As the Suffolk County Department of Health’s division of vector control began annual aerial application of methoprene, a mosquito larvicide, over salt marshes on the South Fork last week, a pilot program that would ban spraying over a study site next year began to take shape.

The East Hampton Town Trustees have long agitated for a ban on methoprene, which they argue is harmful to nontarget species, including lobsters, crabs, and fish. Suffolk officials have dismissed that claim, and the Legislature has consistently approved its use to control mosquitoes, which can carry West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis, and other diseases.

At the urging of commercial fishermen, Connecticut prohibited the use of methoprene in coastal areas in 2013. Fishermen and environmentalists in New York have long advocated a ban, and the East Hampton Town Board has repeatedly voiced its opposition to its use.

  Growing opposition on the South Fork to the large-scale use of chemicals, however, prompted county officials, including Tom Iwanejko, the director of vector control, to meet with the trustees and County Legislator Bridget Fleming in December. The result is a trial ban.

Should the county approve it, methoprene would not be applied to a study area starting next year and lasting for one to three years. The trustees are focusing on a portion of Accabonac Harbor and are seeking approval from adjacent property owners. They plan to engage a third party to collect data this year to determine methoprene’s effectiveness in controlling mosquito populations and its impact on nontarget species.

“There is real movement, for the first time, on the part of the county’s vector control,” Ms. Fleming, who represents the South Fork, Shelter Island, and part of Brookhaven, said on Tuesday. “There’s a recognition . . . that the goal of reducing or eliminating methoprene is a good and valid goal. But with public health in mind, it’s nothing that can happen overnight.”

Long before the trial is to begin, however, some activists have found fault with it and are pressing the trustees and the county to go further. Kevin McAllister, the founder of Defend H2O and the former Peconic Baykeeper, has been campaigning for a methoprene ban for a decade. At a trustees meeting on Monday, he warned that “Suffolk County will go to great lengths to not allow any meaningful science to come forward.” He cited research by Michael Horst, a scientist at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center, among others, who have concluded that methoprene is deadly to nontarget species.

“I urge you, if there’s a no-spraying test, it is the entirety of the watershed,” Mr. McAllister said. “To try to partition off a section of a marsh . . . when you talk about drift, the complexities are just too much.” He predicted the trustees would not prevail in a scientific debate with the county. “Quite frankly, vector control, with respect to their program, bases their effectiveness and response to the number of phone calls that they receive relative to nuisance control,” he said.

If all of Accabonac Harbor became a methoprene-free zone, “I’m certain that, at the end of a summer, we’ll neither see incidents of disease or a notable increase in problems and phone calls,” Mr. McAllister said. “That’s based on this community’s connection to water resources and natural resources. That’s my recommendation to the board. I hope you take it into consideration as you start to tailor whatever review or study you’re considering.”

“We realize this project is minuscule,” Bill Taylor, a trustee, replied, “but we were in a situation where nothing was being done. After years of badgering vector control, we finally got them to move a little bit.”

Jim Grimes, Mr. Taylor’s colleague, agreed. “You’ve been at this a lot longer than we have,” he told Mr. McAllister, “so I can understand the level of impatience you have. But on our end, we asked for something, we did get some response. . . . I would think that we would do more damage to the case to turn around and walk away from that than we are by accepting it and moving forward.”

Francis Bock, the trustees’ clerk, said on Tuesday that, while Mr. McAllister’s criticism may be valid, “We should take what we have now. If it goes well we can either expand it, or take it somewhere else.”

Edwina von Gal, founder of the Perfect Earth Project, which promotes toxin-free lawns and landscapes, is also skeptical of the county’s motivation. “There are many land mines built into the way they offered this,” she said. “Basically, it’s created to fail. . . . There is no indication of what they want us to test for that would convince them that they should stop spraying, because they know there isn’t anything we could come up with that’s conclusive.”

She echoed Mr. McAllister’s complaint about the usefulness of a trial area. “They’re not agreeing to include all of Accabonac. That’s not a scientific study, there’s going to be drift. It should be Accabonac versus Napeague: one test site, one control. That makes it poor science from the start.”

Ms. von Gal referred to a petition, at the website change.org, urging the cessation of methoprene application over Napeague as well as Accabonac Harbor. The petition, which had 649 signatures yesterday morning, is directed to DuWayne Gregory, the Legislature’s presiding officer, as well as other officials.

Ms. Fleming called criticism of the proposed trial “unfortunate and premature. I would really urge folks to take a deep breath here and recognize we’re on the threshold of change. Even though it may be incremental change, it’s good stuff. . . .”

“Everything is pointing in the direction of moving toward the reduction or elimination of toxic spraying,” Ms. Fleming said, “and I feel confident that we’re going to get it done. It isn’t going to happen overnight; this is public health we’re talking about, but I do believe we can make real progress.”

A Springs man was selling cocaine and ecstasy in the East Hampton area, including out of his house on Hollyoak Avenue, East Hampton Town police said. Officers with the East End Drug Task Force arrested Kody J. Knudsen, 28, on Thursday morning on six felony drug charges. 

"After police received numerous complaints about an unusually high volume of pedestrian and vehicular traffic from his residence," Lt. Greg Schaefer said in a press release. The task force, a drug enforcement unit funded by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota's office, was brought into the investigation. 

Mr. Knudsen was charged with four counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree, and one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, all felonies. He was arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court Thursday and was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverside. He was held without bail because he has at least two prior felony convictions. 

In the most recent case, he pleaded guilty in 2015 to driving while intoxicated and under the influence of drugs, a felony because of a prior misdemeanor D.W.I. conviction. He was arrested that summer after crashing a 2009 Mercedes-Benz into a utility pole on the Napeague stretch. He was also charged at the time with felony weapons possession, but the grand jury that indicted him ultimately dropped that charge.

Police are asking that anyone with information on the investigation contact the East Hampton Town Police Department at 631-537-7575. All calls will be kept confidential. 

Two last-minute candidates have entered the Amagansett School Board race, turning the district’s seemingly uneventful election into a highly contested one.

Mary A. Eames and Claudia L. Quintana declared write-in candidacies following a school board meeting on May 9 that was tense and, at times, accusatory.

Ms. Eames, a clerk in the school district, said during a phone interview that it was time for her to "either step up or shut up."

She was a vocal attendee at Tuesday's school board meeting, questioning things such as the need for a third administrator to help the superintendent and the school principal, at a rate of $350 a day. The money does not appear in the budget, according to Ms. Eames.

Despite her obvious frustration with what she believes is a lack of transparency, Ms. Eames insists she does not harbor any negativity towards the school but feels it is time for changes on the board. ”I decided to put myself on the ballot because I'm just not getting any clear answers,” she said.

The second write-in candidate is Claudia Quintana, a resident of Amagansett for the past 11 years. Ms. Quintana has one child attending the school and teaches at the John M. Marshall Elementary School. She is also pursuing a degree in bilingual education.

Ms. Quintana decided to throw her hat in the ring after noticing only one new contestant on the ballot — Anna Bernasek — and especially a lack of Latino board members. She believes "as a bilingual member I can be a real asset to the board in serving Amagansett's diverse community.”

Ms. Eames and Ms. Quintana will are seeking seats along with one newcomer, Anna Bernasek, and the incumbent board president, Patrick Bistrian III, on the ballot. Because Ms. Eames and Ms. Quintana did not submit petitions by the deadline for doing so, their names will not appear on Tuesday's ballot.

Amagansett’s budget is up by 1.96 percent this year to just under $10.7 million. Voting will be in the school gym from 2 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. 

A woman was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital after the sports utility vehicle she was driving was sideswiped by a Mack truck on Monday afternoon. 

The woman, whose name was not immediately released, was behind the wheel of a 2013 GMC on Springs-Fireplace Road when she stopped to make a left-hand turn onto Hartley Boulevard, according to East Hampton Town Police Sergeant Chelsea Tierney. She was waiting for traffic to pass when a 2013 Toyota S.U.V. struck the GMC from behind, pushing it into oncoming traffic at about 2:15 p.m. 

A Bistrian's truck sideswiped the GMC. All of the airbags in the GMC deployed, Sergeant Tierney said. The Springs Fire Department's heavy rescue was called, but was not needed to remove the driver from the GMC.

The driver complained of chest pain, and appeared to be in shock. Due to the nature of her injuries, emergency medical service personnel from the Springs Fire Department decided to medevac her. She was treated at the scene and a Springs ambulance transported her to East Hampton Airport, where the medevac landed. 

The man behind the wheel of the Toyota also complained of chest pain and was taken to Southampton Hospital. His name was also not immediately released. Sergeant Tierney said he did not have a license. He will be issued several tickets for unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and following too closely.  

The Bistrian's truck driver was not injured. 

The shadbush are blooming, and the dogwoods and lilacs are, too, which means that there should be fish around. And so there are. 

A solid run of very, very small but hungry bass have hit the ocean beaches, rewarding surfcasters using teasers with double-headers. Bigger bass have been lurking around Sag Harbor. And long and skinny “runner” bluefish were reported at several Gardiner’s Bay inlets. Wire leaders are advised.

This time of the year can be hit or miss, probably due to still-cold water, so to satisfy a fishing-crazed 7-year-old this columnist suggested dip-netting for tadpoles in a Northwest Woods pond as an alternative. Birds chirped, tadpoles were plentiful, and there were ticks about, too, so be forewarned.

Spring also means that it is time to check that your permits are in order. New York State requires that anyone 16 and older who is fishing in marine waters obtain a free registry card. Reports are spotty about how strictly Department of Environmental Conservation police check for these, but anecdotally there have been stories of officers checking fall-run bass anglers on the beaches.

There are several ways to sign up for the registry: by phone, 866-933-2257, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday; online at decals.dec.ny.gov/decalscitizenweb (which allows for the permit to be printed on the fly), and at some of the larger sporting goods stores. The East Hampton Town Clerk’s office on Pantigo Road in East Hampton and Southampton Town Hall on Hampton Street also issue state fishing and hunting licenses, including the marine registry card, which is valid for a year from the date of issue. 

Having a marine registry card in hand is a prerequisite for a state beach driving permit, which is valid for a year at Napeague State Park, Hither Hills, and Robert Moses. It goes on sale on Sept. 5 this year for $65.

The state stirred up a bit of outrage after moving up the spring cutoff date for beach driving permits to March 31. Would-be permit buyers accustomed to the old April 30 deadline were left in the cold.

Annual freshwater licenses cost $25, $5 for those 70 and older. East Hampton Town residents who want to fish in Hook Pond via the Sea Spray Cottages access are required to stop at Village Hall on Main Street for a free annual access permit.

Harvey Bennett at the Tackle Shop in Amagansett said that big bluefish had arrived at Gerard Drive in Springs on Saturday and Sunday. Customers were running into the shop all weekend grabbing popping plugs. 

Sebastian Gorgone of Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle on Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton caught his first bluefish of the year on a half-ounce bucktail at Sammy’s Beach on Monday night. He said that over the weekend they had “come in like crazy from Lazy Point to Three Mile Harbor.” He recommended tossing anything shiny and strong to the passing blues; soft-plastic shad lures were just going to get torn to bits, he said.

That same evening at Accabonac Harbor, the pick appeared slow. Only a single bump on a slow-retrieved Yo Zuri minnow answered an hour of casting on a fast incoming tide, and most of the half-dozen anglers left by dark.

Recent storms pounding the Napeague ocean shoreline had created bait-holding structures that, in turn, drew in some small bass, Gorgone said. This squared with what other sources reported.

“They’ve been catching striped bass at White Sands, Ditch, and down at the Point,” Bennett said. A customer told him that midweek last week, he was landing 20-to-24-inch bass on nearly every cast.

Freshwater activity has been on the upswing. “Guys have been just killing those walleye down in Fort Pond in Montauk,” Bennett said. A couple of largemouth bass have taken a lure at Hook Pond. But an angler there targeting carp on Sunday said he’d had no action.

“The neat thing about this is that there are a lot of fish around but there are not a lot of fishermen,” he said.

Ken Morse of Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor said that there were a lot of striped bass in and around the coves, mostly on the shorter side, but with a couple of keepers, that is, 28 inches or longer, mixed in.

“The bite seems to be best after dark or into darkness,” he said, with fish taking a liking to subsurface swimmers, minnows, darters, small bucktails, and jig heads with soft plastics.

There were reports of weakfish in Shinnecock Bay very early in the morning or at dusk, and a few bluefish at Three Mile Harbor, Morse said. Porgy season is on now, but fish were, for the most part, being boated west in the Peconic, he said.

Action at Montauk’s marinas was mostly limited to getting boats into the water and ready to go. But with fluke fishing opening up for recreational anglers on Wednesday, that is likely to change. The limits this year in New York waters are expected to be three fish per angler per day with 19 inches the minimum length, but that had not been finalized, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation office in Setauket. A word of warning: Last year’s recreational limits were still posted on the D.E.C. website as of earlier this week; try telling that to the officers in green, though, if they stop to check your cooler.

Boaters, especially those with children, in need of a course in the safety basics, can sign up for a May 20 class at Gardiner’s Marina on Three Mile Harbor. The eight-hour course is presented by the Coast Guard Auxiliary and costs $50. Topics will include legal requirements, safety and equipment, navigation and rules of the “road,” how to deal with emergencies, trailering, and storage. Rick Drew, the dock master at Harbor Marina, can be phoned to sign up, 631-324-5666.

Drew emailed a report on Monday confirming that the first bluefish of the season have been hitting along Gerard Drive. Schoolie stripers are in the creeks and harbors, too. “They have been finicky, with small bait presentations and fly patterns working best. A nice keeper bass was caught near Shelter Island this week,” he said. 

There were reports of a few weakfish being in Peconic Bay as well, Drew said.

Offshore, recreationally, things still are all about the planning. The Star Island Yacht Club has announced that its 2017 shark tournament will be on June 16 and 17. Following a new state law, all participating boats will have to use non-stainless circle hooks in an effort to decrease catch-and-release mortality. Montauk Marine Basin’s shark tournament is on June 22. The entry fee per boat for each tournament is $1,250.

No one picked up the phone in two days of calling Paulie’s Tackle in Montauk, which can be understood as meaning that things are s-l-o-w slow out east so far.

Citing a lack of agreement on the terms of a new lease and a lack of rent payments, the East Hampton Town Board voted last Thursday to evict the Country School, a private preschool, from the land in Wainscott it has leased from the town since 1998.

The town claims the Country School’s original lease has lapsed and that negotiations on a new lease have been unsuccessful. But Deena Zenger, the founder and operator of the school, says that, following the terms of her original lease, which included an option to purchase the property where Ms. Zenger built her school, she duly informed the town in 2012 that she wanted to exercise an option to renew.

The site on Industrial Road is part of an industrial park established by the town decades ago to provide space for local businesses to rent at nominal cost. It is technically part of the East Hampton Airport property, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The federal agency put the town on notice years ago that accepting low-cost rents for the properties and placing that revenue in the town’s general fund did not comply with regulations. Fair-market value rent must be charged, the F.A.A. said, and the money must go into the airport fund. In addition, the F.A.A. said the town lacks the authority to sell off any airport land without its approval.

While Ms. Zenger has been paying in the neighborhood of $3,000 a year in rent, the new lease being offered by the town calls for $76,000 in annual rent, with no option to purchase the site.

Several new leases recently approved by the town board call for similar market-value rents. A hearing will take place next Thursday night on leasing a 2.5-acre industrial park site to a limited-liability company called HTO East Hampton Distributors for $90,000 a year for a 20-year term, with two five-year renewals.

According to Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, the town has also applied for F.A.A. approval on behalf of two other businesses in the industrial park that had also been given options to buy in their original leases, and have informed the town they wish to exercise that right.

In a letter issued this week to parents of children who attend the Country School, Ms. Zenger claimed that “the town entered into an illegal lease agreement with me and I was not aware of it at the time. The F.A.A. (Federal Aviation Administration) has jurisdiction over all of the lots on Industrial Road and the town never got their approval for my lease. According to the F.A.A., these lots were never intended to be sold. So instead of the town taking responsibility for their mistake, they are trying to say I never renewed my original lease, therefore withholding my right to now purchase the land.”

“Why would I construct this $2 million building on property I would never be able to buy?” she asked in a phone interview yesterday. “I’ve worked my whole life to build this.”

According to the town, Ms. Zenger’s original lease, with the option to purchase the property, has expired, as she failed to renew it in 2013 at the end of the original 15-year term. “She’s in the unfortunate position of not having a lease,” Mr. Cantwell said on Monday. The town, under the F.A.A. edict, is unable to offer the original terms.

But Ms. Zenger said she duly informed the town in writing before the deadline with a letter delivered by hand to Town Hall, and has provided officials with a copy of that letter. The former school employee who dropped off the letter is willing to provide an affidavit to that effect, she said.

“The board would love to negotiate in good faith with the Country School. They’ve been there for a long time; they provide a good service,” said Mr. Cantwell this week. “It’s just a matter of coming to an agreement within the constraints that the town has with the F.A.A.”

But, he said, “there really has not been any movement to conclude that the Country School was negotiating with the town. We were left with no choice but to put them on notice. We take this action reluctantly, but seriously,” he said.

“We would like to work with her because we value the service the Country School provides, and the local people they employ,” Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said on Tuesday. She said town officials had met with Ms. Zenger “at least twice,” in April last year and in January.

The town, Ms. Zenger told parents in her letter, has “acknowledged that they would not enforce” the eviction notice while the situation plays out in court. The worse-case scenario,” she told parents, “is a judge rules in favor of the town . . . and that I am stuck paying an exorbitant amount of money for the lease of a property I will never own.”

“All that being said,” she told her students’ families, “the Country School is not closing, nor will it be closing at any time in the next few years.”

Members of the Montauk Playhouse Community Foundation, working to begin what has been planned from the start as the second phase of the reconstruction of the 1927 Tudor-style building, have turned to East Hampton Town for help, hoping it will invest $3 million to boost the $8.5 million project to completion.

With the proceeds of a $6 million bond issued by East Hampton Town in 2003, the foundation created a gymnasium, fitness center, and spaces for adult and child day-care programs, which have been operating since 2006.

A large indoor space was left undeveloped for phase two, designed to include an aquatic center and a cultural arts center.

The foundation has $2.5 million in donations in the bank and another $500,000 expected. If the town provides $3 million, Susan Henkin, the executive director of the playhouse, told the town board at a meeting in Montauk on Tuesday, it would be easy to raise the additional $2.5 million needed. A number of donors have promised additional donations when the project gets closer to its goal, she said, adding that the remainder of the money could be raised “in very short order.”

“People are waiting in the wings to contribute, but want to see tangible progress,” said Perry B. (Chip) Duryea III, a playhouse foundation board member. “When that shovel goes in the ground a lot of good things will happen.” Encouraging the town’s participation, he said, “This is a project that needs to get done, and it needs to get done soon.” With the aquatics and cultural centers completed, Mr. Duryea said, the playhouse would be a magnet and a “tremendous plus for the community, on many levels.”

According to a business plan developed by the foundation board, the aquatic and cultural centers are to be self-sustaining, with revenues from memberships, admission to events, and rentals of the space.

The aquatic center is to have two pools, for lap swimming and for recreation. The cultural center would include flexible, multi-use spaces that could accommodate conferences, events, meetings, and performances, and an entrance lobby that could be used for gatherings and exhibits.

The building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was constructed by Carl Fisher as a tennis stadium and is on the Preservation League of New York State’s “Seven to Save” list.

 It was taken over by the Navy during World War II, then converted for use as a summer theater. It was also used for indoor riding by the Montauk Horsemen’s Association and as a movie theater before being closed in the 1970s. After several failed attempts to develop the site for affordable housing and apartments for senior citizens, Joseph Oppenheimer, the building’s owner, donated it to East Hampton Town in 1999.

Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said the previous town board’s decision to save and renovate the playhouse had been a good one. “A significant investment was made by the town at that time,” he said, and “it turned out to be a wonderful asset. We’re kind of at a crossroads again in terms of completing a vision,” he said.

Should the town board decide to modify the capital budget for 2018 or 2019 to include money for the playhouse, bonds would be issued and the completion of phase two would become a joint project, with municipal procedures to be followed, he said.

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Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Playhouse Foundation has $250,000 in donations in the bank. In fact, it has $2.5 million in donations in the bank. 

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. issued a statement Friday assailing the American Health Care Act, which passed by a 217-213 vote in the House of Representatives last Thursday. The act, a step in the Republican majority’s campaign to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, “would be a catastrophic blow to the health and welfare of all New Yorkers,” Mr. Thiele said.

The plan could leave 2.7 million state residents without health care coverage, the assemblyman said, and reduce federal aid under Medicaid to the state by $4.3 billion. “These cuts could force New York State to choose among increased taxes, slashed health care coverage, and devastating health care providers,” he predicted.

Nursing homes would lose $401 million, home care would be cut by $360 million, and hospitals would lose $355 million, Mr. Thiele charged. “Locally, we have worked long and hard to effectuate a merger between Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook University Hospital that would improve health care to our residents in a financially sustainable manner. This plan could seriously undermine the anticipated benefits of the merger,” he said.

If passed in its present form, the act would remove the requirement that insurance companies provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Mr. Thiele said some 8.4 million New Yorkers under the age of 65 have pre-existing conditions. The plan also eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood.

“I condemn those members of Congress who by voting ‘yes’ put partisan politics ahead of the public good,” Mr. Thiele said. Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican serving New York’s First Congressional District, voted in favor of the act. Twenty House Republicans voted against it, as did every Democrat.

“There can be no doubt that the current health insurance system is flawed and needs to be repaired,” Mr. Thiele said. “However, the bill passed yesterday is headed 180 degrees in the wrong direction. It is now up to the members of the U.S. Senate to stop this horrific bill in its tracks so it never makes it to President Trump’s desk.”

The property occupied by the now-defunct Cyril’s Fish House will be the subject of a hearing on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals.

Last year the ownership group and Cyril Fitzsimons, the namesake and founder of the restaurant, parted ways, with Michael Dioguardi and his family agreeing with the town to bring the property into compliance with town zoning regulations. Mr. Fitzsimons, on the other hand, took his chances at a trial in East Hampton Town Justice Court, where he was ultimately found guilty of 45 code violations, almost all misdemeanors.

The hearing on Tuesday is part of the legalization process for the slightly more than half-acre property, as per an agreement between the town and the owners. The agreement “effectively legalizes a number of structures and additions made on the property since its rezoning in 1984,” Eric Schantz, a senior planner for the town, wrote in a memo to the board. The owners also agreed to relocate a grease trap, Dumpster-garbage compactor, and two storage containers, and to remove multiple accessory structures such as a storage container and brick patios. The restaurant’s capacity will be limited to 62 seats, inside and out.

This is the first of a two-phase set of hearings to legalize the establishment, according to Mr. Schantz’s memo.

Mr. Fitzsimons is appealing the six-person jury verdict.

A letter written by Paige Morehead, the Springs School’s speech therapist, asking the school board to reconsider the abrupt resignation of the school’s assistant principal, Christine Cleary, prompted an outcry Monday night at the school’s annual budget hearing.

The letter, read aloud by Cristen Keyes, a third-grade teacher at the school (Ms. Morehead was unable to attend the meeting), beseeched the board to retain Ms. Cleary, saying she played a vital role alongside the principal, Eric Casale, in helping to manage an already short-staffed, packed-to-the-gills school. The writer described the elimination of the position as “not thought through at all.”

Barbara Dayton, the board president, responded. “I think we need to clear something up. The board did not eliminate the assistant principal position,” she said.

Several staff and community members, appearing stunned, followed Ms. Keyes to the podium looking for answers, especially to determine who was responsible for Ms. Cleary’s departure.

“I can hear your frustration by the lack of answers,” said Ms. Dayton, “but we simply cannot discuss employment contracts and terms at this time.”

Brenda Crozier, a greeter for the school, rose to speak. “I sit in a position from where I can observe exactly how indispensable Christine Cleary is to the school,” she said. “She and Mr. Casale make a great team . . . the students feel valued knowing there is always someone there for them. Most staff are under the impression that the assistant principal position was cut because we now have a new superintendent to work with Mr. Casale, and Ms. Cleary is no longer needed.”

“The assistant principal position has not been removed from next year’s budget. That’s really all we can say,” replied Ms. Dayton.

A parent of two children at the school, Sema Mendelman, also voiced frustration. “Until we get some answers, the rumor mill will keep going,” said Ms. Mendelman. “We heard that she was given the option to either become a teacher or leave.”

School Superintendent John J. Finello, who is due to retire on June 30, responded. “We cannot control the misinformation that spreads, but the fact is, we cannot discuss personnel issues,” he said. “There are some things for which we cannot provide answers immediately.”

Ms. Cleary could not be reached for comment. Ms. Dayton wrote in an email to The Star, “As of this time the board of education has not acted upon Ms. Cleary’s resignation as assistant principal.”

Also at the meeting, Carl Fraser, the interim school business administrator, again presented the tax-compliant budget for 2017-2018, with a bottom line of $28.1 million. The numbers have more or less remained unchanged since February, and the full-capacity crowd had no comments to make.