On Friday, approximately 20 first graders at the John M. Marshall Elementary School bundled up and filed outside during their lunch break, packed lunches in hand, to greet Annie, the pony. 

While the children munched on their food, Joanna Jimenez, a parent of two girls at the school, spoke to them about her life as an owner of Jimenez Jumpers, the stable she runs with her husband in Bridgehampton. Annie stood patiently by her side, and even more patiently when the kids took turns petting her.

The event, which was optional, was part of the school’s Brown Bag enrichment series, designed, according to Beth Doyle, the principal, to offer kids an alternative to the 40-minute lunch and recess period, which in the winter months often means sitting in classrooms for more sedentary free-time activities.

“It’s been really successful so far,” said Ms. Doyle, explaining that they limit each guest speaker’s audience to 25 kids from a specific grade. So far, they have had visits from an owner of a virtual reality school, who spoke to fifth graders, and a yoga practitioner, who discussed breathing techniques utilized by stage performers and public speakers.

At the end of each presentation, the children are asked to fill out a survey, which Ms. Doyle said has resulted in positive feedback.

The idea of offering students bite-sized enrichment options during lunchtime occurred to Ms. Doyle and Russell Morgan, the assistant principal, when they participated in a shadow day last year, following students from morning through the afternoon to get firsthand knowledge of how they really spend their time and to identify areas that need improvement.

“One of the things we found,” said Ms. Doyle, “was that kids were spending way too much time just sitting in classrooms, especially in the winter.” She learned about a similar Brown Bag enrichment program at another Long Island school, and decided to implement a variation in East Hampton.

Currently, the school brings in guest speakers on intermittent Fridays, but the hope is that it will catch on and more parents will offer to come and speak with the children.

“It’s just a nice way to use that time in the school day for something fun and to bring the community into the school,” said the principal.

On Friday, one student received a surprise bonus: Ben Krupinski, the owner of the Krupinksi building company in East Hampton, donated a scholarship to Ms. Jimenez’s summer riding camp, valued at $500.

Tenzin Yignyen, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, head shaven and crimson robe-clad, was telling a story last week at the Ross School’s lower school in Bridgehampton: “I read the other day on Snapchat. . . .”

Wait, what? Snapchat?

“Oh yes,” he said in a lilting Indian accent. “Why not? Just because we’re Buddhist monks doesn’t mean we have to shun technology.”

Science and Buddhism are not opposed or contradictory, and can be combined and mutually compatible, explained the monk, between classes of fifth and sixth graders filing in and out of the school’s art room. Just like the sand mandala of compassion he was busy constructing, it’s simply a matter of balance.

Mr. Yignyen, or Lama Tenzin as he is known, signifying the honorific title bestowed upon him as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, has been visiting the Ross School for the last 14 years, alternating between the lower campus and the upper campus in East Hampton. He spends a week talking to students and constructing the intricate sand patterns within a mandala, the Sanskrit word for circle. Millions of grains of colored sand are sprinkled carefully on a flat surface over the course of five days, following precise and ancient instructions passed down over thousands of years. The creation of this mandala is intended to help the viewer generate boundless compassion for all beings.

“It’s beautiful because there’s a meaning behind it,” said Alex Froehlich, a fifth grader at Ross. “It’s not just art.” 

Sienna Galesi-Grant, a sixth grader, said she has been taught by Mr. Tenzin since the age of 2. “I find it very inspiring, and it definitely gives me a new outlook each year.”

When Mr. Yignyen was 2 — he does not know the year he was born, as he said Tibetans of his generation don’t consider a birth date important — the Chinese People’s Liberation Army began its invasion of Tibet, promising the mostly poor and unmodernized country social reforms and religious freedom, which it ultimately failed to deliver.

Sometime in the mid-1950s, fearing persecution as Buddhists, Mr. Yignyen’s family fled to Dharamshala, in northern India, where the venerable Dalai Lama also relocated and positioned himself as the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan government in exile.

At age 11, Mr. Yignyen joined the Namgyal Namgyal Monastery, the Dalai Lama’s personal monastery in Dharamshala, where, as part of his education, he learned the art of creating mandalas. In 1995, he was selected to teach at the monastery’s North American seat in Ithaca, N.Y., and he’s now a professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. He has never returned to Tibet, he said, because, despite trying twice, the Chinese government denied him a visa.

He visits approximately 10 to 12 schools a year, and has been to about 150 of them over the years, as well as various organizations — “The only place I haven’t taught is the White House!” — constructing mandalas, giving talks to parents and children, meditating with students, and generally sharing his belief that the American education system has it all wrong, placing far too much importance on producing smarter human beings.

“But what about good human beings?” he asked. “We have no subjects to teach us how to be better people, so mentally we are all disturbed.”

Indeed, the state of the country’s mental health, especially among its youth, is a timely topic. Educators across America struggle to understand the recent spate of school shootings, all too often at the hands of young people. In Springs, Debra Winter, the school district’s superintendent, is pushing for increased funding from the state to expand mental health programs at the school, for students and teachers. In East Hampton, the high school has instituted a number of classes, from meditation to yoga, in an attempt to get teenagers to connect to their inner selves rather than simply their smartphones.

At Ross, Mr. Yignyen takes every opportunity to demonstrate the relationship of all living things within the environment. Children are encouraged to consider the consequences of their actions and to be aware of the moment. With the construction of the mandala, they are also taught the central tenet of Buddhism, that everything is impermanent. 

“Are you sad when you dismantle the mandala?” asked a fifth grader. 

“At first I was,” Mr. Yignyen replied. “But then I learned the importance of letting go, because nothing lasts forever. So, we have to enjoy the moment.” He gave an example of going to a great restaurant. “You can’t stay there forever because it was so good. But you can go back and enjoy another time.”

The monk shares these basic principles, which he calls “secular ethics,” in simplistic, almost childlike terms. To portray him out of context might make him appear naive and unworldly. But after watching him interact with children and adults, one can recognize that his way of being could be an antidote to our overpoliticized and intellectualized world by offering adults and children the space to investigate happiness, empathy, altruism, and compassion.

“Compassion isn’t like a history subject. You can’t just read about it and become compassionate. You have to practice it over and over again,” he told parents and children during a community talk last Thursday.

“Don’t ask for more than you deserve,” he advised a group of sixth graders. “It will ruin your life.” A lesson that seems worthy, if not a touch incongruous, in the Hamptons.

“You mean like if you win the lottery,” a young boy asked, “you should give away a lot of it to charity?”

Things are less simplistic on the upper campus, where classes are attended by 7th through 12th graders, the vast majority of them Chinese boarding students.

“I should be the one who is angry,” Mr. Yignyen said when asked if he detects resentment from the Chinese students, raised with certain prejudices toward Tibetans. “I was the one who had to leave my country.” And yet, he acknowledged, some students seem less receptive to his presence, though in time they come to embrace him. 

Mostly, though, he is loved. “Having Lama Tenzin come to Ross is a very special thing for me,” said Izzy, an eighth grader who has heard him speak there over the course of the last 12 years. “We all sometimes get so caught up in our petty problems that we forget to enjoy the little things. By having him speak to everyone it really helps us appreciate things more.”

At the mandala-dismantling ceremony on Long Beach in Noyac on Friday, sixth graders sat on the sand as Mr. Yignyen performed a ritual of prayers punctuated occasionally by a soft ringing of bells. The students seemed unusually still and contemplative, pondering, one hopes, those questions about life that aren’t Googleable.

I-Tri, a nonprofit program that promotes leadership and life skills for girls through encouragement and athletics, will host its fourth annual empowering and mentoring day on April 14, a Saturday.

Theresa Roden, the founder and executive director of I-Tri, is looking for women who have achieved success in their adult lives, and overcome challenges along the way, to participate in the event by serving as speakers and mentors to the approximately 100 middle school girls enrolled in the program.

The mentoring day will be held at the East Hampton Middle School from 10 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., and a keynote address will be given by Toni Ross, an artist, entrepreneur, and business leader here.

Following the keynote, mentors and girls will be directed to classrooms where small groups will participate in question-and-answer dialogues about career paths and life choices. Following two rounds of these discussion panels, mentors and I-Tri girls will then meet in the cafeteria for lunch and an opportunity to network.

Last year, 45 women served as mentors, according to Ms. Roden, including doctors, artists, academics, farmers, entrepreneurs, and yoga instructors. 

Those interested in mentoring on April 14 have been asked to call Ms. Roden at 631-902-3731 or visit itrigirls.org.

For Budding Biologists

A book talk for future biologists ages 6 and up will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. Sarah B. Pomeroy, a professor of classics, will share her illustrated book about Meria Sibylla Merian, a natural historian and artist who found and painted the flora and fauna of Indonesia in the 17th century. A Spanish translation of the reading will also be included, as well as an exhibition of reproductions of Ms. Merian’s work, and a book signing. The event is co-sponsored by the South Fork Natural History Museum and will include coffee and refreshments.

Movies, Duct Tape, Seeds

A screening of Disney Pixar’s “Brave” is scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Amagansett Library. Free snacks and family togetherness are in store while children watch this exciting adventure of heroism and true bravery.

Children ages 9 to 12 can stop by on Saturday at 4 p.m. to make their own duct tape zipper pouch.

A special story time for 3 and 4-year-olds is planned for Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. Youngsters will get to plant seeds and sing songs after listening to a story.

Toes, Reptiles, Butterflies, Oh My!

Tomorrow from 2 to 3 p.m. at the East Hampton Library, kids ages 4 and up will have the chance to learn about being environmentally conscious and make their own reusable tote bag decorated with recycled items such as beads, buttons, and bottle caps.

Kindergartners through sixth graders can stop by Tuesday at 4 p.m. to meet some of the East End’s native reptiles and amphibians. Kids will learn about their habitats and how the creatures find food to survive the winter.

High schoolers can earn community service hours on Tuesday between 4 and 5 p.m. by designing a do-it-yourself project for the library’s young adult room.

A butterfly-theme story time and craft activity will be held Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for kids 4 to 6.

Sixth through eighth graders can design colorful braided bracelets made from old T-shirts next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. Materials will be provided.

Compiling the ideal college list will be the subject of a discussion for high school students and their parents or guardians next Thursday at 6 p.m. Julie Raynor Gross, a college admissions expert, will lead the presentation and a question-and-answer session will follow on topics such as college visits, identifying which colleges are realistic and those which might be a stretch, and how to make a decision on choosing which college to attend. Registration is required.

Tomorrow from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., kids ages 7 and up can construct circuits that will light up, sound off, and power an accessory. This program incorporates science, technology, engineering, and math, making the science behind electronics easy and fun to learn.

Advance registration is requested for all programs. 

Makers in Sag 

A middle school makers club will kick off Saturday at 2 p.m. at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. Every Saturday in April, students in sixth through eighth grades can engage in hands-on creative art and technology projects. This month, the library says, kids will use Makey Makey invention kits to “build a keyboard out of bananas and connect other everyday objects to computer programs.” 

Advance registration is required.

Still Life in Montauk

Children in kindergarten and up can stop by the Montauk Library on Saturday at 2 p.m. to learn about a time when women were not supposed to be artists. Participants will celebrate the bold women who broke that barrier and became some of the most famous artists today. Then, they can create their own colorful still-life painting to take home. Registration is required as space is limited.

SoFo’s Shark Story

Children ages 6 and up will get an introduction to South Fork Natural History Museum’s shark research and education program on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

Greg Metzger, the chief field coordinator of the program, and Tobey Curtis, the lead scientist and fisheries manager at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will educate children and adults about SoFo’s new shark science endeavor, launched in January, a collaboration of scientists, educators, and fishermen for the conservation and sustainability of several shark species that inhabit nearby waters.

Kids Community Peace Chorus

Third to sixth graders who would like to get together, sing, talk, write songs, and eat pizza are invited to join a new kids community peace chorus beginning Thursday, April 19, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The peace chorus will be led by Nancy Remkus, a retired teacher from the Sag Harbor Elementary School and a registered music therapist, in an effort to help kids express their feelings through music and for them to spread peaceful messages through song.

Parents of children interested in participating have been asked to contact Ms. Remkus at 631-725-3938 or by email at [email protected]. The first meeting will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse of the South Fork, 977 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. The event is nondenominational.

In less than six weeks, on May 15, voters in school districts across the state will head to the polls to cast their ballots on next year’s budgets and board member elections. Each week leading up to the vote, The Star will focus on the budgets proposed by each school district in our coverage area, in an effort to highlight the changes and projections that are often unique to each. 

In Bridgehampton, Robert Hauser, the school’s superintendent, appointed only a month ago, presented next year’s proposed school budget to the community on Wednesday.

Mr. Hauser, formerly the district’s assistant superintendent of finance and facilities, took over at the helm following the retirement of Lois Favre, the superintendent of the last seven years. Melisa Stiles, the former district treasurer stepped into the role of the business administrator, or the fiscal officer, for the district.

The district’s proposed budget for the 2018-19 school year is just under $16.3 million, an increase of $1.9 million, or 13.5 percent over this year’s budget. The proposed budget stays below the state-sanctioned 2-percent cap on tax levy increases, meaning revenues raised through property taxes will increase by less than 2 percent. Mr. Hauser said he anticipates the budget to be adopted at the Bridgehampton School Board’s April 18 meeting.

The largest increase — $988,965 — represents the first payment on the $24.7 million bond approved by voters in 2016 to finance the school expansion and renovation. The bond will be paid off over 20 years. Construction is expected to begin on July 1.

New staff positions proposed for general education programs account for approximately $200,000 of next year’s increase. The special education department will receive an additional $450,490 toward new staff as well as out-of-district tuition and transportation costs. 

Following East Hampton’s push to offer students greater vocational education options, Bridgehampton will also revamp its career and technical education department “as part of our career and college ready initiative,” said Mr. Hauser. Judiann Carmack-Fayyaz, the school’s longtime environmental design and technology teacher, will be reappointed to oversee that initiative, and the cost of a replacement technology teacher has been factored into the budget.

The vocational offerings in Bridgehampton seem to focus on giving students an insight into the farming and horticulture sector with new courses such as agriculture foundations, agriculture technology, and agriculture business and finance being added to next year’s choices. There will also be nutritional and culinary arts classes added, as well an introduction to environmental science, and a virtual enterprise course in horticulture.

“These are all work-based learning courses,” said the superintendent, “to offer kids the opportunity to work while still at school.”

Another noteworthy development  will be at the school’s elementary level, where the hiring of a guidance counselor who specializes in the emotional well-being of elementary-age children is included in the budget. Mr. Hauser stressed that this is a nonmandated — though state-recommended — position, intended to better serve the psychological needs of the youngest students. Currently, there is a school-wide psychologist and a guidance counselor.

Also in the elementary program, Mr. Hauser said the district would like to continue Dr. Favre’s legacy of implementing a specialized co-teacher in a classroom containing special education students, which reduces the need to pull out those students for separate instruction, and allows them instead to be in an inclusive setting.

The school also projects an increase in enrollment of approximately 10 students. Prekindergarten numbers are expected to increase by five, although that could be higher, said Mr. Hauser, as the school is looking to separate the 3 and 4-year-olds, which would allow for more students in each classroom.

High school enrollment is also expected to increase by five students. The scheduled closure of the Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School in Riverhead will possibly send some its  students to Bridgehampton, said Mr. Hauser, since the nearest options for Catholic schools are in West Islip and Melville. The superintendent said that many McGann-Mercy families have requested tours of his school as they search for nearby alternatives.

“Out-of-district tuition is $16,000 per year at Bridgehampton,” he said, adding that McGann-Mercy was probably at least double that, which makes Bridgehampton an appealing option.

Mr. Hauser and Ms. Stiles are confident that the budget will be approved by voters in May. 

Last year, Long Island saw a history-making approval of budgets in all of 124 public school districts. It was the first time the region produced a 100-percent passage rate since one-day balloting began in 1996, and was largely credited to the introduction in 2012-13 of the 2-percent property tax cap. Those limitations, in effect, make school systems more reliant upon state aid and require that legislators put together timely aid packages that help districts with their budget planning.

With that in mind, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislators announced Saturday that Long Island’s public schools will get an extra $100 million in state operating aid for the 2018-19 academic year. Although financial experts say this number does not reflect the rate of annual growth and spending for schools in the last few years, it is nonetheless enough to help districts curb taxes or add such services as security enforcement and psychological counseling.

The Bridgehampton School District received the second largest boost in state aid among South Fork schools, with an additional $47,704 earmarked for next year, which is a 6.5-percent increase over this year. Sag Harbor benefited the most with a 10.3-percent increase.

Changes in aid allocations, though governed by state formulas, vary widely from one district to another, depending upon such factors as local spending decisions. The Sagaponack and Wainscott districts are not included in this package as they are systems with fewer than eight teachers and receive state aid through a different funding stream.

Administrators at the Ross School announced on Friday that the school will move its pre-nursery-through-sixth-grade program to its East Hampton campus on Goodfriend Drive for the 2018-19 school year, closing its lower school campus in Bridgehampton.

Ross took over the Butter Lane, Bridgehampton, campus — once home to the Hampton Day School and later to the Morriss Center School — at the start of the 2006-7 school year after the smaller Morriss Center merged with Ross. The merger allowed Ross to expand down, adding kindergarten through third grade. Prekindergarten and early childhood programs were added later. In 2008, the school began enrolling boarding students; by 2013, they made up 40 percent of the student population.

The school was founded in 1991 by Courtney Ross for a single class of just three fifth graders, including Ms. Ross's daughter, Nicole. Each year it added a new grade to accommodate its initial students. It became coed in 1997. According to the school's website, Ross now has 420 students, including boarding students from 20 countries.

"We are about to embark on the next exciting phase of our history as we fully embrace the original intent of our visionary founder Courtney Ross to be 'one school,' " Andi O'Hearn, Ross's chief of student advancement, Bill O'Hearn, the head of high school, and Jeanette Tyndall, head of the lower and middle school, wrote in an email to parents on Friday.

The administrators outlined the benefits of the move, saying it will allow younger students to interact with the school's international boarding students without the transportation costs now involved, make for smoother drop-offs and pickups for parents with students in the upper and lower grades, and "allow us to leverage our resources and better plan for the long-term sustainability of Ross School."

The transition will take place over the summer. Next year, Ross's pre-nursery, nursery, and prekindergarten will be housed in the lower level of the Ross Tennis Center. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade will have classes in the same building as the middle school students.

Ms. Tyndall will offer lower school parents tours of the upper school campus and the middle school building on Friday at 9 and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and will meet with and answer questions from eighth-grade and high school parents that day at 4 p.m. along with Mr. O'Hearn.

Administrators could not be reached for comment.

Aaron. Alaina. Alex. Alyssa. Cara. Carmen. Chris. Gina. Helena. Jaime. Joaquin. Luke. Martin. Meadow. Nicholas. Peter. Scott.

A chilling roll call of the 17 names that spurred students at hundreds of schools across Long Island, over 3,000 nationally, and even a few internationally, to walk out of classrooms for 17 minutes yesterday. It was part memorial, part protest, recalling the 14 students and three staff at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killed by an assault weapon-carrying teenager, exactly one month ago yesterday. 

The National Student Walkout, organized by the Women’s March Youth Empower entity, marked the day when a young generation shaped by gun violence made itself heard.

In Bridgehampton, over 150 students, staffers, and parents from the school as well as from the Hayground School, congregated at 10 a.m. on the front tennis court for a memorial service. It lasted approximately 40 minutes as school administrators spoke to the crowd. Robert Hauser, the school’s superintendent, reminded everyone that “we care about you, we care about your safety, but we also care about your emotional well-being” and urged people to speak up if they ever witness something that does not feel right. 

Tom House, an English teacher at the school, also spoke and relayed his connection to the Parkland area, where several of his relatives attend nearby schools. Mr. House’s family in Florida donated hundreds of wristbands with the words “Douglas Strong” to the Bridgehampton School, which were distributed among the children.

Bridgehampton students then took turns walking onto the makeshift stage and reading a brief eulogy for each of the 17 people killed. They were chilling stories of brave, selfless teachers and everyday kids — some with acceptances to universities across the country, others who simply loved chicken nuggets and dogs, another who was an avid dancer, a trombone player, and one 15-year-old boy who had a lifetime goal to join the United States Military Academy at West Point. He died holding the door open for his classmates to escape and was posthumously accepted to West Point “for his heroic actions,” an academy official told CNN.

The school also announced that it will plant a memorial pear tree on its front lawn. The tree is one of many propagated from a lone surviving tree found amid the World Trade Center rubble after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which came to be known as the “Survivor Tree.” The John Bowne High School in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens formed a partnership with Bartlett Tree Experts to create hundreds of trees from the original, which they donate to neighborhoods that have either survived a tragedy or wish to memorialize one. 

In Springs, a two-hour delayed start yesterday, following Tuesday’s northeaster, meant that fifth through eighth graders who planned to attend the walkout had to congregate in the gym instead of the inner courtyard, where they had hoped to plant daffodils as part of the ceremony. The students had opted for a more private affair and requested that only pupils and teachers be present, a setting intended to allow for more introspection. 

According to Debra Winter, the school’s superintendent, 360 students, mostly dressed in white, participated in yesterday’s walkout. It lasted about 20 minutes, she said, during which time students spoke, read poetry, and reflected. The school had sanctioned the event and administrators worked with student leaders who had expressed their desire to participate to make the demonstration a positive learning experience for students.

“You could hear a pin drop in the gym,” Ms. Winter said of the atmosphere during the walkout.

Each school in the area grappled with its own approach and logistical issues in trying to accommodate students on a historical day of teenage activism. 

In East Hampton, Adam Fine, the high school principal, sent an email to parents stating, “The school is in NO position to take sides in the current political discourse; however, we do understand that students have voices and at times these voices need to be heard.” As a result, the principal said, he created a bell schedule that allowed students to leave the building to join the walkout, without any interruption to their instructional time. 

Mr. Fine also cautioned students that if they did not return to the high school at the appropriate time they would be subject to administrative discipline. 

Dozens of community members, including East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, lined Long Lane opposite the high school campus to show their support as some 300 students congregated in front of the school, formed a circle, and remembered the Parkland victims. Some held up signs demanding stricter gun laws. Police officers were on hand at the school district’s request. Passing motorists honked in support. 

In an email to parents, the East Hampton Middle School principal, Charles Soriano, offered them the option of signing out their children should they wish to take part in the walkout, but the school did not allow students to leave on their own. “Middle schoolers are at various stages of emotional and social development across our three grades,” Dr. Soriano wrote. “Many children are simply unprepared to think through — in a healthy, thoughtful way — the possibility versus the probability of something violent actually happening to them at school. Emotionality can very easily take over, and that can be anxiety producing and, in some cases, scarring for kids.” 

At the Ross School, where several buildings on Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton house middle and high schoolers, approximately 120 students walked out of their respective buildings at 10 a.m. and stood in silence for 17 minutes. 

Annabel Loke, a co-president of the Ross student body, who helped organize the event, wrote in an email to The Star, “We wanted to have this walk-out as an opportunity for everyone to reflect and show their support for the nation’s anti-gun thoughts. We made this walk-out optional because we know everyone has different beliefs. Those who took part in the walk-out were the students and staff who wanted to show their support for the other students that are rallying nationwide.”

The national walkout yesterday unfolded amid a reinvigorated debate over gun control and school safety, sparked by student survivors of the Parkland shooting. Since the shooting, the teenagers have advocated vocally and relentlessly for new gun restrictions and called out lawmakers for their inaction. They have repeated the mantra “never again,” a promise to make the killings in their high school the last.

Even though gun violence on the East End is not an everyday occurrence, as it is in many neighborhoods around the country, parents and educators in the area are nonetheless angry and scared and are pushing for increased safety in schools. Officials have responded, with some, such as the Montauk School, hiring a private security firm and Ms. Winter in Springs lobbying for government to cover the cost of increased security in schools and better mental health support.

Yesterday’s walkout was just the first in a series of planned youth-led demonstrations of activism around gun violence. The March for Our Lives rally scheduled for March 24, will take students to Washington, D.C., and other cities to protest. Next month, students also plan to walk out of classrooms on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the deadly Columbine shooting in Colorado.

Somber words for a nation of young people who find themselves at this symbolic juncture can be found in an excerpt from a poem titled “Life Is Like a Roller Coaster,” written by 15-year-old Alex Schachter a few days before he was killed in the Parkland school: “It may be too much for you at times / The twists, / The turns, / The upside downs, / But you get back up / And keep chugging along / Eventually it all comes to a stop / You won’t know when / Or how / But you will know that it will be time to get off / And start anew. / Life is like a roller coaster.”

Kristen Peterson, the president of the Amagansett School Board, has sent a message to parents and residents in the district inviting them to “assist the board in establishing direction for the selection process for the new superintendent of schools. The board is facing the most important task any school board ever faces: replacing its chief school officer. We are confident that you will want to be a part of this process.” 

In January, Eleanor Tritt, the current superintendent of the small school district, announced that she would retire at the end of her contract in June. Ms. Tritt joined Amagansett in 2001 as interim superintendent and became superintendent in 2008. During her tenure, Ms. Tritt said, she has “worn many hats” and has served as school business and personnel capacities, as well as the principal. However, more recently, the superintendent has been less than popular among some of the district’s residents, with a few citing a lack of transparency in her business dealings.

Ms. Peterson encouraged community members to attend one of two meetings at the Amagansett School, on Tuesday, April 10, from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. and later that day from 6:30 to 7 p.m.

For residents unable to attend the meetings, the district has asked that they fill out a survey, which includes such questions as “What do you see as the single, most important quality that the next superintendent of Amagansett should possess? Why?”

The meetings, Ms. Peterson promised, will be an opportunity for residents to meet consultants from a specialized school administrative placement company, which the board has hired to assist in the search. The consultants will describe the process and provide an estimated timetable. For the remainder of the meeting, Ms. Peterson wrote, “the board will be devoted to hearing participant responses to three questions: What would attract a highly-qualified educator to seek the position of superintendent in our school district? What do you see as some of the major leadership challenges that the new superintendent will face over the next three to five years? And what types of prior experiences and personal and professional qualities would you hope the new superintendent will have?

Data collected from these meetings, the survey, and from other meetings with members of the Amagansett School community, will be compiled to list specifications for the search, which the board hopes to approve during an April 18 meeting.  

“These specifications will then guide the Amagansett Board of Education as it undertakes the search for the new superintendent,” Ms. Peterson said.

As part of the Hamptons Arts Weekend Festival, a joint venture of South Fork cultural institutions, there will be programs for families on Saturday and Sunday at museums and art centers from Springs to Southampton.

On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., families can take gallery tours at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill and then head into its studio to create their own artwork inspired by the exhibitions. Sessions are limited to 30 minutes, and the last one will begin at 12:30 p.m. 

At the Southampton Historical Museum, after seeing some examples of scrimshaw, decorative whalebone carvings that whalemen did to pass the time at sea, children will make their own modern versions. The program runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is free. The museum is on Meeting House Lane. 

At Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, the Goat on a Boat puppet theater will celebrate World Puppetry Day on Saturday with a presentation of Nappy’s Puppets’ “Shadows Around the World” at 11 a.m. The show takes the audience on a journey through the history of shadow puppetry. Beforehand, families will have a chance to make shadow puppets to add to the performance. Tickets are $15.

On Sunday, Bay Street Theater and the Sag Harbor Center for the Arts will offer free family tours of the theater from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The documentary “I know a Man, Ashley Bryan,” presented at the theater at 2 p.m. by the Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival, could have appeal for kids as well. It is about an African-American puppet maker, poet, illustrator, and painter. 

A family day at the Watermill Center, on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., will have visitors work with the arts collective House of Trees to create banners meant to be hung in public places. As the center describes them, “House of Trees projects are interventions in unpredictable sites, curated for both specific audiences and the larger public.” The workshop will be ongoing, with visitors welcome at any time, but online reservations with the Watermill Center have been requested. 

The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs will have an open house for families on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. In addition to tours, families will be invited to take part in Jackson Pollock-inspired cookie decorating and Lee Krasner inspired collage projects. Admission is free.

A schedule of events can be viewed on the Hamptons Arts Network website.

Guild Hall’s 15th annual student film competition awards ceremony and screening will be held next Thursday at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

According to Jennifer Brondo, the theater’s general manager and associate for theater education, 54 films were submitted from students enrolled in local schools, as well as home-schooled students. Five judges watched all the films and chose the top three in each age group. Those students’s films will be shown during next Thursday’s ceremony.

In first through fourth grade, the top three films were “Ghost Haunting” by Ryder Patrowicz, “Dissolved Oxygen” by Andrew Farez, and “Estuary Energy” by Ella Menu. Fifth through eighth grade winners were “Dropped” by Phoenix Bliss, Dash Breen, and Leonardo Dougherty; “The Plastic Villains” by C.J. Baumrind, Salome Galindo, Tyler Hansen, Kevin Narvaez, and Aaron Segovia, and “Braille” by Charlie Troy and Owen Wood. The high school winners were “A Loss of Innocence” by Christian Miller, “A Race Against Time” by Abigail Loos, and “Dear Phone” by Augie Schultz.