Education

The playing field at the Pierson Middle High School in Sag Harbor is indeed a quagmire. Or an ice rink, or a sandbox, depending on the time of year. Now, six years after Sag Harbor voters opted for real grass over synthetic turf, the issue is back on the school board's agenda.

The Sag Harbor School District's superintendent, Jeff Nichols, outlined the school’s new Covid-19 protocols relating to contact tracing, close contacts, and "even students returning to school if they test positive."

It’s showtime this weekend at East Hampton High School. “Footloose,” the dance-centric musical based on the 1984 film of the same name, will be staged in the high school auditorium, with performances open to the public.

A new semester of performing arts classes with Our Fabulous Variety Show, puppetry at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, and adventures with the South Fork Natural History Museum are on tap for kids and teens in the coming week.

Face coverings in most South Fork schools are now optional. School districts from Montauk to Southampton confirmed that as of Wednesday masks will no longer be mandatory for students, teachers, administrators, or staff. The mask rollback extends to school buses as well.

Sag Harbor’s Eve Achuthan-Kozar will be among the stars in a high-stress, cutthroat TV cooking competition, part of the storied “MasterChef” franchise, in which the often-terrifying celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay plays host, judge, and tyrant, but in this case, all the contestants are between the ages of 8 and 13.

"My friends, the day has come," Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday after announcing that the state would lift its school mask mandate as of Wednesday following consultation with public health officials, teachers, school administrators, and PTA members. Local officials in individual school districts and counties will continue to have the power to impose mask mandates and other restrictive measures based on their needs.

Children in the 3-K (preschool for 3-year-olds) and prekindergarten programs received their own library cards and were given a quick lesson on how to borrow a new book every two weeks.

A Magical Time

The Amagansett Library has invited children in prekindergarten through second grade to a unicorn-themed party on Saturday at 2 p.m. with stories, crafts, and party favors. The contact for registration is Evan Harris at [email protected].

Get Outdoors

East Hampton School District officials on Tuesday announced a commitment to remaining at or under New York State’s cap on tax-levy increases to finance their 2022-23 budget plan.

Staying in town with the kids for the February break? School may be closed, but there's plenty to do, and even more to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Mark Frankel, a former Ross School teacher and principal who has spent the last 12 years as an educator abroad, will return to Ross on July 1 to serve as high school principal.

While not a foregone conclusion just yet, it is possible that the Springs School District may put an above-the-tax-cap budget on the ballot in May for the first time.

A chorus of Springs School parents on Tuesday joined the many loud-and-clear voices calling for a “mask choice” policy, which would enable them to decide whether their children should wear masks.

Valentine's Day fun, art camp, anime club, movies at the library, and a wildlife presentation are on the agenda for kids and teens this week.

Charging that New York State’s indoor mask-wearing mandate has had negative social, emotional, and academic fallout on their children, some 20 Sag Harbor School parents demanded on Monday that administrators and school board members adopt a “mask choice” policy that would allow parents to decide what’s best for their children.

Coming up for kids and teens: a singing master class at Bay Street, a whole lot of hearts, and a library appreciation day.

The Springs School is one of the few remaining East End districts that does not have a full-day prekindergarten program, but that’s about to change. Owing to a $420,000 grant received from New York State specifically for “universal prekindergarten,” there will be a full-day program for families with 4-year-old children starting in September.

A Tennessee school board’s Jan. 10 decision to ban from its curriculum an acclaimed book about the Holocaust has made headlines across the country, and the publicity has seen the 30-year-old title, “Maus,” skyrocket to the top of best-seller lists once again. The ban has piqued an increased interest in the book among people here, too.

Friction is brewing over Covid-19 precautions in the Sag Harbor School District, where a group of parents lobbying to make mask-wearing a family choice is expected to state their case to the school board on Monday.

Lessons on personal safety in Sag Harbor, and Assemblyman Thiele facilitates a grant for the Springs School.

When State Supreme Court Justice William J. Condon ruled on Dec. 7 in favor of the Ross School in a lawsuit claiming that Hayden Soloviev was a victim of bullying and that his teachers were negligent as chaperones during an overseas field trip, the former Ross student said he was shocked. The Soloviev family has filed a notice of intent to appeal, The Star confirmed this week.

From a Project Most learning lab during the February break to a Harry Potter escape room challenge at the East Hampton Library.

TED Talks have been around since 1984. The Montauk School’s annual eighth-grade Speech Day has been around almost as long. Coincidence? Probably, but the two long-running programs share a common thread.

Auditors suggested the overspending was the result of multiple staffing shifts in the school’s business office, two changes in the architectural firms overseeing the work, and an evolving completion date and scope of the project.

Sag Harbor began examining its 2022-23 budget on Monday, starting off by cracking open its largest nut — salaries and benefits for employees — with the school business administrator, Jennifer Buscemi, noting that “all numbers are subject to change based on additional information received after this date.”

Michelle Grant, the Sag Harbor Elementary School guidance counselor, will soon embark on her annual lessons on personal safety. The program covers fire safety, seatbelt rules, bullying, and recognizing signs of abuse, and generally "helps students learn how to seek help in unsafe situations," Ms. Grant said in an email to families.

The East Hampton School District’s athletic director reported this week that his petition to Section XI that eight of East Hampton High’s teams play closer to home has been approved.

As Covid-19 hospitalizations among children skyrocketed in December, particularly impacting children who aren’t eligible for vaccine shots yet, health experts and educators are keeping a watchful eye and doing everything they can to keep kids safe. “It’s really important that if you’re thinking about herd immunity, children are part of the herd,” a chief at Stony Brook Children's Hospital said.

Isabel Madison has stepped back into the role of assistant superintendent for business in the East Hampton School District. Deirdre Herzog, who retired as district treasurer in December, is also returning. Elsewhere, the Bridgehampton School’s new fitness center opened this week to members of the public who are residents of the district.