Hampton Bays highlights mental-health supports, college partnerships and new classroom tech
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The board got updates on district mental-health supports (an MOU to provide a social worker one day per week), a Food for Thought pantry coping with a SNAP benefits pause, college partnerships (Stony Brook Future Scholars and an early-college pilot with Suffolk), and pilot uses of AI and VR instructional tools.
At its Nov. 18 meeting, the Hampton Bays Union Free School District board received several updates on student supports and partnership programs.
District staff reported that Food for Thought, a school-based pantry run with Stop & Shop, is serving about 48 families per week and that the recent suspension of enhanced SNAP benefits increased demand. Staff described holiday baskets supplemented with gift cards for perishables and reported coordination with local groups and a $6,000 grant from town-level sponsors to help sustain support.
An MOU with the Association for Mental Health and Wellness — on the meeting’s contracts agenda for recommended approval — would provide one day per week of social-worker services to the district at no cost in exchange for district activities to raise mental-health awareness; the Rotary Club was named as a stipend sponsor for an empowerment club tied to that work.
Academic partnerships were also highlighted. Staff described a Stony Brook University Future Scholars program offering monthly sessions for 21 eighth-graders at the Southampton campus and stated that students who complete the program, graduate from Hampton Bays and gain admission to Stony Brook could receive full tuition support for four years under Stony Brook’s stated Pell-based assistance. Separately, the district outlined a limited early-college pilot with Suffolk Community College and Stony Brook Southampton that would allow seniors to take college courses on the Southampton campus beginning in the spring, with credits transferring to Suffolk and potentially to Stony Brook in 2+2 pathways.
Staff also described classroom-technology pilots including Google’s Gemini integrated into the learning-management system, Notebook LM (teacher-controlled, verified knowledge-base AI) and a VR-headset pilot for immersive lessons and virtual college tours. Presenters emphasized careful use of AI with verified source sets to avoid unverified outputs and said Notebook LM helps teachers produce leveled materials, parent self-help guides in multiple languages and other classroom supports.
Finally, staff said the high school is participating in a study with Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence and that staff have received multi-week training in the RULER emotional-literacy approach; student surveys will be administered anonymously to measure changes over time.