for students in fifth through eighth grade at the Springs School? Here’s a little taste.

Our Fabulous Variety Show will entertain children at its Kids’ Night Out on Saturday. Plus: sewing club, kids' movies, arts and crafts, and a visit from a therapy dog.

A case of pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, has been confirmed at Sag Harbor Elementary School.

A summer fund-raising campaign at Citarella markets on the South Fork brought in $126,680 for the East End Fund for Children, which supports seven child-centered nonprofits here. 

After months of open discussion on the merits of the traditional system of class ranking for Pierson High School seniors, the Sag Harbor School District appears poised to end or replace the practice while still naming a valedictorian and salutatorian.

It has been 15 years since East Hampton had an active PTSA, but that's about to change. On Sept. 30, East Hampton High School’s newly rebooted PTSA organization will convene a charter meeting at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Antonia Franceschi, an award-winning dancer, will be teaching a series of master classes at the Hampton Ballet Theatre School in Bridgehampton on Saturday. Plus: open recreation for youth at East Hampton Middle School, story time, Legos, and crafts, a movie classic, and more coming up for kids and teens.

According to the faculty at Pierson Middle and High School in Sag Harbor, the Yondr pouch program for cellphones has been a success. The school board is also largely in favor of it.

As the 2024-25 school year was just beginning, both the East Hampton and Sag Harbor School Districts found themselves facing a challenge: the sudden resignation of a secondary school teacher. Who’s going to teach that class? The answer came in the form of other teachers already on staff, who stepped up when asked by administrators to take on extra classes.

Bonfire Coffeehouse is now delivering children's lunches to the Amagansett School on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Organización Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island and Guild Hall are teaming up to offer a full day of art-inspired entertainment for families.

Art and history at the farm museum, movies for kids and teens, a Lego challenge, a Y.A. author reading, and open play time at Hub 44 are all in the family activity lineup this week.

Kristie Reddick and Jessica Honaker, a team of Cincinnati-based entomologists, are on a mission to bring arthropod education to schools around the world. They will be on the East End from Oct. 10 through 17 for a series of school assemblies and workshops through Stony Brook University’s FoodLab, a food production and agricultural education center on its Southampton campus.

On Monday morning, the start of the first full week of the 2024-25 school year, administrators at the Bridgehampton School abruptly reassigned a popular tenured teacher, Tom House, to home leave. Mr. House, who lives in Springs and is the founder of Hamptons Pride and its signature parade in East Hampton Village, has been employed by the district for 15 years.

The second installment of this column, here to recommend books to tweens and teens, is all about graphic novels -- one of my favorite genres to read.

The Amagansett School’s ongoing effort to fire its tenured principal continued this week with another six hours of testimony and questioning, with the principal’s attorneys insisting that the case should be dismissed.

Talk about a summer well spent: From science research to lifeguarding to volunteer work, teens on the South Fork kept themselves busy exploring their interests and making a difference in their communities.

Children and teens who love the performing arts have many opportunities to study and practice acting over the coming weeks and months. Plus: Hurricane swim tryouts, arts and crafts, story time in the garden, book clubs, movie screenings, and more coming up for kids and teens this week.

Andy Sabin, president of the South Fork Natural History Museum’s board of directors, will help kids of all ages learn about snapping turtles and even try to find some on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the museum. Plus: kids' movies, arts and crafts, card games, and more family-friendly fun around town.

A key policy change this year at the Springs School will be to its safety and security plan, a document that outlines its response to a real-life emergency or disaster should one arise. “Drills that are conducted during the school day with students present need to be conducted in what we’re calling a trauma-informed, developmentally-and-age-appropriate manner," the superintendent said this week.

A disciplinary hearing ongoing since July 10, conducted by the New York State Education Department, seeks to answer the question of whether the Amagansett School principal took a red envelope containing a holiday gift card meant for another school employee.

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