Education

School districts and day care centers here are answering the governor’s call to help parents and caregivers who are first responders, health care workers, and other essential employees during the COVID-19 response.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo this week ordered schools statewide to close through March 31 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some districts here had already announced plans to close for two weeks. Many administrators believe the closure will be extended.

Eleanor Tritt, the interim superintendent of the Sag Harbor School District, resigned Wednesday from her post.

With the schools closed, many parents have begun navigating the world of homeschooling for the first time, and school districts have begun serving meals to students who take part in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. 

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on Sunday afternoon announced in a local emergency order that schools across the county will close for two weeks beginning Monday, March 16.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo waived a key public education mandate on Friday afternoon, saying during a press conference that districts could choose to close if they wished and they would not be penalized for holding fewer than 180 school days.

At the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, Wally the dog will be on hand to read with kids on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Ruby Yassen has been named the valedictorian of Pierson High School’s class of 2020, and Chase Allardice its salutatorian.     

A revived focus on career and technical education, new ways to demonstrate mastery of the skills that come with it, news literacy, and financial competence emerged as ideas for possible updates to high school graduation requirements last week during a public forum convened to examine just that.     

When asked about their favorite books last week, the members of the fall and winter Leadership Council at John M. Marshall Elementary School all raised their hands simultaneously and began naming title after title in rapid succession.

School budget season is in full swing on the South Fork, where school officials have been busy debating construction projects, textbook purchases, employee raises, and new programs to include — or cuts to make — in next year’s new spending plans.     

Sag Harbor Village police this week investigated a threat of violence that was said to have been made by a Pierson Middle and High School student, ultimately finding it to be without credibility

The students who created Breathe In Change at East Hampton High School, a group opposed to vaping, have also brought change there in the form of fewer student suspensions, more honest conversations, and a heightened awareness of the negative effects of vaping.     

A Sensory Friendly Morning at the Children's Museum of the East End, a primer on creating a family tree, printmaking, and a new session of Mandarin language classes in Sag Harbor are among the happenings of interest for kids this week.

The Bridgehampton School has announced that Madeline Grabb is the valedictorian of this year’s graduating class, and Jaden Campbell is the salutatorian.

“It’s important, because black people don’t see black people in books,” said Carol Spencer, the owner of a traveling bookstore, “and in the history books they are always slaves.”     

East Hampton School District administrators and board members continued poring over their proposed 2020-21 spending plan on Tuesday, deciding to add some new, one-time expenses for the middle school.     

Educators, parents, students, employers, and community members have been invited to a series of regional meetings hosted by the New York State Board of Regents, which oversees public education, as part of the board’s new review of high school graduation requirements.  

The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor is offering Mandarin lessons for children ages 5 to 8 beginning on Saturday.

The New York State Education Department has postponed making a final call on new rules that would give public schools more oversight into the educational offerings of private and parochial schools after thousands of people across the state criticized the proposal.     

Lily Mongan, a graduate of the Amagansett School, has spent most of her high school career abroad, learning languages and dreaming of one day being accepted at Oxford University in England. Her dream has come true.       

Tomorrow at 4 p.m. for Black History Month, the library will show “A Ballerina’s Tale,” a documentary about Misty Copeland, the first African-American to be named principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre.

The show opens on Friday, Feb. 28, with other performances on Saturday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m.

Guild Hall has named the high school competition winners of its annual student art show, which this year had a theme — “made by water” — for the first time.

Schools may be closed next week, but that doesn’t mean parents get the week off. With that in mind, East Hampton Town, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, Project Most, and Bay Street Theater each have school break offerings to keep kids busy for at least part of the workday.     

East Hampton School Board members agreed this week that a number of badly needed renovations should be included in the 2020-21 school budget, which the board officially began discussing on Tuesday night.     

The pediatric flu season this year is shaping up to be an intense one, with local schools reporting dozens of confirmed cases of sick children being kept at home.

Brandon Broderick, a geologist and the president of a company that tested soil at the Sag Harbor Learning Center, put to rest school board members’ worries over arsenic contamination during a Jan. 27 meeting of the board.

In East Hampton, educators are getting ready to expand a pilot kindergarten program in which half the school day is taught in English and half in Spanish, citing success better than they could have projected.

Samantha Prince has been named the East Hampton High School class of 2020 valedictorian, and Wells Woolcott has been named the class salutatorian.