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.

Residents in the Springs School District voted 484 to 323 Tuesday to approve a $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.

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. In the three years since 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, Springs residents have become deeply divided over the issue.

The architectural plans to add approximately 24,000 square feet of space and renovate 17,000 square feet have been labeled "the Taj Mahal" and called "grandiose" and "a mega expansion" by a group of detractors who believe the school board did not explore what they considered to be more cost-effective solutions, such as temporary classrooms.

Most recently, the rhetoric amped up to introduce immigration into the debate, when Manny Vilar, representing dozens of Springs residents who were determined to vote down the bond, said that a decrease in the Springs population, and therefore in its students, was imminent due to stricter immigration policies. In 2017 Mr. Vilar ran unsuccessfully for East Hampton Town supervisor on the Republican and Conservative Party tickets.

On the other side, residents rallied for improved learning conditions for Springs students, who are often forced to take state tests sitting in a hallway or unable to compete in certain sports because the school does not have a regulation-size gym. In addition, some supporters focused on improved health and safety conditions with all classrooms moving to one building, safer drop-off and pickup zones planned, and the environmental benefits of a new nitrogen-reducing septic system.

The expansion, school officials have repeatedly said, is not simply a matter of elbow room for students -- the average Springs student has 84 square feet of space while the average East Hampton Middle School student has 293 square feet -- but a matter of safety and compliance with state standards, as the school is forced to push fire and safety limits on a daily basis.

In addition to upgrades to the aging infrastructure, including new roofing and windows, the expanded school building will feature seven additional classrooms, including a technology and science lab, a middle school regulation-size gymnasium with locker rooms, renovation of the art and music rooms to be compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, renovation of 17 small instructional spaces to support New York State Education Department compliance standards, an environmentally friendly septic system, parking and traffic improvements, and junior high regulation-size soccer and baseball fields.

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

As students across the country stage walkouts on Wednesday, the one-month anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting in Parkland, Fla., the Springs School is planning its own organized event and other schools are considering how to handle students’ participation.  

According to Eric Casale, the Springs School principal, the Springs walkout is intended to memorialize the lives lost in the Florida shooting, as well as to assure students that safety in schools is a priority.

In a letter posted on the school’s website, Mr. Casale outlined the district-sanctioned event and also asked that students wear white on the day, as will the wave of protesting students across the country who are demanding stricter gun control laws.

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, fifth through eighth graders in Springs will leave their classrooms as a group for 17 minutes, in honor of the 17 students and school staff killed in last month’s shooting. 

Mr. Casale said that students will congregate in the school’s courtyard to plant flowers, make statements, read poetry, and reflect with a moment of silence. The walkout is “intended to be an organized, respectful event focused on kindness,” wrote the principal. It is only open to students and faculty. Students will not be required to participate. 

In addition, students at the Hayground and Bridgehampton Schools are planning a joint walkout, according to an email sent by Erica Huberty, a parent of a Hayground student. Although details are not yet finalized, it is hoped that students from both schools will “stand in solidarity for 17 minutes on [the Bridgehampton] school grounds,” the email read.

Ms. Huberty reported that she had spoken to Michael Miller, the Bridgehampton School’s principal, who said that although the school is not allowed to condone a walkout, students who do so on Wednesday will not be prevented or punished.

At the East Hampton School Board meeting Tuesday night, the high school principal, Adam Fine, informed the board that the walkout has been a topic of careful discussion. 

“The guidance has been that if it represents a disruption, students should be disciplined,” Mr. Fine said, indicating that he does not necessarily share that view. 

“I’m looking into whether I am able to flex my bell schedule to create free time during the day for those who want to participate. Coordination with students is key.” Mr. Fine added that he has been reminding students to use the opportunity to talk about “what is near and dear to them.”

With Reporting 

by Hilary Thayer Hamann

Aspiramos, a recently formed nonprofit entity, will host its first Latino film festival on Friday, March 16, at Southampton High School, with screenings of “Mi Gran Noche,” a comedy about Latino traditions of New Year’s Eve, at 6:30 p.m. and “Neruda,” a biographical drama about the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, at 8:30. Tickets are available at the door for $10.

The event marks the first fund-raising effort for Aspiramos, which was formed in the fall of last year. The name translates to “we aspire,” and its goal is to provide financial scholarships to Latino students graduating from Southampton who have expressed a desire to attend vocational school or college.

The idea for the organization germinated after Barbara Fair of Southampton became aware through Diane Guida, a teacher at the school, of the thousands of dollars in scholarships awarded each year to Southampton’s graduating seniors, of which almost none were going to Latino students.

“The imbalance struck me,” Ms. Fair said, “and I asked for a meeting with Southampton School administration and faculty to explore the reasons.”

What she discovered was that Latino students were simply not applying for scholarships, as their higher education aspirations are often thwarted by cultural expectations or financial constraints. With the school’s backing, Ms. Fair and Ms. Guida co-founded a Latino scholarship committee in order to identify the issues affecting Latino students and find ways to help them reach their academic potential. Subsequently, about 20 school administrators, faculty members, and community members have joined the committee, Ms. Fair said.

“Aspiramos is the title the committee chose for the nonprofit we are in the process of creating for the scholarship program,” she said. 

One of those committee members is Isabel Sepulveda de Scanlon. The Latino community liaison for the Southampton School District, she has been instrumental in putting together the film festival. “As a Latino community member, I feel it is my duty to represent my community the best way I can — opening doors,” she said.

For Latino students at Southampton High School looking to apply for an Aspiramos scholarship, the committee will take into consideration academic achievement, attendance records, participation in extracurricular activities, leadership qualities, financial need, and teachers’ recommendations, among other factors.

The high school is at 141 Narrow Lane. The $10 tickets are valid for both movies and can be purchased in advance by calling 631-591-4611.

“I want you all to take a look at that sign,” said Eric Casale, the principal of the Springs School, during Monday’s school board meeting. Approximately 70 or 80 adults and children in the packed library craned their necks to look where Mr. Casale was pointing: a sign at one end that read, “Maximum Occupancy: 54.”

“We break that every single day,” Mr. Casale continued. “We’re breaking it right now. Because we do not have the space.”

On March 6, taxpayers in the Springs School District will head to the polls to approve or reject the funds needed for a major expansion of the school, which was built for 350 students but currently serves 734. The cost of the work is capped at $22,963,298. Approximately $6 million from the district’s capital reserve fund would be applied to that sum, leaving Springs homeowners to decide whether they want to shoulder the balance of $16.9 million. 

An additional 23,801 square feet is proposed, including a new gymnasium, seven new classrooms, new playing fields, a nitrogen-reducing septic system, new roofing, and renovations to existing classrooms.

“Sure, state-of-the-art facilities will be good for the students,” said Manny Vilar, the Republican and Conservative Party member who ran unsuccessfully in November for East Hampton Town supervisor, during a phone conversation the morning after the board meeting. Nonetheless, he said, he represents “a groundswell of community opposition,” consisting of about 30 to 40 Springs residents who are determined to vote down the bond and “get the board refocused.” Mr. Vilar’s four children attended the Springs School; his youngest is an eighth grader there. 

According to Mr. Vilar, cost-saving alternatives have not been adequately explored by the school board. “All they’ve done is push this expansion,” he said, adding that the board has failed to pre­sent, despite his requests, projected upkeep and maintenance costs for the proposed expansion. 

“The addition will need to be heated,” he said. “There will be additional staff employed with benefits — what are those costs? The community needs to understand the true costs of this expansion, but the school has yet to give me those numbers.”

Mr. Vilar also said that over the last 18 months he has suggested alternatives to the expansion, such as pursuing legislative change for Springs to get its own ZIP code, thus creating a separate school district that would receive its own state funding.

“I have even suggested that we appeal East Hampton Town to allow the Springs School to utilize the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons building in East Hampton, given Springs’s special circumstances and needs. And I proposed the possibility of noncontiguous schools like Montauk, Springs, and Amagansett forming their own high school.” And in the meantime, he said, how about temporary classrooms?

Debra Winter, the school’s superintendent, did not agree. ”After yesterday,” she said last week, the day after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., “I want all Springs students under one roof.” Her steely tone made it clear there would be no negotiation on that topic. Currently, prekindergarten, kindergarten, and some first-grade classes are held in other buildings, including a church in East Hampton where, Ms. Winter said, “There is no security. None. . . . For health and safety factors alone, I will continue to stay positive and believe that the bond will be approved.”

Joe Sullivan, who lives in Springs, echoed the superintendent’s views. “Having all students of Springs under one roof is not a want but a need,” he said. His wife teaches second grade at the school. ”Every day, a large portion of instructional time is spent walking students back and forth from outside buildings for music, art, and physical education classes.” Mr. Sullivan said he has three children under 4, and wants to ensure that the school they attend in the future is safe and functional.

But Mr. Vilar expressed a much more pessimistic view of the future. “So much is happening on a broader, national level that will dramatically impact the population of Springs over the next few years.”

When asked to explain what he meant and how it might factor into an expansion plan, he replied, “You can’t live in a bubble. With today’s immigration laws, I believe we will see far fewer legal and illegal residents in Springs over the next few years.” In short, Mr. Vilar believes that a population decline might nullify the need for an extensive expansion. 

That politics has entered into the discourse of a school’s expansion does not make Gavin Menu happy. A lifelong Springs resident, he is married to a Springs School alumna, and their third grader attends the school. “While some would like to politicize this issue, and make it about something other than our overcrowded school being in desperate need of expansion, that is not what this debate should be about,” Mr. Menu told the school board and community members on Monday.

“Understand that this project will also help our local environment with a nitrogen-reducing septic system,” he continued. “Also understand that if this school is deemed unattractive, it will drive our real estate values down,” he said. “We would support this plan even if we did not have children.”

Agreed, said Markie Hancock, a Manhattan-based filmmaker with no children but a second home in Springs. “I’m happy to pay taxes for public education. It’s expensive but not near as costly as an uneducated citizenry,” she said.

Sunsh Stein, who lives year round in Springs, appeared resigned on the issue. “Who wants taxes increased?” she said. “But the school needs it, so what can we do?” 

According to Michael Henery, the school’s business administrator, projected taxes for a Springs house valued at $600,000 would be raised by approximately $163 a year, while those valued at $800,000 would face a $217 increase and residences around the $1 million mark would see an increase of about $272 annually.

Carole Campolo, a vocal member of Mr. Vilar’s opposition group, sent a mass email to some Springs residents, citing evidence that Mr. Vilar’s projection of a decreased Springs population is correct: “I have a complete January 2016 [Board of Cooperative Educational Services] study, which maintains that the overall Suffolk County population is increasing, but the Springs School population will decrease in the years 2024 to 2025,” she wrote in her email. “I asked at many school board meetings for an explanation as to why they were proceeding with the expansion when in fact data shows a decrease in population by the time the construction will be completed. I was told those reports are often wrong and their real world experience showed more students.”

The BOCES study, conducted in 2014, does indeed show declining enrollment figures for the school. At the time of the study, the current school year was projected as having 683 students while the 2024-25 school year shows 599. However, there are not 683 students at the Springs School but 734, 51 more than predicted, placing a question mark over the accuracy of such forecasts. 

Barbara Dayton, the school board president, said the projected enrollment decrease was “only a small number,” not enough to make a substantial difference in filling classrooms.

Ms. Campolo remained resolute, however, and in an email to The Star, she offered this reassurance to the community: “If the school bond referendum were to be defeated, I, and many others in the community, will be happy to work with the school board and administration to craft a solution that will be beneficial for not only the schoolchildren, parents, and school staff, but Springs taxpayers as well.”

But the school superintendent cautioned that in the event of a defeat, the board would seek public approval of the approximately $6 million in a capital reserve fund to be reallocated toward a new roof, a new septic system, and upgrades to windows and doors, none of which would solve the school’s overcrowding problem.

A comprehensive list of questions and answers on the subject, including projected operational costs, is available on the Springs School website, as are architectural renderings of the expansion and budget and property tax details.

Puppetry and Musicals

Goat on a Boat’s series of puppet shows returns to Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Saturday at 11 a.m. when PuppetKabob prsents “The Snowflake Man,” inspired by Wilson Bentley, a self-educated farmer and scientist who attracted world attention when he became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal. The show will feature intricately designed Czech-style marionettes.

On Sunday Goat on a Boat’s annual family fund-raiser, the Bambini Ball, will be held at 3:30 p.m., also at Bay Street. Attendees have been encouraged to dress in their most festive attire for puppet making, a puppet show, a performance by Jester Jim, penny raffle items, and dancing.

Tickets are $15 for both events.

Looking ahead, NexGen Youth Theatre will host a musical workshop for kids 10 to 18 on March 11 from 9 a.m. to noon. This is a mixed-level, audition-style workshop. Participants will explore the musical “Matilda,” discussing themes, characters, and plot, and will receive coaching on individual scenes, as well as auditioning tips. Students will also learn a portion of the original Broadway choreography and explore two or three vocal numbers. The cost is $100, and registration is at nexgenyouththeatre.com.

Calling All Engineers 

The Children’s Museum of the East End’s Engineer’s Club will gather for science, technology, engineering and math activities on Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. The drop-off program is for children 5 to 9. The cost is $12, but members can take part today. 

Dungeons, Dragons, Lucky Leprechaun

High school students have been invited to join in a game of Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy tabletop role-playing game, on Saturday between 2 and 5 p.m.

Teen tech week begins Monday and will offer high school students a chance to participate in various tech-related activities each day from 4 to 5 p.m. On Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday it will be 3-D printing. On Tuesday, students can learn to make connections and create machines with easy and swappable circuit boards, with kits provided. And on Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m., they can experience the world of virtual reality with the Vive virtual reality system.

Children ages 7 and up can also experiment with electronics beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. in yet another series of Snap Circuits workshops. Additional sessions will be next Thursday, March 13, March 16, March 23, and April 3 and 24. 

A St. Patrick’s Day story time and craft session will be held on Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m., for ages 4 and up.

An awards presentation and screening of films made at the library for this year’s Teen Film Festival will take place next Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Pizza will be served.

On Friday, March 9, at 3:30 p.m., kids ages 4 and up can create a life-size leprechaun using paper folding techniques.

Movie Time in Sag

On Saturday, families with children of all ages can enjoy an afternoon at the movies at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” rated PG, will be screened at 1, and popcorn and drinks will be provided. The event is free but registration is required.

Workshops at the Parrish

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will hold a family night workshop tomorrow from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Everyone in the family can create a unique work of art using the collagraph printmaking technique with items like cardboard and Styrofoam. The workshop is included in the price of admission but registration is required. 

A four-week pottery workshop for kids 7 or older starts on Saturday from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Wendy Gottlieb will teach the class, which offers students the opportunity to work on the potter’s wheel. In addition, they will study the history of ceramics and learn about pottery techniques. The workshop is limited to eight students at a cost of $120 for the series, or $90 for members.

Nature Walkabouts

Families with children 3 to 5 can join in a nature scavenger hunt on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton. Taylor Ruhle, a SoFo nature educator, will take the children for a walk outside in Vineyard Field to look for Long Island’s native gems.

Later that evening at 7:30, and again on March 10, Andy Sabin, the president of SoFo’s board of directors, will lead a nighttime walk around Montauk’s vernal ponds where the blue-spotted salamander, in its purebred form, can be found. This walk is suitable for children over 6 and will take place only if there have been heavy rains. Participants should take a flashlight and wear boots.

On Sunday at 10:30 a.m., kids ages 6 to 8 can enjoy feeding time at the museum and learn who eats whom and what. Advance registration is required for all programs.

On Tuesday, Springs taxpayers will decide whether to approve the $16.9 million bonds necessary for the Springs School District’s expansion plan to go forward.

Voting will take place from 1 to 9 p.m. in the school library, located at 48 School Street in Springs.

Today is the last day for qualified people who are not registered to vote to do so between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the district clerk’s office. To vote, people must be citizens of the United States and Springs residents for at least the last 30 days. Anyone not registered will not be allowed to vote.

The cost of the project is not to exceed $22.96 million. Approximately $6 million from the district’s capital reserve fund will be applied to that sum, leaving taxpayers to decide on the financing of a balance of $16.9 million.

For Springs homeowners, Michael Henery, the school’s business administrator, offered the following projected numbers for an increase in taxes: A property valued at $600,000 would incur approximately $163 more a year, or $14 a month, properties valued at $800,000 would face a $217 increase, or $18 a month, and residences around the $1 million mark would see an increase of about $272 annually or $23 a month.

If the bond is approved, it is hoped that construction will begin in July 2019 and be completed by 2021. The proposed scope of work includes a building addition of 24,000 square feet, the reconstruction and renovation of 17,000 square feet of existing interior areas, demolition, upgrading, and new construction of outbuildings, replacement of existing septic systems with a new, low-nitrogen sanitary system, installation of new access and service roadways and the expansion of the parking lots, relocation of basketball and handball courts, the expansion and renovation of two grass playing fields, and the installation of a new baseball field.

In the event of a defeat, school officials said that the board would seek public approval of the approximately $6 million in a capital reserve fund to be reallocated toward a new roof, a new septic system, and upgrades to windows and doors only.

--

Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to a $16.9 million expansion. The school district is proposing a $22.96 million expansion, to be financed with $16.9 million in bonds and approximately $6 million from its capital reserve fund. 

According to Niche, an online education review and ranking system, the East Hampton School District ranked 30 out of 55 schools in Suffolk County for safety, while Southampton was ranked as the number-one safest school on the list. Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton placed 41st and 42nd, respectively. 

The rankings on the Niche website are based on “rigorous analysis of data from the United States Department of Education along with millions of reviews from students and parents.” 

In the aftermath of the deadly Parkland, Fla., shooting, safety in schools has become an intense focus. From a planned national school walkout, organized by students who are demanding stricter gun control, to President Trump’s announcement that “highly trained” teachers should carry firearms, school safety continues to stir debate and raise questions throughout the country. 

In East Hampton, the subject was almost prophetically raised on Dec. 12 by Walter Quiroz, a parent of an East Hampton High School student. During a school board meeting that day, Mr. Quiroz read a letter in Spanish, which was translated into English. 

“In the past few years, policies have been implemented to monitor who enters and leaves the buildings. We applaud you for that effort,” he read. “Our worry, however, is that it does not guarantee that a student or a person cannot carry with them arms or weapons that can hurt others.”

Mr. Quiroz and the parents he represented asked the school board to explore and implement another policy on security measures that would “guarantee or prohibit” weapons being taken into the school.

The current safety procedure requires all visitors to East Hampton School District buildings to show valid identification before entering during school hours. However, this reporter and others recently entered the high school on several occasions during early evening sports games and theater rehearsals without having to show identification.

The issue of safety in East Hampton schools became newsworthy in 2013, when the school board voted to hire a Rocky Point architect to audit security procedures at each of the district’s three schools. The vote took place two months after the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which killed 26 children and staff members. The audit, which cost the district $18,000, was conducted over two days in March 2013 and the board reviewed its findings that July during a closed session. At the time, Isabel Madison, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, said, “We are moving to implement the recommendations in order to have a safe place for the students and the employees.”

However, according to The Star, in April 2014 the school board declined to address the report’s findings publicly or list specifics regarding security fixes, which cost taxpayers $1.43 million. At the time, Patricia Hope, board president, said, “Approximately 90 percent of the procedural recommendations have been addressed.” 

Richard Burns, the district superintendent, said that once the physical changes were completed he would be “happy to supply a checklist” for public review. Although a nine-page document was finally shared, it was almost entirely blacked out. The only visible section gave the date the audit took place and stated that it “was conducted through staff interviews, by distributing surveys, and through visual observation.” According to school officials, the reason for the redacted document was that revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the school district could threaten the safety of students and staff.

This week, almost four years later, the Star has made several attempts without success to find out what the 90 percent of changes were, and if the remaining 10 percent were ever implemented. Instead, Mr. Burns has posted an announcement on the East Hampton School District website. Its full text follows:

“I would like to remind our community of the steps we have taken and will continue to take with regards to safety,” he wrote. “Please know that our district has been working tirelessly to ensure the safety of our students and staff. In the last several years, we have implemented many security upgrades districtwide. Each year we conduct vital emergency drills with students and staff, and review our emergency safety plans. After each review we evaluate and make any necessary adjustments to district protocols and procedures. Additionally, we are in constant communication with our local police departments and authorities, who play a significant role in our emergency preparedness.”

In Springs, Debra Winter, the district superintendent, outlined a detailed plan via an email to The Star. Late last year, she said, a retired Suffolk County detective walked through the school, observing its emergency drills, including lock-out and lockdown protocols. “He was happy with our drills,” she wrote, adding that he suggested the purchase of a card reader that would scan driver’s licenses and state-issued identification cards to check against lists of known criminals. As reported in The Star on Dec. 14, Ms. Winter said she has urged the board to consider buying such a reader, which would be placed in the main entrance vestibule. 

Additionally, Ms. Winter wrote in her email this week, the detective “agreed that all students should be under one roof sooner rather than later.” Ms. Winter has been an outspoken proponent of the Springs School’s expansion plan, which would allow all students to be in one building, rather than continuing to have certain classes conducted at nearby locations. 

The district will vote Tuesday on a $16.9 million bond for expansion and renovation. Opponents have suggested that instead of such an expense, the school should consider erecting temporary classrooms on the grounds. Ms. Winter has made it clear that that alternative will not be considered, in particular for safety reasons.

In addition, Ms. Winter said she has spoken to the school board about hiring security and that she would “be writing a letter to our local assemblyman regarding the cost of security, which should be funded locally or at least outside the [state-mandated] cap. I will also be recommending to the board a resolution to regulate access to firearms in the interest of public safety . . . and advances in mental health support.”

Finally, Ms. Winter said, “I am not in agreement that we need more guns in schools and that teachers should carry concealed weapons in classrooms. We need to focus on preventing tragedies before they happen. We need local government to provide schools with security and additional mental health staff. We need character education programs to teach resilience. I would love to see the state mandate parent training and workshops. We provide wonderful programs for parents every year and only a handful of parents show up and it’s usually the parents who least need the training or information.” 

In Montauk, Jack Perna, the district superintendent, announced in an email that “as of Monday, we hired a security company called Blue Line Protection, which employs only retired or off-duty police officers.” He added, “I would not want to see my teachers armed. If security is needed, then properly trained and equipped people should be hired.”

Mr. Perna agreed with Ms. Winter that the state or federal government should come forward with funding for school security, as some districts may not have the financial ability to hire outside protection. “The safety and security of all students, statewide and nationwide, should be an equal right, not a privilege,” he said.   

Meanwhile, parents of students at the Ross School’s lower campus in Bridgehampton received an email this week informing them that a lockdown drill had been conducted with the help of the Southampton Town Police Department and that regular fire and lockdown drills would continue during the remainder of the school year.

In its Feb. 15 edition, The Star erroneously reported that Alexander Pintado was East Hampton High School’s first Latino valedictorian. Nick, as he is known, actually is the school’s second valedictorian of Latino heritage. The first was J. Sebastian Pineda, in 2006.

In an effort to put the record straight, and as an apology, The Star caught up with Dr. Pineda, who is now a postdoctoral scholar in astronomy at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. He is studying magnetic activity in low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, which he explained as “objects that aren’t massive enough to be stars but are much more massive than the largest planets.” 

Dr. Pineda said his work is mostly observational, requiring telescopes around the world and in space to study these stars and brown dwarfs.

The goal, he said, is “to try to understand phenomena on stars less massive than the sun associated with the presence of magnetic fields. On the sun these phenomena are things like flares and sunspots among many others, but how magnetism manifests on these distant objects can be quite different from how it is on the sun. I also think about the implications of these magnetic properties of the star for the exoplanets orbiting around them.”

After graduating at the top of his class in East Hampton, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a double major in mathematics and physics and a minor in astronomy. He then joined the California Institute of Technology, where he received both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in astrophysics.

The accomplished 29-year-old scientist was born in Colombia and immigrated to the United States at the age of 4 with his mother, who got a job in a nail salon in East Hampton, where she still lives. Dr. Pineda said he returns home to visit her and his extended family about twice a year, once during the summer and again around Christmas.

He described his high school experience as fairly typical of most East Hampton students, and understated his academic achievements. He pointed out that he was a three-sport athlete throughout high school and that participating in extracurricular clubs and activities, was “pretty standard for students with college aspirations.”

 Dr. Pineda remembered that he was often the only Latino student in the many Advanced Placement classes he took. “That meant that on a regular basis, I didn’t interact with much of the broader Latino student body in class and didn’t get to know many of the students who came from Montauk or Springs,” he said. Dr. Pineda acknowledged that then, as is the case now, his achievements and those of Nick and Jonathan Gomez, who are finishing at the top of their class this year, are a source of pride in the Latino community. He is hopeful that as the Latino student body continues to grow, many more will strive for academic excellence.

David Swickard, a history teacher at East Hampton High School, had the privilege of teaching Dr. Pineda, as well as Nick and Jonathan, this year’s valedictorian and salutatorian. In a letter to The Star, Mr. Swickard wrote that although there had been a previous Latino valedictorian, it “does not diminish the excitement and joy we all have for the success of Nick and Jon, both of whom certainly can look to Dr. Pineda as a model worthy of emulating. Having taught all three of these fine students at the high school, I can see clearly how they will make great contributions to America becoming a greater country than it might otherwise be.”

As for the apology for inadvertently neglecting his valedictorian achievement, Dr. Pineda said, “I appreciate the apology, but I didn’t really mind. I think the point of the story was really above that, focusing on the achievements of two young scholars.”

Due to a more than 20-percent decline in student enrollment at the John M. Marshall Elementary School over the past four years, the East Hampton School Board is considering moving the district’s prekindergarten program to the elementary school building for the first time.

The district has been paying the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, formerly the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center, to run its prekindergarten program since 1997. In 2015 it approved funding to expand it to a full day.

At a school budget work session on Tuesday, Beth Doyle, the John Marshall principal, informed board members that the overall student population at the elementary school had dropped from a peak enrollment of 643 students in 2014 to 507 students this year. 

“What this means is that instead of running five sections for each grade, we can run four,” Richard Burns, the district’s superintendent, said yesterday. “We are looking at more classrooms, more space, and a greater ability for teachers to cover an expanded pre-K program.”

Ms. Doyle said that John Marshall now has the capacity and the resources to add “five sections of pre-K to its program,” or up to as many as 90 more children.

The in-house prekindergarten program “would run the same as the normal school day, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.,” Mr. Burns said yesterday.

“This comes as a big surprise to us,” Maureen Wikane, the administrative director of the center, said yesterday. She fears the proposed change would have a devastating impact on the center, which has about 80 East Hampton children enrolled in its pre-K program. It also accepts prekindergarten students from other districts on a tuition basis. “I don’t know what the future might bring,” she said.

“It was the first time the concept was discussed,” Mr. Burns said yesterday, stressing that the proposal is in the “very preliminary stages.” 

School board members on Tuesday discussed the concept in terms of efficiency. Expanding the in-house offerings at John Marshall would allow the district to fully utilize the staff and physical resources it already has in hand, and would result in a significant savings to the district. 

The district is paying $644,000 this year for about 80 East Hampton students to attend the program, up from $500,000 the year before, when fewer were enrolled. 

Though the school board agreed to pay the increase, the center did not accept the five-year contract offered by the district. The current one-year contract ends in June. 

Beyond the loss of students at the Whitmore Center, the change would represent the demise of a long-term working relationship between the school district and the day care center. The program became a model for public-private partnerships in early education initiatives in school districts across the country, according to Laura Anker Grossman, a board member at the Whitmore Center who also served for 21 years on the East Hampton School Board.

“We were pioneers. When I started on the school board in the 1990s, the district didn’t even have a pre-K program,” Ms. Anker Grossman said. 

In 2004, the center received the National School Boards Association’s Magna Award in recognition of its efforts to narrow the achievement gap among students entering kindergarten, through its collaboration with the district, town government, and private donors.

“The board, the district, and the center collaborated for 20 years to bring families a single-setting pre-K program that would provide children with early education opportunities and resources and parents with peace of mind, knowing their children were safe in one place for the entire day,” Ms. Anker Grossman said. She believes the option for an extended day is a critical component of the program’s success. For an additional fee, the center allows children to be dropped off as early as 7:30 a.m. and picked up as late as 5:30 p.m. It also accepts children as young as 18 months old in its other tuition-based early education programs. 

“Without an extended day program, I don’t see how the district is going to be able to support the needs of families,” Ms. Anker Grossman said, “or what this might mean in terms of the burden of additional transportation requirements on children, families, and the district.”

“We would hope an extended-day program could be offered in conjunction with the childhood center,” Mr. Burns said yesterday. “Going forward, we will explore that option.”

The board plans to address the prekindergarten program again at its meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the district office.