Education

When clients of Phoenix House visit East Hampton High School, it’s usually on invitation from Jim Stewart, the school’s longtime health teacher, who wants his students to understand how substance abuse, treatment, and recovery look and feel.

“I have been told by students it’s one of the best classes of the semester,” Mr. Stewart said this week.

Southampton Town is willing to make good on its offer of $6 million from the community preservation fund toward the joint purchase with the Sag Harbor School District of land on Marsden Street, but on at least three conditions.

From new classes at Projects Most in East Hampton to community service projects for teens to winter craft programs there's a lot for kids and teens to do, even in these quiet times.

Debra Winter, who was hired as Springs School superintendent in the spring of 2017 and started her post in July that year, confirmed Monday that she is planning to retire in June 2024 after completing what will have been her seventh year with the district.

State Senator Anthony Palumbo has recognized the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton with the Empire State Award, the highest honor that can be given by a New York State legislator, for its service to the community over the last 50 years.

According to an extensive report published in November by the New York State Board of Regents, survey respondents by and large said they felt the exams “were no longer an adequate measure of student understanding.” Instead, they favored the creation of a new system of high school graduation requirements that give students more options for demonstrating their mastery of “21st-century” skills and knowledge.

Registration is open now for an afternoon of virtual reality activities for kids 10 and up at The Church, the arts center in Sag Harbor. The Jan. 12 program will be offered through a partnership with the Long Island Science Center.

Sag Harbor School District officials have decided not to wait for the Southampton Town Board to formally vote on its offer of community preservation fund money before starting what they have been calling “phase two” of the process. On Dec. 21 the district began gathering public comment to shape the proposal for an athletic field and related facilities on Marsden Street, which has been a hot issue in the village ever since the plan — involving the purchase of land from a private developer — was announced in September.

There are 36 members of the Radio City Rockettes, and 36 members of East Hampton High School’s Camerata choir. Coincidence? Yes, definitely. But both groups took the stage at Radio City Music Hall last Thursday, with the East Hampton singers serving as opening act for the Rockettes in a thrilling six-minute performance that made for quite the harbinger of Christmas spirit.

Ice skating with Santa Claus, holiday crafts, science-themed activities, and more coming up for kids and teens this week.

When she gets ready to star in Studio 3’s annual production of “Mixed Nuts” this weekend at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, Maya Leathers will leave her obstacles at the stage door; they simply can’t crack her when she’s in pointe shoes and a tutu.

A series of matinees for kids and families is good reason for kids to head to the Sag Harbor Cinema on weekends throughout the winter, but this weekend brings the bonus of a virtual Santa experience on Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m.

As if playing a game of environmental football, Cornell Cooperative Extension scientists are hoping to intercept a large underground plume of ammonia in groundwater in Springs before it reaches the end zone — Accabonac Harbor.

The Teachers Association of Sag Harbor has thrown its support behind the potential joint school-and-town purchase of five lots on Marsden Street for an athletic field near Pierson Middle and High School, citing the academic benefits the plan would bring.

It has been quite a few years since East Hampton had a robust lineup of adult programs, such as bookkeeping and computer classes, defensive driving, a notary-certification course, and even a class on building one’s own fishing rod. Now, the East Hampton School Board has given the district superintendent the green light to explore bringing back adult education programs — with one caveat.

Meredith Cairns, who was elected to a three-year term on the Amagansett School Board in May 2020, resigned from the post on Oct. 14. The rest of the board voted on Nov. 15 to accept her letter of resignation.

From dance shows to staged readings and caroling, December is showtime. Plus: aromatherapy, board games, jewelry making, movies, and more.

Santa Claus will make his rounds around the South Fork this weekend, bringing holiday cheer to kids and adults alike.

High school students take note: The winter holiday season is a great time to earn those community service hours toward high school graduation requirements. Plus: stories and crafts, stop-motion animation, a parody play, and more for kids and teens.

Southampton Town appears to be rethinking its offer of $6 million toward the purchase of land on Marsden Street in Sag Harbor Village in conjunction with the Sag Harbor School District for an athletic field and related amenities.

The Hampton Ballet Theatre School has put on a performance of the classic holiday ballet “The Nutcracker” nearly every year since 2009 — the one exception a byproduct of Covid in 2020 — but this year’s production is the first time in school history that the annual production will feature a pair of real-life siblings in the roles of Clara and her brother Fritz.

Here’s how tight for cash the Wainscott School District is: In October, the tiny district closed the books on the 2021-22 school year having spent nearly every dime in its $3.83 million budget. There was no significant end-of-year surplus to speak of.

The season of sugar and spice has arrived — it’s time to get your gingerbread on. Find activities at the Children's Museum of the East End, the Golden Eagle art store, and other places around town.

The Montauk School Holiday Book Fair, featuring books, gifts, diaries and journals, fun school supplies, and other classic book fair goodies, will begin on Monday and run through Friday, Dec. 2.

The Sag Harbor School District and IBI Group, the architectural firm hired in 2017 to carry out the transformation of the former Stella Maris Regional Catholic School into the Sag Harbor Learning Center, have reached a settlement, following a conflict over how much IBI Group charged for its services during a period in which little to no work took place.

When the federal government doles out dollars to schools, those that receive grants of at least $750,000 find themselves facing an audit at the close of the fiscal year. The Springs School District, one of many across the country in that position during the Covid-19 pandemic, has passed its first such “single audit” with flying colors, according to the district’s auditing firm, EFPR Group.

As a child growing up in Springs, Laura Rosner was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, an incurable juvenile form of macular degeneration. Now a special education teacher at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton, she has a unique perspective when it comes to educating students with disabilities and diverse educational needs.

Bonac Lights, a fund-raising initiative launched last year by the East Hampton Masons that incorporates holiday light displays, is back again and bigger than before.

An ice maker that produces sludge, desks in disrepair, nonworking generators, chipping paint, an ‘unreliable’ gymnasium partition, worn-out carpeting and wood flooring — these are just a few items on a long list of facilities issues identified by the East Hampton School District this week as urgently in need of attention.

Wildlife explorations with the South Fork Natural History Museum, candle-making and Thanksgiving crafts at local libraries, and a screening of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Sag Harbor Cinema are just a few of the things happening this week for kids and teens.