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.

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.”

In response to the East Hampton School Board’s decision to discontinue outsourcing the district’s prekindergarten to the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, the center said this week that it will expand its research-based early education curriculum model to its younger “3-K” students in the fall.

“Whereas we regret that the partnership with the East Hampton School District is ending,” the childhood center’s board said in an official statement, “We are happy to have the opportunity to expand our 3-K programs, and are exploring partnerships with other area schools for both pre-K and 3-K programs.”

The center, formerly known as the East Hampton Day Care Center, has run a prekindergarten program for the district for 20 years. But in the face of declining elementary enrollment, the board opted last week to take the prekindergarten program into the John M. Marshall Elementary School building for the first time. Its contract with the center for a full-day pre-K program ends in June. 

Members of the school board praised the childhood center and its leadership for the excellence of its offerings and for its longstanding contributions to the community, but said that a decline in the student population allowed for a redistribution of teaching and classroom resources at John Marshall and for the projected incorporation of the approximately 80 East Hampton pre-K students currently at the childhood center.

“We wish everyone well,” said Maureen Wikane, administrative director of the center. Ms. Wikane is widely considered by parents, educators, and administrators to have been instrumental to the success of the joint venture between the school district and the childhood center over the course of the 20-year relationship.

“The school board decision is an opportunity to create positive change, to seek new opportunities to apply our methods, and to build new relationships. That’s what’s best for the community, for families, and for children,” Ms. Wikane said.

The Early Childhood Center has received grants from the Yale Child Study Center and the Devereux Center for Resilient Children to implement research. Arlene Pizzo-Notel, the program director, explained that “the curriculum is designed to help every child achieve developmental milestones in early literacy, problem solving, and other academic and life skills. Research indicates that well-implemented, high quality pre-kindergarten for at-risk kids can narrow the achievement gap, reduce grade repetition and special education placements, increase high school graduation rates, reduce crime and lead to greater employment and higher earnings as adults.”

In referring to applying the center’s social-emotional curriculum to 3-K learners, Ms. Wikane paraphrased Laura Anker-Grossman, one of the childhood center’s board members, in saying, “We were pioneers once. We will be pioneers again.”

The center will maintain a full-day pre-K program on a tuition basis and will continue to offer full-day toddler programs, and an optional extended day program allowing children to be at the center from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

Happy Birthday to Me!

A celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday will be held at the Amagansett Library on Tuesday from 3 to 3:45 p.m. Kids ages 3 and up can listen to a few Dr. Seuss classics, make a craft, and enjoy a healthy snack. Children must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.

Big Bad Wolf Meets Goat

Goat on a Boat’s puppet theater series at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will continue on Saturday at 11 a.m. with A Couple of Puppets’ “Little Red Riding Hood.” Suitable for kids ages 2 to 7, the show will feature hand puppets, music, and changing scenery. Tickets cost $15.

Activities Galore in East Hampton 

On Saturday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Dawn Christian, an SAT and ACT tutor, will lead a writing workshop at the East Hampton Library designed to help high school students increase essay scores on their SAT or ACT college application tests. Students will learn strategies and tips for planning, writing, and revising during the test.

High school students can also join in a scavenger hunt and perhaps win a prize on Sunday between 1 and 4 p.m.

Children ages 5 and up will learn how to make sugar body scrubs with essential oils and other natural ingredients on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

High schoolers have been invited to take in their favorite movies on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The group will then decide which movie to watch that evening. Snacks will be served.

“Peter Pan” the movie will be screened next Thursday at 4 p.m. and is suitable for all ages.

The countywide Battle of the Books competition will take place on Friday, March 23, at Connetquot High School in Bohemia. High school students have been invited to travel by bus and cheer on the library’s team. The bus will leave East Hampton at 4 p.m. and return by 10. Seating is limited, so advance registration is required, as is a permission slip, which can be found on the library’s website.

Coding, Reading, and Movies 

A new series of coding club classes for children ages 7 to 10 begins today and continues every Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. through April 26 at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. This informal, self-paced club will allow kids to play on popular coding websites, move favorite movie characters through mazes, and design computer games. No experience is necessary.

Wally, the extra-friendly dog who loves kids and listening to stories, will return to the library on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon.

From 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, families with kids of all ages are invited to watch the 2003 version of “A Wrinkle in Time.” Popcorn and drinks will be served and a discussion about the 2018 version of this movie, which is in theaters this month, will follow the screening. There will also be a raffle drawing, with winners receiving free tickets to the latest “A Wrinkle in Time.”

The book that inspired the movie, but in graphic format, will be the subject of discussion at Sunday’s meeting of a graphic novel club for fourth through sixth graders. From 12:30 to 1 p.m., kids will discuss a version of Madeleine L’Engle’s book illustrated by Hope Larson. The club meets once a month. “Invisible Emmie” by Terri Libens is the next one up for consideration on Sunday, April 22. The books are available at the main desk.

Also on Sunday, kids ages 8 to 11 can concoct magnetic slime from 3 to 4 p.m. as part of the library’s STEAM Sundays series.

Go Irish in Montauk

Children in kindergarten and up can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Montauk Library on Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m. by making some sweet treats such as leprechaun houses out of graham crackers, icing, candy, and Lucky Charms. Then, children will design and make St. Patrick’s Day-themed chocolate-covered pretzels and marshmallows. Registration is required as space is limited.

Birding, Stargazing, and Frogs 

On Saturday at 10 a.m., John Shemilt, a South Fork Natural History Museum program and workshop presenter, will lead a program that offers firsthand experience in caring for purple martins, one of Long Island’s native birds. Participants will learn the importance of feeding purple martins at this time of year and methods to help them prepare for the upcoming nesting season. 

At 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Xylia Serafy, a SoFo Museum nature educator, will teach kids ages 6 and up about constellations and their meaningful patterns or images in the night sky.

Also on Sunday at 10:30 a.m., Eleni Nikolopoulos, another SoFo nature educator, will teach kids about frogs and their winter hiding places. The group will then make an edible model of where they think those hiding spots might be. There will be a materials fee of $3 per child.

Advance registration is required for all programs.

The 13th annual student job fair will be held on April 18 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at East Hampton High School. In preparation, the event’s organizers are looking for business owners and members of the work force to participate. This is an opportunity for them to speak with students and potentially scout employees for internships and summer or weekend jobs.

According to Debbie Mansir, the high school’s programs coordinator, the objective of the job fair is to help students find summer employment as well as help businesses here connect, interview, and even hire young, enthusiastic workers in an efficient manner. 

The event will take place in the high school gymnasium, with each business having a designated area where students can be spoken to and where they can fill out applications and schedule interviews.

Any business owner who would like to participate can email Ms. Mansir at [email protected] or call 631-329-6462 before April 12. Those unable to participate but nonetheless eager to have students learn about or apply for summer or weekend positions have also been asked to contact Ms. Mansir. There will be a table at the job fair at which those employers who are unable to attend can leave information.

Sydney Salamy, a junior at East Hampton High School, is looking for gently used sports equipment and clothing as part of her mission to ensure that students don’t “miss out on playing a school sport simply because they can’t afford it.” That is, afford to buy the often expensive equipment and apparel required to participate. 

Sydney, a student-athlete herself, has started a nonprofit, student-run charity at the high school called Play It Forward East Hampton, which is dedicated to helping underprivileged youths take part in sports regardless of the gear required.

The next collection for the cause will be on Monday, and students have been encouraged to take their unwanted or unused sports equipment and clothing to the high school’s main office, where a collection bin will be available. Sydney will facilitate the distribution of the donations to students in need across Long Island.

Among the items acceptable for donation are balls, shoes, tennis rackets, bats, and clothing for baseball, basketball, cross-country, field and ice hockey, football, golf, kickball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. In addition, protective gear such as gloves, goggles, shin guards, and shoulder and kneepads are also sought. Items not accepted include skis and ski boots, snowboards, bowling balls, and helmets.

“During our last drive, in November,” Sydney said, “donations of eight bags of equipment and clothing went to Chris Agostino, the director of athletics at Elmont Memorial High School, which consists of 99 percent minorities of whom 50 percent receive free or reduced lunches.”

Play It Forward East Hampton is a chapter of a national organization started in 2017 by a group of athletes from Keller High School in Texas and is a part of the Pro Players Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization.

Sydney is looking forward to many students donating on Monday because, as she put it, “we hope to fill the gap between wanting to play and being a player.”

As students across the country plan walkouts on Wednesday to mark the one-month anniversary of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., schools on the South Fork are preparing, as well.

Students from the Hayground and Bridgehampton Schools will have a joint walkout, and the Springs School will have a district-sanctioned event to memorialize the lives lost in Florida and assure students that safety is a top priority.

At East Hampton High School, while the walkout is not school-sponsored, administrators have rearranged the day's schedule so that students who wish to participate can do so without missing class. And at the East Hampton Middle School, the principal, Charles Soriano, has offered parents the option of signing their children out themselves, if participation is important to them.

Adam Fine, the East Hampton High School principal, has been working with student leaders to plan and prepare for the student walkout.

"Coordination with students is key," said Mr. Fine. "I support their right to participate and to express themselves, but my number-one concern is for their safety."

East Hampton High School has a student population of approximately 900, though not all are expected to take part in the walkout. 

Mr. Fine said he would have adequate coverage both inside and outside the building to prepare for any eventuality, and that there would be a police presence at the high school that day. "Not because I expect a problem," he said, "but because I want everyone safe. We want to make sure it is a positive experience."

"There's been a lot of back and forth about their ideas," Mr. Fine said. "All have been simple and in good taste. They've proposed making signs bearing the names of the lives that were lost, and possibly standing in some sort of formation. Right now we’re thinking the football field would be the best location. We will probably have a photographer there."

"If you feel (strongly) that your child needs to participate in a walkout experience, and that the lessons learned would outweigh his or her attending class, please follow our regular school procedures and sign them out of school, wherein you will assume direct supervision for your own child," Mr. Soriano wrote in an email to middle school parents. "For example, a handful of parents signed their daughters out for the Women's March in Washington, D.C., which I think was a wonderful opportunity for those youngsters who were socially and emotionally ready to handle such an experience — under the watchful eyes of their parents. You know your child best."

Residents in the Springs School District voted 484 to 323 Tuesday to approve the $16.9 million bond necessary for the school’s fiercely debated expansion. The district has also been cleared to apply $6 million from an existing capital reserve fund to help offset the total cost of construction, which is not to exceed $22.96 million.

“I was extremely thrilled to see that over 800 residents came out to vote,” said Debra Winter, the school’s superintendent. It was double the number who had cast ballots in the last budget vote in May 2017. “Special thanks to our board for their vision and persistence, to the community members who asked questions, visited our school, then supported us. . . . To those who wrote to the editor, thank you! To my colleagues for their diligence in coming out on weekends and staying late to make presentations, thank you,” she wrote in an email yesterday. 

The community’s endorsement of the project has finally decided the fate of the cramped school building, originally intended for 350 students but serving 734 today. Talks of an expansion first surfaced in 1999 as enrollment increased but eventually took root in 2014 when the school board formed a facilities committee composed of various school and community stakeholders, and upon whose recommendation it was determined that additional space was needed. 

Three years later, the final set of plans prepared by B.B.S Architects and Engineering, show an expanded Springs School with approximately 24,000 square feet of additional space that allows for seven new classrooms, including a technology and science lab, a middle school regulation-size gymnasium with locker rooms, renovation of the art and music rooms, and renovation of 17 small instructional spaces to support New York State Education Department compliance standards, a new septic system, parking and traffic improvements, and junior high regulation-size soccer and baseball fields.

Ms. Winter outlined the district’s next steps. “My job now is to ensure we get the detailed plans to the New York State facilities planning department and we will pay to have them expedited. As soon as they are approved we can go out to bid. Once the bids are received and contractors are selected and approved by the board, work can begin.”

The school’s first priority, she said, will be to replace the roof and install a new nitrogen-reducing septic system, funding for which was denied because of a technicality, but which the superintendent is optimistic will come through.

As was expected, the margin of victory in Tuesday’s vote was not particularly large. Many residents have been critical  of  the school board’s decisions regarding the expansion. The group has called the project “grandiose” and even labeled it “the Taj Mahal,” and signs urging people to vote no were posted around the district in the lead-up to Tuesday’s vote. During the last two weeks a string of emails to residents urged them to vote the bond down, citing what they believe was the board’s lack of due diligence in exploring more cost-effective solutions.

With the bond green-lighted, the school estimates that construction will begin in July 2019, following the approval of required permits, with work projected to be completed in 2021.

“Personally, after seven months in Springs, I can say this addition is so needed. I have never seen so many individuals sharing space and teaching in closets,” said Ms. Winter.

Barbara Dayton, the president of the school board, also expressed her joy that the referendum was approved, saying it is a victory for improved learning conditions. 

“I was impressed by the large turnout for the vote and very grateful that the majority of voters understood the issues facing our children and voted in favor of the proposed expansion,” she said, and added, “This is a win for Springs kids.”

The East Hampton School Board unanimously agreed to move forward with a full-day in-house prekindergarten program at the John M. Marshall Elementary School beginning in the 2018-19 school year.

“The board agreed that this can take place and should take place,” said Richard Burns, the school superintendent. “As soon as we’re ready to start the registration process, we will alert the community as to when and how that will take place. We want parents to know we will have a seat for every 4-year-old in the district.”

For the past 20 years, the district has outsourced pre-K education to the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, formerly the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center. Two years ago, the services expanded from a half day to a full day, and the budget for the services increased as well. 

At the regular school board meeting on Tuesday night, board members discussed the costs to the district for paying the center to run the full-day pre-K program as having increased from $500,000 in 2016, to $644,000 in 2017, to a proposed $844,000 in 2018. According to Mr. Burns, “That number is 1 percent of our entire budget.”

Board members also cited the center’s ongoing resistance to accepting a multi-year contract. “We tried to get a long-term contract two times unsuccessfully,” said James P. Foster, the school board president. “We made it clear that we need to look into other options.” The center’s current one-year contract ends in June.

It was estimated at the meeting that the proposed change could result in an immediate savings to the district of ­approximately $300,000, though the amount saved can be expected to increase annually, since the costs of incorporating the program will be highest up front.

Despite the substantial savings the change represents, the decision to move the pre-K program to John Marshall from the Eleanor Whitmore Center is still being classified as a consequence of declining enrollment. “It came about organically,” Mr. Burns said. “Sometimes in life these things occur. And then, next step, the numbers made sense.”

“Previously we couldn’t get the pre-K into our system,” John Ryan, a school board member, said at the meeting. “Now because we can, I’m fully supportive.” Mr. Ryan added of the Eleanor Whitmore Center, “We appreciate what they have done. They stepped up. We hope to continue to have a relationship with them. We have kids who will continue to need care there.”

At last week’s budget meeting, Beth Doyle, John Marshall’s principal, advised the school board that her school had seen a loss of 150 elementary students between 2014 and 2018.

This year, “per grade the number works out to about 67 students in kindergarten, 68 in first grade, 74 in second, 86 in third, 112 in fourth, and 100 in fifth,” Ms. Doyle said.

“We looked at a number of different scenarios for incorporating the pre-K program. The one that made most sense was for every grade to have four sections instead of five. The average class size might be 22 to 23 per class grades K-4, but for next year’s fifth grade, the number of students might be 26 to 27.”

This was the only concern raised by parents at Tuesday’s board meeting in relation to the proposed change. Those who spoke applauded the addition of the pre-K program, but said they were worried about overcrowding for next year’s fifth graders. 

Ms. Doyle understood and has taken this into consideration. She said she attempted to correct for this by making sure every section has two adults, a teacher and an assistant, in order to maintain a 1-to-13 adult-to-child ratio. She said it is also possible that some of the current fourth-grade students could leave the district.

In terms of new hires, Ms. Doyle said the inclusion of the pre-K will only require one new full-time teacher. She will first draw from among the staff who are certified to teach the pre-K classes. She plans to ask them their preferences before posting for the position.

Regarding parents who might need early drop-off and late pick-up, the district is considering all options. For example, Ms. Doyle said that John Marshall has a breakfast program that begins at 7:30, which could accommodate pre-K students, and that Project Most runs an after-school program there for kindergarten through fifth graders. 

“We would love to continue to have a cooperative relationship with the Eleanor Whitmore Center,” Mr. Burns said. “It would help with children’s needs before and after the school program. We look forward to having that discussion with them at the appropriate time.”

Theatrical Garden Party

Next up in the Neo-Political Cowgirls’ offerings for kids is a Young Cowgirls Garden Party workshop for girls 8 to 12, which begins on March 21 at Guild Hall in East Hampton. Participants will “create their own theatrical garden party,” according to Guild Hall’s website. 

The performance and esteem-building program will meet on Wednesdays through May 9 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The cost is $230, $220 for museum members. Advance registration is required by emailing [email protected].

“The Puppet Princess”

Goat on a Boat’s series of puppet shows at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will continue on Saturday when WonderSpark Puppets presents “The Puppet Princess” at 11 a.m. According to the theater, the story line of the interactive show is this: “When her best friend, Sprig the horse, goes missing, it’s up to the princess (with the audience’s help) to find him again.” Tickets cost $15. 

After-School Art

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill is gearing up for its spring session of free after-school art programs, which run from March 26 through May 24. Registration begins on Monday for residents of the Tuckahoe and Southampton School Districts and on March 19 for others. 

Workshops for prekindergartners will be on Thursdays from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Those for children in kindergarten through fifth grade will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. The classes generally fill up early, so parents interested in having their children take part have been advised to mark their calendars. Registration is by email to [email protected].

A Nod to the Irish

Following hot on the heels of the Oscars, the East Hampton Library will celebrate its own young filmmakers with a screening of teen films and an awards presentation this afternoon at 3:30. Pizza will be served. 

Also for teens this week, on Sunday high school students have been invited to stop by the young-adult room for some 3-D doodling from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday is Netflix night at the library, when high schoolers can watch favorite movies or shows on the streaming service from 5 to 7.

Younger children ages 4 and up will make life-size leprechauns as they listen to festive Irish music during an art program tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. In another nod to Irish heritage, kids 4 and older can make their own illuminated manuscripts on Wednesday at 4 p.m. 

Rainbow glitter vases will be the craft of the day in a program next Thursday at 4 p.m. for sixth through eighth graders. 

At the Montauk Library, kids 5 to 12 can get ready for St. Patrick’s Day by making their own leprechaun hats on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. “Perfect for . . . the Montauk St. Patrick’s Day parade,” the library notes. 

Kids 9 to 12 will come away from a Saturday program at the Amagansett Library with washer necklaces. The crafting happens from 3 to 4 p.m.

Advance registration has been requested for most programs.

Feeding Time

What do the feeding habits of the South Fork Natural History Museum’s animals tell us about food webs, carnivores, omnivores, and energy trophic levels? Children 9 to 12 who are intrigued by those subjects can find answers on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., as they join Xylia Serafy, a nature educator, at the museum’s feeding time. Space is limited and advance sign-up has been suggested.