Baby Gear Swap

Did junior grow so fast he never got to wear that super-cute “I’ve got an awesome mom” onesie? Not sure what to do with the nearly new stroller your little bundle of joy refused to ride in? 

The answer may lie in the Children’s Museum of the East End’s annual baby gear swap on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Bridgehampton. New and expectant parents will find strollers, cribs, new and gently used clothing, and more at the swap, and early childhood educators will be on hand to share information.

Those with gear to donate have been asked to call the museum or email [email protected]. The event is free, but it does not include admission to the museum. 

Tasty Apple Treats

Apples and cupcakes will be on the menu this weekend at the Montauk Library. Kids 2 to 5 will celebrate the first day of fall on Saturday at 1 p.m. with an apple story time and craft, and then decorate cupcakes to look like apples. At 3 p.m., children 6 and older will take over the cupcake stations, using supplies provided by the library to make more treats with an autumn theme. Advance registration is required for both programs. 

Emojis, Pollock, and Essays

Fall wreaths, emoji Mason jars, and artwork inspired by Jackson Pollock are among the children and teen offerings at the East Hampton Library this week. 

High school students will use recycled materials to make wreaths during a program on Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. On Tuesday, kids in sixth through eighth grades will get the materials they need to make mini Mason jars look like emojis at 4 p.m. Littler artists ages 3 to 5 can unleash their inner action painter during a Pollock-themed Messy Masterpieces workshop on Wednesday at 4 p.m. A dog story time and craft for ages 4 to 6 will take place next Thursday at 4 p.m. Advance sign-up is required for all of the above.

Also next Thursday, high school seniors can book half-hour college essay tutoring sessions between 3 and 5 p.m. Sessions will also be offered on Oct. 4, 11, and 18. Tutoring is open to all seniors, but preference will be given to residents of the East Hampton Library District. 

Over at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton on Wednesday at 4 p.m., kids 7 to 12 will learn to make advanced paper airplanes including, the library promises, “a world record-holder for longest flight.” Children 4 and older will make planet sun catchers during a program on Friday, Sept. 28, at 4 p.m.

Bridgehampton School District residents approved an additional $4.74 million in funding Thursday for the district's renovation and expansion project, bumping the total funding for the project to $29.4 million and avoiding a new round of delays that could have pushed completion of the project well past the current July 2020 target date.

The district will immediately bid out the project to contractors in hopes of breaking ground on construction work by November, if all proceeds as planned. 

Voters approved the measure 132-98.

“Once again, the Bridgehampton community comes out to show incredible support for the students, staff, and community itself," Robert Hauser, the district superintendent, said Thursday night.

Mr. Hauser said he had been cautiously optimistic in the days leading up to the vote.

"I hadn't really been presented with any negative concerns [from voters] – every indication I was hearing about the vote was very positive," Mr. Hauser said. "I think people just want to see it started."

The new bond issue will be combined with $24.7 million in funding that voters approved for the project in December 2016. The request for the added money happened because of cost increases during the district's yearlong wait for the State Education Department to issue its building permit for the project. The district could not solicit construction bids until it had the permit in hand. Once it did, district officials and John A. Grillo, the school's architect on the project, said they were surprised and dismayed when the construction bids came back 25 percent higher than expected in two separate rounds of bidding this summer.

"I've been doing this for 27 years, and I've never seen anything come close to this — nearly a 25-percent increase in two years," Mr. Grillo said at a citizens forum last week in the same school gym where district residents voted Thursday.

Downsizing the project rather than seeking the additional $4.7 million in funding was considered. But William Jackson, the district's bond attorney, said the district had to be careful about slashing features that voters thought they were getting when they approved the original $24.7 million.

"The general test that we use is you have to deliver the project as originally designed in all material respects," Mr. Jackson said.

Mr. Hauser said the funding would add about $20 to homeowners' tax bills for every $1 million of assessed value on their homes.

When the planned additions and renovations are completed, the 80-year-old school building – which currently houses 228 students in kindergarten through 12th grade – will get new science, technology, English, math, and music rooms, as well as a new regulation-size gym, locker rooms, and cafeteria. Part of the current gym will become an auditorium and the remainder a new school library. The school will also be able to move its prekindergarten into the main building and out of 40-year-old modular classrooms on the west side of the school.

Mr. Hauser said, "The architect has led us to believe it could take about 20 months, which means we would be completed sometime around July 2020, and students would start in the new building that September."

Alanah Johnson, a high school junior who has attended the Bridgehampton School since prekindergarten, said Thursday afternoon that she was hoping the vote would pass.

"I won't still be here when it's done, but I hope it's approved," Alanah said, standing outside the gym as voting went on. "This is a small school. Everyone is like family here. There's been a lot of talk about the expansion." 

Mr. Hauser said neither school officials nor Mr. Grillo had discussed exactly what would have been cut from the plans if the new funding had not been obtained.

"We would only cross that bridge when we had to," Mr. Hauser said.

Parents and school officials who spoke at last week's forum cited an array of reasons why they felt the expansion is necessary. They gave examples of the overcrowded classrooms that are now divided in two by temporary partitions, children having to take tests in the hallways, and how the shortage of space constrained the school's ability to add more student programming and activities.

One school district resident, Phillipe Cheng, said, "It's a financial question, yes, but more so it's a human question. . . . It has a human face. Lives are changed here. . . . This school district is striving to make a difference in kids' lives. See beyond the numbers. . . . Let's all make a difference."

Lillian Tyree-Johnson, the vice president of the Bridgehampton School Board, drew applause when she said, "We're the only school district on the East End that has not done capital improvement in the last 25 years, and we are direly in need. . . . We're asking for what we need. It is not a wish list."  

Big Truck Day

Big rigs of all varieties, from ambulances and fire trucks to tractors and semis, will be on hand at the Children’s Museum of the East End’s Big Truck Day on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon in Bridgehampton.

The focus will be on the machines that “keep the East End moving,” according to the museum, but for those driving something smaller — say a dad in a minivan or a mom in an S.U.V. — a police officer at an inspection station will make sure car seats are installed correctly. Admission is $15, but members of the museum get in free. Space is limited, however, so advance registration has been suggested. 

Holidays New and Old

You may not know it, but Saturday is International Dot Day. To celebrate, the Montauk Library will teach kids 7 and older about Georges Seurat, an artist who painted with “dots,” and lead them as they paint their own autumn pointillist scenes. 

Next Thursday, the children’s department will celebrate a holiday many people probably do know about — Mexican Independence Day. From 4 to 5 p.m., there will be games, dancing, Mexican folk tales, and a sweet treat. Advance registration is required for both programs.

Dance Classes Begin

Registration is underway for classes at both the Hampton Ballet Theatre School in Bridgehampton and Dancehampton in East Hampton. Classes at each began this week.

The Hampton Ballet Theatre School offers for children 41/2 and older instruction in classical ballet as well as contemporary classes with a focus on hip-hop, jazz, tap, and dance at studios on Butter Lane and at the Bridgehampton Community House. The school produces “The Nutcracker” in December at Guild Hall and a spring production as well. Children must be enrolled in the school’s fall and winter semesters to be eligible for “The Nutcracker” workshop. Rehearsals start on Friday, Sept. 21, and Sept. 22. For individual class details and registration, the school can be reached at 631-237-4810 or [email protected].

Dancehampton classes for children in preschool through high school include hip-hop, jazz and musical theater, Irish step, ballet, and lyrical. They are offered Monday through Saturday. The studio puts on a spring show and also has a dance company that travels for competitions. Registration is online at dancehampton.com.

“13 the Musical” at Pierson

Pierson High School’s theater department and International Baccalaureate program will present “13 the Musical” tomorrow and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the school auditorium.

Admission is free, but seats can be reserved in advance by searching “13 the Musical Pierson High School” at eventbrite.com. Donations from the audience will help cover the expenses associated with the production; any additional proceeds will be donated to Bay Street’s Literature Live! program.

This will mark the second production of “13 the Musical” for some students, who were in sixth and seventh grade five years ago, when the middle school theater department first staged it under the direction of Paula Brannon. They fell in love with it, according to a release, and convinced Ms. Brannon to fly in from California to help them recreate it as part of the I.B. program’s creativity, action, and service requirement for graduation. 

Students have taken on directing, acting, producing, fund-raising, and marketing roles for this weekend’s production. Participants include Anna Schiavoni, Reilly Rose Schombs, Yanni Bitis, Graham DiLorenzo, Thomas Lawton, Eva Doyle, and Ella Knibb.

Fun With Tie-Dye 

Families will use leaves, flowers, and other things collected on a walk at the South Fork Natural Museum in Bridgehampton on Saturday to make unusual tie-dye pieces during a workshop on Saturday at 10 a.m. Attendees have been asked to take a T-shirt or other piece of fabric to dye. Shirts will also be available for purchase for $10. Registration ahead of time is required. 

Hands On

At the East Hampton Library this week, kids have several opportunities to set aside advanced technology and work with their hands. On Wednesday at 3 p.m., kids 7 to 10 will use dried beans and legumes to make mosaic prints. Then at 4 p.m., things could get wonderfully messy during an art workshop for ages 3 to 5 inspired by Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Participants have been advised to wear a smock or large T-shirt if they can.

Three Snap Circuits electronics workshops will be given this week for kids 7 and older: tomorrow and Friday, Sept. 21, at 3:30 p.m., and Monday at 4 p.m.

About 30 people turned out at a Bridgehampton community forum last Thursday night to ask pointed questions and hear Bridgehampton School District officials and contractors explain the confluence of events that is sending the district back to residents Thursday for a vote to approve an additional $4.7 million for renovation and expansion of the school, on top of the $24.7 million that voters greenlighted two years ago.

The vote takes place from 2 to 8 p.m. in the school gym.

The rationale for the project — which would double the size of the 80-year-old building, update its mechanical systems, and add badly needed classrooms, a regulation-size gym, and other basics — was only mildly debated during the 90-minute forum in the school’s gym.

Lillian Tyree-Johnson, a vice president of the Bridgehampton School Board, who was seated in the audience, drew applause when she said, “We’re the only school district on the East End that has not done capital improvement in the last 25 years, and we are direly in need. We have kids testing in hallways and it’s not right. We’re asking for what we need. It is not a wish list.” 

If the additional funding is approved, Robert Hauser, the district superintendent, estimated that individual taxpayers’ bills would rise about $20 a year for every million dollars of assessed value on their homes.

If not approved, Mr. Hauser said, the district could revisit downsizing the project. But that would require redesigning the plans and then going back to the school board, then the New York State Education Department for new permit approval and would add years to the completion of the project. Originally, the district had hoped to break ground on it in May 2018. 

Joyce Weinberg, who has a child in middle school, said waiting will be difficult as it is.

“I’m a brand-new homeowner in Bridgehampton. I moved here from New York just for this school,” Ms. Weinberg said. “This building, while it seems enormous, is so overcrowded. The library for the school already is not sufficient for the needs of the kids. What can we do to get bids from good contractors that make sense?”

Pamela Harwood of the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee came to the forum prepared with a list of questions from C.A.C. members. She was among the residents who wanted to know how such a significant cost overrun could have happened? Did officials consider eliminating features of the project to make budget?

Mr. Hauser and the district’s architect, John A. Grillo of Port Jefferson, provided some detailed answers.

Mr. Grillo said the district was set back when its permit from the State Education Department to proceed with the $24.7 million renovation took nearly a year to obtain, or twice as long as expected — a delay he attributed to the department’s backlog and staffing shortage. 

The permit delay pushed the district’s ability to even solicit construction bids for the project into June of this year.

“June is the absolute worst time of year to go out for bids,” Mr. Grillo said, adding that most public works/school contractors are already into their “summer craze” and occupied with other projects by then. 

The result? When the bids came back, even the lowest of them were higher than the district had budgeted for. The district put out the project for a second round of bidding in July, with a few minor changes. Again, the bids came in over budget. 

Mr. Grillo said the district had allowed for some cost overruns, but not $4.7 million. He said it is a bidder’s market right now.

“I’ve been doing this for 27 years, and I’ve never seen anything come close to this — nearly a 25-percent increase in two years,” Mr. Grillo said.

“With the total number of bond issues being approved by school districts across Long Island, there is just too much work out there, not enough manpower out there,” Mr. Grillo said. “I don’t think it’s that concrete [prices] went up more than asphalt, or steel went up more than Sheetrock. . . . What we’re seeing [from bidders] is, ‘There’s a ton of work out there, so if I normally charge $100 a ton for asphalt, I’m going to charge $125. . . . If I get it, lucky me.’ That’s what I’m seeing across the board.”

Downsizing the project rather than seeking the additional $4.7 million in funding was considered. But William Jackson, the district’s attorney, said the district has to be sensitive about cutting features that voters thought they were getting when they approved the original $24.7 million in funding.

“The general test that we use is you have to deliver the project as originally designed in all material respects,” Mr. Jackson said.

The proposed additions and renovations will allow the prekindergarten to be moved into the main building and out of 40-year-old modular classrooms on the west side of the school. The school will get a new regulation-size gym, locker rooms, and cafeteria, as well as new science, technology, English, math, and music rooms. Part of the current gym is to become an auditorium and the remainder a new school library.

Mr. Hauser said if Thursday's funding vote passes, the district would seek new bids immediately and hope to break ground by November since its permit and building plans are already in place. “That’s the one bright side in all of this,” Mr. Hauser said.

Only those registered to vote in the Bridgehampton School District may cast ballots Thursday.

About 30 people turned out at a Bridgehampton community forum Thursday night to ask pointed questions and hear Bridgehampton School District officials and contractors explain the confluence of events that is sending the district back to residents on Thursday for a vote to approve an additional $4.7 million in funding for renovation and expansion of the school, on top of the $24.7 million that voters greenlighted two years ago.

But the rationale for the project — which would double the size of the 80-year old building, update its mechanical systems, and add badly needed classrooms, a regulation-size gym, and other basics — was only mildly debated during the 90-minute forum in the school’s gym.

Lillian Tyree-Johnson, a vice president of the Bridgehampton School Board, who was seated in the audience, drew applause when she said, "We’re the only school district on the East End that has not done capital improvement in the last 25 years, and we are direly in need. We have kids testing in hallways and it’s not right. We’re asking for what we need. It is not a wish list." 

The vote will take place next Thursday from 2 to 8 p.m. in the school gym. Proof of residency in the district is required, and people may not also be registered to vote elsewhere. Absentee ballots are also available at the district office through Wednesday. Completed absentee ballots must be received by the school by mail or in person no later than 5 p.m. Thursday in order to be counted.

If the additional funding is approved, district Superintendent Robert Hauser estimated that individual taxpayer’s bills would rise about $20 a year for every million dollars of assessed value on their home.

If not approved, Mr. Hauser said, the district could revisit downsizing the project. But that would require redesigning the plans and then going back to the school board, then the New York State Education Department for new permit approval and would add years to the completion of the project. Originally, the district had hoped to break ground on it last May.

Joyce Weinberg, who has a child in middle school, said waiting will be difficult as it is.

"I’m a brand-new homeowner in Bridgehampton. I moved here from New York just for this school," Ms. Weinberg said. "This building, while it seems enormous, is so overcrowded. The library for the school already is not sufficient for the needs of the kids. What can we do to get bids from good contractors that make sense?"

Pamela Harwood of the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee came to the forum prepared with a list of questions from C.A.C. members. She was among the residents who wanted to know how such a significant cost overrun could have happened? Did officials consider eliminating features of the project to make budget?

Mr. Hauser and the district’s architect, John A. Grillo of Port Jefferson, provided some detailed answers.

Mr. Grillo said the district was set back when its permit from the State Education Department to proceed with the $24.7 million renovation took nearly a year to obtain, or twice as long as expected -- a delay he attributed to the department’s backlog and staffing shortage. 

The permit delay pushed the district's ability to even solicit construction bids for the project into June of this year.

"June is the absolute worst time of year to go out for bids," Mr. Grillo said, adding that most public works/school contractors are already into their "summer craze" and occupied with other projects by then. 

The result? When the bids came back, even the lowest of them were higher than the district budgeted for. The district put out the project for a second round of bidding in July, with a few minor changes. Again, the bids came in over budget. 

Mr. Grillo said the district had allowed for some cost overruns, but not $4.7 million. He said it is a bidder’s market right now.

"I’ve been doing this for 27 years, and I've never seen anything come close to this -- nearly a 25-percent increase in two years," Mr. Grillo said.

"With the total number of bond issues being approved by school districts across Long Island, there is just too much work out there, not enough manpower out there," Mr. Grillo said. "I don’t think it's that concrete [prices] went up more than asphalt, or steel went up more than sheetrock. . . . What we’re seeing [from bidders] is, 'There’s a ton of work out there, so if I normally charge $100 a ton for asphalt, I’m going to charge $125. . . . If I get it, lucky me.’ That’s what I’m seeing across the board."

Downsizing the project rather than seeking the additional $4.7 million in funding was considered. But William Jackson, the district’s attorney, said the district has to be sensitive about cutting features that voters thought they were getting when they approved the original $24.7 million in funding.

"The general test that we use is you have to deliver the project as originally designed in all material respects," Mr. Jackson said.

The proposed additions and renovations will allow the prekindergarten to be moved into the main building and out of 40-year-old modular classrooms on the west side of the school. The school will get a new regulation-size gym, locker rooms, and cafeteria, as well as new science, technology, English, math, and music rooms. Part of the current gym is to become an auditorium and the remainder a new school library.

Mr. Hauser said if Thursday’s funding vote passes, the district would seek new bids immediately and hope to break ground by November since its permit and building plans are already in place. "That’s the one bright side in all of this," Mr. Hauser said.

Youth Soccer, Sports Clinics

Fall sign-up for East Hampton Town’s youth soccer program for first through sixth graders, as well as fall tennis, basketball, and golf clinics, is underway. 

Soccer games will be at the Stephen Hand’s Path fields in East Hampton on Saturdays from Sept. 22 through Nov. 10, at 9 and 10:30 a.m., noon, and 1:15 p.m. Registration will take place at the fields this Saturday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. and on Sept. 15 from 10 a.m. to noon. The cost is $45. Players can also be registered at the Parks and Recreation Department behind Town Hall or the Montauk Playhouse weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Tennis clinics at the East Hampton Town Youth Park on Abraham’s Path will begin the week of Sept. 17 for kindergarten through sixth graders. Clinics run from 4 to 5 p.m. on Mondays for fourth through sixth grades, Wednesdays for second and third grades, and Fridays for kindergarten and first grade. The cost is $45 for six weeks. Registration is at the Parks and Rec offices or the Playhouse. 

Free basketball clinics will be offered on Thursdays beginning Sept. 20 at the youth park, with sessions from 4 to 5 p.m. for kindergarten through third grade and from 5 to 6 p.m. for fourth through sixth.

Looking a bit further ahead, golf clinics at Montauk Downs will take place on Sundays from Sept. 30 through Oct. 28, at 9 a.m. for kindergarten through second grade and at 10:45 a.m. for third through sixth grade. The cost is $125, and registration is by phoning 631-668-5000.

“Let It Go” and “Remember Me”?

In the “House of Mouse Spectacular” at the Southampton Arts Center, professional singers will belt out Disney songs beloved by children and probably parents, too. (Admit it, moms and dads, you sing those Disney tunes in the car by yourself.)

The free concert, at 6 p.m., will feature Sue Conklin, Bethany Dellapolla, Valerie diLorenzo, Hannah Fay Huizing, and Jack Seabury, with accompaniment by Amanda Borsack Jones, David Elliot on drums, and Steve Shaughnessy on bass. 

Bay Seining in Noyac

Al Daniels will lead another of his popular bay seining events with the South Fork Natural History Museum on Sunday at 10 a.m. at Noyac Bay. The whole family will have a chance to help haul in the catch and examine the variety of marine life before safely releasing it back into its natural habitat. The meeting spot can be learned by calling the museum in Bridgehampton. 

Three, Two, One, Blastoff!

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to take part in a model rocket program at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, but you might become one someday. 

Over the course of two Wednesdays, next week and Sept. 19, both at 4 p.m., kids will first build and then launch their own model rockets as they learn about space travel. The construction will take place at the library, with the launch at the baseball field near the Bridgehampton Firehouse. Advance registration is required, as space is limited. 

Also on the schedule at the Hampton Library this week is an abstract space-scene painting workshop for kids 4 and up tomorrow at 4 p.m., a story time for all ages on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., and a string art session for grades six and up on Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Sticking with the space theme, on Friday, Sept. 14, kids 4 and older can make space invaders from melty beads at 4 p.m.

Advance registration is required for most programs. 

Groovin’ in September

The start of the school year isn’t slowing things down in the children’s and young-adult departments at the East Hampton Library, where workshops and programs abound this week. After school today, for example, at 4 p.m., kids can stop in for a screening of “The Emperor’s New Groove.” 

Wind chimes from recycled materials will be the craft in a program for high school students on Sunday at 3 p.m. Also for high schoolers, there will be sessions on 3-D printing with the Tinkercad app on Monday, Tuesday, and next Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. 

Two Snap Circuits workshops for ages 7 and older, imparting some of the basics of electronic circuitry, will be held this week, on Monday at 3 p.m. and on Friday, Sept. 14, at 3:30.

Kids in sixth through eighth grades will have a chance to decorate a canvas pencil pouch on Tuesday at 4 p.m. On Wednesday at the same hour, children 6 and older will explore the work of the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt and recreate his “Tree of Life” with their own flair. 

New Friends, a program led by Ellen Johansen, an early childhood music and movement specialist, will begin next Thursday for babies up to 3 and their adult caregivers, who will make music together each week from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.

Finally, next Thursday at 4 p.m., dinosaurs will be the theme for a story time and craft for ages 4 to 6.

Nearly two years after winning approval for a $24.7 million expansion and renovation project, the Bridgehampton School District will ask voters next Thursday for permission to borrow an additional $4.7 million to bring the project to fruition.

A forum on the project and next Thursday’s vote will be held Thursday at 6 in the school gym. The vote the following week will take place from 2 to 8 p.m., also in the gym. 

At Thursday’s forum, the district’s architect, John A. Grillo of Port Jefferson, will be on hand along with Nick Amoruso, Bob Caliendo, and Chuck Quinn of School Construction Consultants, the construction management firm, and Paul Grosser of P.W. Grosser Consulting, which is overseeing LEED certification for the project. They will help make the case for the additional borrowing and discuss progress to date, as well as the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system (paid for with capital reserve funds). 

With a building permit in hand from the New York State Department of Education as of June 1 and some work set to begin over the summer, the district held a groundbreaking ceremony in early June. However, after soliciting bids from general, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing contractors, the school board found that even the lowest of them were higher than the district had budgeted for. The project, with some renovations scaled back ever so slightly, was put out to bid again in July, and again the bids all came in higher than budgeted, by nearly $4 million. 

Heeding its architect’s advice, the board decided to go back to voters to authorize the additional spending, plus a 20-percent contingency. 

“On the second set of bids, the architect actually removed renovation of the existing gymnasium,” Robert Hauser, the district’s superintendent, said yesterday. The fact that the bids still came in over budget at that point indicated that additional bonding would be the way to go. 

The project, first approved by voters in December 2016, will add more than 35,000 square feet to the school. The building is to get a new regulation-size gym, locker rooms, and cafeteria, as well as new science, technology, and music rooms. Part of the current gym is to become an auditorium and the remainder a new school library. The addition will allow the prekindergarten to be moved into the main building and out of 40-year-old modular classrooms on the west side of the school. Renovations are to create new two new English classrooms and one for math. 

Ultimately the building, which is over 80 years old, will more than double in size. 

Separately, in May 2017, Bridgehampton voters approved the establishment of a reserve fund to pay for a geothermal heating and cooling system, and in October 2017 authorized spending from that fund for the geothermal system and other repairs. 

The district had originally hoped construction might begin in May 2018, but with the building permit not in hand until June, bids had to be solicited at the height of the school-construction season, Mr. Hauser said. Should voters approve the bond next Thursday, the project will have to be put out to bid a third time, as the most recent bids were only good for 45 days. “Summer is very busy with the trades,” Mr. Hauser said. Now, “we’ll get hopefully a more favorable response in terms of the number of contractors who bid,” and the price they offer, he said.

Before the second set of bids were rejected, the district had knocked down a portable building holding pupil personnel services offices. Those offices are now located in a temporary trailer. 

Mr. Hauser is hopeful that the community will support the bond. “We’ve been listening and answering questions from the community and parents and staff and even students,” he said. “People want to see this project completed and they understand that this extra amount is needed.” 

The additional borrowing would add an estimated $40 a year to a tax bill for a house assessed at $2 million, Mr. Hauser said.

If the bond is passed and work can begin in November, as he hopes, the project could be complete by June of 2020. 

Those not yet registered to vote in the Bridgehampton School District who would like to cast ballots next Thursday have their final chance to do so tomorrow from 4 to 8 p.m. at the school. Proof of residency in the district is required, and people may not also be registered to vote elsewhere. Absentee ballot applications are available in the district office. Those wishing to receive an absentee ballot by mail have until today to request one.

Absentee ballots are also available at the district office through Wednesday. In order to be counted, completed absentee ballots must be received by the school by mail or in person no later than 5 p.m. next Thursday.

The newly waxed floors glistened in the empty hallways of the Springs School on Friday as a handful of teachers readied classrooms for the start of the school year on Tuesday, when 681 kindergarten through eighth-grade students are expected back on campus, with another 39 set to attend the district’s prekindergarten program at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton.

On a tour through the school building, the superintendent, Debra Winter, and principal, Eric Casale, pointed to a green line that runs down the center of the hallways, basically a traffic divider that helps provide a semblance of order when the hallways swell with a crush of students changing classes. 

District voters in March approved a $16.9 million bond to help fund a nearly $23 million expansion and renovation project — with an anticipated completion date of 2021. The expansion will add some 24,000 square feet to the school, while 17,000 square feet will be renovated, but “the day we move in, we’ll be at capacity,” Mr. Casale said. 

Still, the extra space will be welcomed. Over the summer, the district won a $1.33 million New York State grant for a new nitrogen-reducing wastewater treatment system and chose H2M Architects and Engineers to oversee that work, which is to take place next summer, along with initial site work for the addition. The engineers are working with Stony Brook University’s Center for Clean Water Technology on ways to get nitrogen so low that it actually would be “below the drinking water standards,” Mr. Casale said. 

On Friday, Ms. Winter and Mr. Casale pointed out classrooms arranged in ways that might be surprising to someone who hasn’t been inside a school building recently. There are signs of the school’s very pressing space needs: classrooms partitioned into two or three spaces, others with no windows. But there are also glimpses of new directions in education that start with how classrooms are laid out. In some, the teacher has no desk and there is no front or back of the room, a layout that allows for a more fluid style of teaching. 

As administrators geared up on Friday for the start of the academic year, they talked about the progress taking place behind the scenes to bring the big capital improvements to fruition, but also the changes in store when the bell rings on Tuesday. Most obvious among them to students and parents may be new faces at the head of several classrooms and familiar faces in new roles throughout the school.

Over the course of three years, the district has seen a 40-percent turnover in professional staff. Six longtime teachers retired at the end of last year, as did three teaching assistants, together representing a combined total of 220 years on the job. This year, 11 of the 74 members of the teaching staff will be new to the job, but in that number are three who had been working as teaching assistants before being promoted.

In kindergarten, Melissa Erb and Diana Russell will go from teaching assistants to classroom teachers. KelliAnn Toto, who had been a T.A. for English as a new language, will become a first-grade classroom teacher. Kimberly Havlik, a leave-replacement last year, was hired as a new first-grade teacher. 

Also preparing to meet Springs students for the first time next week are new music, science, art, and Spanish teachers, a new special-education teacher, and new first and fourth-grade classroom teachers, as well as a new librarian. 

Megan Payne, a special-education teacher, will head the kindergarten inclusion classroom. Jennilee Santiago is a new fourth-grade teacher and Jessica Rubio joins the district as a Spanish teacher.

Two middle school science teachers, Lisa Seff and Robert Walker, retired at the end of last year. Taking their places will be Eric Schwab, who will teach sixth and eighth-grade science, and Brittny Pannizzo, Ms. Seff’s leave replacement last year, who will teach sixth and seventh-grade science. Angelina Modica, a choral music teacher who had been tenured at the end of last year, has left to take a position elsewhere teaching band, her specialty. Taking her place will be Meghan Kelly, who had been teaching in New Jersey. In addition to teaching, she will take on the fourth-grade opera and the school musical.

Kathleen Comber will take over as librarian, while the former librarian, Bill Hallman, will take over from Ms. Seff as the academic enrichment teacher. That program, meanwhile, will continue to shift its focus toward science, technology, engineering, art, and math, commonly referred to these days as STEAM. 

Lauren Marino will join the staff as an art teacher following the retirement last year of Colleen McGowan. 

At a new-teacher orientation on Monday for those who have been in the district for three years or less, there were 32 staff members. “They’re excited, they’re motivated,” Mr. Casale said on Friday. The theme of the orientation, inspired by a conference that newer staff attended last year, was “getting your teach on.” The textbooks for the day: Dave Burgess’s “Teach Like a Pirate,” subtitled “Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator,” and Hope and Wade King’s “The Wild Card: 7 Steps to an Educator’s Creative Breakthrough.” 

“My philosophy is I want you to take risks. I want you to think outside of the box,” Ms. Winter said. Not every new initiative will work, she acknowledged, but that, too, has value. “We have to demonstrate to children that it’s okay to fail; that’s how you learn.” 

While they are excited by the energy the new instructional staff will bring, Ms. Winter and Mr. Casale are also enthusiastic about some of the social-emotional initiatives the district is taking part in.

These include partnering with the New York State Mentoring Program to pair at-risk students with adult mentors within the school and implementing a social-emotional learning program called Second Step that aims, Mr. Casale said, to “help kids understand their role in conflict resolution,” as well as teach things like self-regulation and situational awareness. “Cooperative learning, problem solving, strong interpersonal skills . . . these are all 21st-century skills,” Mr. Casale said.

By supporting students in areas beyond academics, “we hope to raise student achievement and reduce the suspension rate,” Ms. Winter said. 

On the heels of a “generation of giving students no disappointments,” Ms. Winter said, “these kids, if it doesn’t go their way, they don’t know how to navigate it.” Part of what the school is trying to teach them, Mr. Casale said, is “resiliency.”

It was hoped that recently added programs like robotics would offer an outlet for students who may not be part of team sports, but could still benefit from the experience of being on a team. The goal, Mr. Casale said, was “to have them feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves.” 

And, “If people come to us with ideas for new clubs, we’ll try it,” Ms. Winter said. 

“We want them to have that connection to the school,” the principal added.

“For a small school, Springs has really been very forward-thinking and progressive,” Ms. Winter said. “And the community has stepped up through programs like the visiting artists program,” Mr. Casale added. “These relationships we hope are long lasting.”

“Three Billy Goats”

In the final puppet show of the Goat on a Boat summer series at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, the Puppet Art Theater Company of California will present “Three Billy Goats Gruff” on Saturday. Show time is 11 a.m., and tickets start at $15. 

Sea People, Snap Circuits

Inspired by days at the ocean, maybe sand castles, or all those whale sightings reported off the beach lately, kids 4 and older will create their own imaginary sea people in an art program tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the East Hampton Library. Also tomorrow, sixth through eighth graders will use string as their medium in an art session beginning at 3:30 p.m.

With an iffy forecast for Saturday, the library’s afternoon movie, “The Muppets,” at 1:30 might be the perfect thing to do. 

On Sunday, high school students will get to use recycled materials to make wind chimes during a program from 3 to 5 p.m. 

A Snap Circuits electronics workshop for kids ages 7 and older will ease them into that thinking time of year on Tuesday at 4 p.m. — either a fun after-school activity or one to turn the brain power back on before the school bell rings, depending on where you go.

The young-adult librarian will face off against high school students in a test of pop culture trivia using the Kahoot! app next Thursday at 5 p.m. Participants should take their smartphones. There’s a “secret prize” promised for the winner. 

Rocks and Such

A session on sedimentary rocks for ages 4 and up at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will finish with a tasty rock-like creation tomorrow at noon. On Tuesday, kids in sixth grade and up can fashion their own Shrinky Dink creations from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Magic, Music, Movies

In the waning days of summer vacation, the East Hampton Library’s programs for kids are not slowing down a bit, with movies, yoga, magic, music, and arts and crafts filling the calendar this week. 

The magic will come courtesy of the Magic of Amore in a show for all ages on Tuesday at 2 p.m. Next Thursday at 1:30 p.m., animals will be the stars, as kids 4 and older learn why creatures do what they do. Frogs, insects, a chicken, a chinchilla, and other animals will be on hand.

Also this week, for kids 4 and older there’s a shell watercolor painting class tomorrow at 2 p.m. Older kids in sixth through eighth grades can make a beaded animal craft tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.

Susan Verde, a children’s book author and yoga instructor, will have kids 5 and older doing poses to become part of the story in a yoga program on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Younger yoginis ages 2 to 3 can get an introduction to the practice in My Yoga With a Twist on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Kids 4 and older can make and decorate their own musical shakers on Wednesday at 4 p.m. or use soft sculpture to make an imaginary sea person or creature on Friday, Aug. 31, at 2 p.m. String will be the medium in a program for kids in sixth through eighth grade on Friday, Aug. 31, at 3:30 p.m. 

Family movies this week at the library are “Finding Nemo” today at 4 p.m. and “Lilo and Stitch” on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

As a reminder, Erik the Reptile Guy will lead an interactive program for kids 4 and older today at 2 p.m. Later today, there’s a do-it-yourself temporary tattoo session for high school kids at 5 and a beach fire at Main Beach from 6 to 8, also for high schoolers. S’more ingredients will be provided.

Advance registration is required for all programs.

Puppetry, a Universal Language

Teatrino Giullare, an Italian theater company that mixes music, drama, and puppetry, will make two stops on the South Fork this week, performing “The Comedians” as part of the Goat on a Boat puppetry series at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Saturday and talking about the company’s style of puppetry tomorrow at the Montauk Library. 

In Montauk, two puppeteers, Giulia Dall’Ongaro and Enrico Deotti, will talk about Italy’s commedia dell’arte tradition, explaining their craft through demonstrations and visual media in a program at 5:30 p.m. that is designed for a family audience. 

On Saturday at 11 a.m. at Bay Street, they will offer “funny episodes of puppet theater in a universal language,” according to Bay Street’s website. Kids 6 and older and adults should enjoy this one. Tickets start at $15 and will be available at the door and at baystreet.org. 

Also at the Montauk Library, the Magic of Amore will dazzle on Saturday at 5 p.m. Registration ahead of time has been suggested.

It’s the Lolly Jollies!

Liz Corwin and Holly Johnson, two singer-songwriters otherwise known as the Jolly Lollies, will get kids dancing on Monday at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. The duo, who hail from Charlotte, N.C., play songs that encourage imaginative play, help kids “self-regulate,” and get them moving. At Monday’s show, which will start at 6, there will be all of that along with some arts and crafts. Tickets cost $20, $15 for museum members, and should be reserved in advance. 

Taste Test Challenge

Can you tell the difference between Doritos and Chichitos, if there is such a thing? Cheerios and Joe’s Os? What if you were blindfolded? At the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton and the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor kids 7 to 12 will have a chance to test their tastes this week. The Bridgehampton taste test is today at 4 p.m.; the Sag Harbor program happens on Saturday at 3:30. 

Tomorrow at the Hampton Library, kids 4 and older can make sand slime at noon. The project for kids 7 to 12 next Thursday at 4 will be Sharpie-decorated mugs. 

Drawing in Southampton

Linda Capello will lead a drawing workshop for 6 to 10-year-olds in the Southampton Arts Center’s galleries on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Participants will respond to the work in “Counterpoint,” the exhibition on view, sketching from the works they see. Dry media and drawing materials will be provided for the class, which costs $15. Advance registration is required at southamptonartscenter.org.