Culinary Arts Program To Get Boost At East Hampton High School

As part of efforts to broaden its vocational education offerings, the East Hampton School District is planning to transform storage space next to the high school cafeteria into a commercial kitchen so it can offer a state-certified culinary arts program.

“The plans are being developed as we speak,” said Superintendent Richard Burns. “We are going to make kids career-ready for the food industry.”

Catherine Tyrie, a high school business teacher who serves as the district’s Career and Technical Education coordinator, said the culinary arts program will be launched in the fall of either 2020 or 2021, depending on how long it takes to complete the kitchen work.

Although the district does offer culinary arts classes on an elective basis, those students who want to pursue the vocational track are currently bused to the Board of Cooperative Educational Services in Riverhead.

Ms. Tyrie said the district is working with Suffolk County Community College so that students who complete the two-year high school culinary program would qualify to earn some college credits for its culinary fundamentals and sanitations course.

Students who sign up for the vocational program would follow a first-year course that would cover culinary fundamentals including sanitation and food safety as well as principles of cooking with additional classroom instruction. The second year of the program would be divided into two one-semester courses in baking and pastry arts and hospitality management.

The goal, she said, would be to prepare those students to enter the workforce in the local economy. Those who graduate from the program “will have a license to go right into the field,” she said.

“We know there is a huge interest in this,” said Principal Adam Fine. The school already has a hospitality club, which caters events held in the school. “We know not everyone wants to go to college, and the state’s focus is preparing them for the real world.”