Education

With the National Weather Service predicting a 100-percent chance of snow overnight Thursday into Friday afternoon, schools here have begun to announce closures.

At East Hampton High School, AWSEM stands for Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering, Math (and Coding), and this club is offering an outlet for girls interested in those areas. The members are becoming proficient coders, designers, scientific thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborators.

The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center has become one of the first educational institutions here to announce a pause on in-person attendance following the holiday break, with planned closures Monday and Tuesday.

Now that holiday breaks are almost over, Project Most is back in action with classes and events. A beginner roller-skating class for kids ages 5 to 9 will be on Monday at 3:45 p.m., taught by Samantha Duane, a former professional roller derby skater. On Fridays in January, Ms. Duane will teach an ongoing skating class, also at 3:45.

Sydney Salamy, a 2018 graduate of East Hampton High School with a tradition of spearheading charitable endeavors, is continuing her good works. During her junior year of high school, she started a local chapter of Play It Forward, a charity that supplies sports equipment to families in need. Now Ms. Salamy is tackling bone marrow donations.

Gov. Kathy Hochul urged parents to have their children vaccinated against Covid-19 while schools are closed this week, noting a rise in pediatric hospitalizations as the infection rates across the state climb ever higher, and for those who are ready, there's a pediatric vaccine clinic planned at the Children's Museum of the East End next week.

The East Hampton Library is encouraging high school students to take on its 2022 winter challenge, which runs from Jan. 3 to Feb. 19.

A routine annual review of the Bridgehampton School District’s 2020-21 finances by an outside auditor was sparkling, save for a handful of small issues, one of which was the district’s accidental allocation of more scholarship money for students than it had available from donors for that purpose.

On an average day at the Montauk School, it’s normal for around 13 or 14 students to be absent, amounting to 4 percent of the school’s enrollment of 328. On Friday, its absences jumped to 23 percent — about 75 children — after a social media post threatening violence went viral and whipped families into a frenzy across the nation.

A holiday break camp at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton will offer something for kids 3 1/2 to 5 to do from 9:30 a.m. to noon Monday through next Thursday. Each day there’s a different focus.

Worrisome cracks in the brickwork, wall-joint separation, and rusting lintels are just some of the issues the Sag Harbor School District is planning to tackle with a large-scale masonry repair project expected to cost nearly $1 million.

Police departments here and across Long Island are on heightened alert at schools, following social media posts that threatened violence today, Friday. Those threats have now been deemed non-credible.

“It’s fun to have buddies,” Keira Huerta said, “because you don’t have to be alone.”

Keira, a first grader at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, summed it up perfectly as one of about a dozen students who told the East Hampton School Board last week that they really like their buddy program, which pairs fourth graders with first graders for educational activities and playtime.

The Hampton Library’s popular gingerbread cookie-decorating program happens on Saturday. Kids and their families can also choose from lots of other activities coming up.

It’s got a new name and a new look, but its goals have not changed.

The East Hampton Education Foundation has officially dropped “Greater” from its name, hoping that the community will more easily recognize it and connect to its mission, which is to “enrich the lives of students in East Hampton public schools by supporting superior educational and wellness programs.”

Fond memories of Bella Adlah, who lived and attended school here up until a few years ago, have led to a swell of support for her family following her diagnosis in June with functional neurological disorder, which causes daily seizures, loss of vision and ability to eat, and left her unable to talk above a whisper or use her limbs and torso from her shoulders down.

The East Hampton School Board, which has been conducting an assiduous search for “affordable and attainable” housing options for school teachers and other employees, urged the town on Tuesday to bring back a past plan for such a development on a 40-acre property off Stephen Hand’s Path in the Wainscott School District.

A family day at the Parrish Art Museum, decorating a tree for the birds at the South Fork Natural History Museum, and lots of winter and holiday-themed crafts are on tap for kids this week.

With Covid-19 again putting off the East Hampton Masonic Lodge’s community pot roast dinner, which raises money for scholarships, sports teams, and other activities for kids here, Brian Lester recently wondered to himself what could possibly be done to replace it, for now at least.

Then a proverbial light went off in his brain, inspired by the holiday light shows he took his family to see in Riverhead and at Smith Point County Park in Shirley last year. Why not do something similar in East Hampton?

The Hampton Ballet Theatre School will present a magical rendition of “The Nutcracker,” a traditional harbinger of holiday cheer, on Friday, Dec. 17, Dec. 18, and Dec. 19. The studio’s 12th production of the beloved ballet is in person, marking a return to live theater after a long hiatus caused by Covid-19.

What had been an anticipated dip in high school graduation rates brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic across the United States largely did not come to pass in school districts on the eastern end of the South Fork, data from the last two school years show.

East Hampton School District officials wanted their affordable housing forum on Tuesday to be a brainstorming session focused on solutions and proposals, and from innovative financing and land use ideas to promises of partnership from elected officials to participation by community members, that’s just what they got.

Programs for kids this week offer a big dose of holiday fun and a chance to move, create, and connect.

For teens this week through local libraries, there are community service opportunities, a chance to unwind with art, and a suicide awareness training session to help students recognize when someone is in distress and offer support.

The Bridgehampton School's auditorium, which was to be completed by late November or early December, may not be fully finished until after then, the district's superintendent, Mary Kelly, told the school board on Nov. 17.

To be moderated by Jackie Lowey, a school board member, the forum will explore topics such as residential zoning changes, mortgage assistance, and purchasing or building housing units. Experts in the housing industry are expected to take part, though community members will also be able to share opinions and ideas.

The Springs School's eighth-grade class will benefit from a pancake breakfast fund-raiser at the Springs Fire Department headquarters on Dec. 5 from 7 to 11 a.m. Menu items include eggs, French toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast, hash browns, and juice, coffee, and tea.

The coming week's activities for kids include a marionette show at the East Hampton Library, an open house at the South Fork Natural History Museum, and art and science activities.

Starting Monday, Montauk School students will have a chance to shop for books and gifts during a weeklong holiday fair at the school. Browsing and shopping will take place during regularly scheduled library and computer classes, and parents, guardians, and families can take advantage of the sale after school from 3 to 6 p.m. from Monday to next Thursday.

As a response to the growing concern about the lasting impact of the pandemic on children's well-being, I-Tri, the East Hampton organization whose goal is to empower middle school girls through fitness, and the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport, a national organization, offered a free trauma-informed coaching session.