"The North Fork is a great place to raise kids. We have farms, beaches and fresh air. But there hasn’t been an alternative to traditional or faith-based schooling, or innovative programs that include education about the environment, community and local agriculture. People have had to send their children to the South Fork for that.

Now, North Fork parents have an option. The Peconic Community School, based at the East End Arts Council in Riverhead, started this fall with a multi-year classroom for kids, kindergarten through second grade. It’s a place that creates “collaborative growth, artistic experience and inspired change” and that taps into local food and cultural resources, says Liz Casey Searl, co-executive director. Hands-on farming will be part of the curriculum; the school has a plot at the Roots and Shoots community garden, and the children will cultivate vegetables that will be added to the lunch menu."

read more at:

Edible East End: A New Farm-to-Table School, October 10, 2012