Education

Camp season is almost here! Plus: 'Grandpa Magic,' fun with sidewalk chalk, a Goat on a Boat puppetry performance, and more coming up for kids and teens.

Over the objections of Ed Collum, Kate Collum Gibbons, and other members of their family, which has lived next to East Hampton High School since before it was built in 1970, the East Hampton School Board on Tuesday resolved that lights will be installed at the turf athletic field. According to the board’s resolution, Musco LED towers would be installed at the edges of the field, allowing athletes to play games into the evening hours.

The East Hampton Town Trustees have awarded their annual scholarship to Skye Tanzmann, an East Hampton High School senior who will attend Harvard University in the fall, at the high school’s awards night last Thursday.

In honor of the late Elizabeth (Chee Chee) Thunderbird Haile, a Shinnecock Indian Nation elder who was one of the “founding grandmothers” of the Hayground School in Bridgehampton, a bench was dedicated last week at the school. “This was a tangible way to always remember what Chee Chee gave us and is still giving us,” said Tinka Topping, Hayground's other founding grandmother.

In its first year broadcasting to the public on Instagram and YouTube, East Hampton High School's student-run news show took home a second-place award for Best Anchor Duo at the BASH Awards at Hofstra University, out of a field of close to 30 high schools, on May 15.

The Guild Hall Teen Arts Council will model its line of original upcycled fashion designs on Saturday at the Leiber Collection in Springs. Plus: teen community service opportunities, STEM and art activities, feeding time at the SoFo museum, and more.

With the hope that voters will see it as a good-faith gesture that turns some no votes into yeses, Wainscott School District officials have slightly trimmed their proposed 2023-24 budget ahead of a June 20 revote. The new plan, totaling $6,144,331, “is effectively the contingency budget,” said David Eagan, president of the school board.

Kites will soar above Main Beach on Saturday in a “fun-raiser” for the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center from 2 to 5 p.m. Plus: Teen community service opportunities, drum-making for kids, story time, and more.

Now that a slim majority of Sag Harbor School District voters rejected the district’s proposal to buy five wooded lots on Marsden Street for future school expansion, the community has a tall task ahead of it: mending the wounds from the bitter, nine-month battle over the controversial plan.

Also in the news this week: More administrative changes in Springs, free lunches in East Hampton, student film screenings, and writing contest winners.

Tours and art sessions for kids are back in person at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs starting Saturday, May 27. Plus: Pizza and pajama night at CMEE, STEM activities in Bridgehampton, an an all-ages tea party in Sag Harbor.

Bridgehampton High School has recognized Hugo Kapon as its 2023 valedictorian and Luna Paucar as its salutatorian.

After several months of heated debate over the Sag Harbor School District’s controversial plan to buy five wooded lots on Marsden Street, Tuesday’s vote did not end in favor of the district. The tally was 1,081 votes in favor and 1,156 votes against — a difference of 75 as the issue drew a record voter turnout.

From Bridgehampton to Montauk on Tuesday, school district voters supported most ballot propositions and all but one 2023-24 spending plan. The two key exceptions were in Sag Harbor, where the budget passed but the controversial Marsden Street land buy was rejected, and in Wainscott, where a tax-cap-busting budget failed by three votes.

"We didn't plan this, but it worked out beautifully," Chris Mandato, East Hampton High School's band teacher and music department coordinator, said of the special distinction Thursday's large-ensemble concert holds: The band, orchestra, and chorus will each perform an original song written by a Long Island musician with a connection to East Hampton.

The Springs and Montauk Schools successfully passed cap-busting budgets Tuesday night, but in Sag Harbor the Marsden Street purchase went down while everything else there won approval. In Wainscott, voters rejected a contested budget proposal.

Three candidates are running for two seats on the East Hampton School Board this year, making it one of only two contested races on the South Fork. The contenders are Emily Agnello, a first-time candidate who grew up in East Hampton; George Aman, a former board member seeking to return, and John Ryan Sr., an incumbent seeking a 10th term.

Melanie Hayward and David Eagan are facing off for a seat on the Wainscott School Board in the district’s first contested board election in 12 years.

From the impact of inflation and the lingering effects of Covid-19, to ever-growing concerns over safety and fluctuating student enrollment, school districts here are grappling with rising costs, as reflected in their proposed spending plans for the next school year. From Bridgehampton to Montauk, here is a district-by-district breakdown of spending plans, board candidates, and propositions.

The young dancers of the Hampton Ballet Theatre School in Bridgehampton will stage “Cinderella” tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday at the Bridgehampton School. Plus: Kite decorating, recycled bottle art, toddler music and movement, and more coming up for kids and teens.

Epic Martial Arts is teaming up with the Retreat to offer a self-defense and safety awareness class on Monday, May 15, for women and girls 14 and older.

On May 16, voters in the Sag Harbor School District will be asked to say yes or no to the purchase of five wooded properties on Marsden Street for a total of $9.425 million. What's at stake? Short answer: a lot.

The Bridgehampton School's drama club performs "Lions in Illyria," there's an all-ages Spring Jubilee at The Church in Sag Harbor, a celebration of Free Comic Book Day at the John Jermain Library, and a family workshop Sunday at the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton.

The Sagaponack School’s proposed $1.89-million spending plan for the 2023-24 school year “is a pretty straightforward, easy budget,” the district superintendent, Jay Finello, said this week. “It’s very close to this year’s, with a modest increase, without any major changes at all.”

Family members, schoolmates, and administrators looked on as Leslie Samuel, a Bridgehampton senior who has had an outstanding track career under East Hampton High’s aegis, signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Hartford, where she will run and study nursing.

It is fair to say the Wainscott School District’s financial situation has reached crisis level: A budget with a 49.27-percent jump in overall spending — carrying a tax-levy increase of more than 95 percent — is on the table for the 2023-24 school year.

The Bridgehampton School District’s proposed budget ensures “the best possible program for our students while being mindful of our responsibility to the taxpayers to be fiscally accountable,” said Mary T. Kelly, the superintendent, in discussing the $21.74 million spending plan that voters will see on the May 16 ballot for the next school year.

In East Hampton's Methods in Research program, students conduct high-level scientific experiments and analyses that almost universally address — and often propose solutions to — problems the planet is experiencing, such as climate change, sea-level rise, ocean acidification, pollution, and decreasing biodiversity.

Saturday’s Our Fabulous Variety Show performance will be followed at 7 p.m. by Drag Bingo and Game Night, hosted by RaffaShow and friends as a fund-raiser for the O.F.V.S. Crew’s upcoming performance at Walt Disney World in June. Plus: Arbor Day celebration, theatrical performances, movies, and more for kids and teens.

In a situation that has been brewing since 2016, this year is the first time the Montauk School District is putting an over-the-tax-cap budget proposal on the ballot: a $22.73 million spending plan that maintains all current programs and services but asks the taxpayers to support a tax-levy increase of 18.56 percent for the 2023-24 school year.