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Power Lunch for Parents

Power Lunch for Parents

By
Christine Sampson

This summer, the Wellness Foundation is reaching beyond the realm of nutrition for kids and families and into overall safety of the school environment for children. At a lunch for parents on Friday, Aug. 12, two speakers will address ways that parents can empower themselves “to be what we call ‘champions of wellness,’ ” said Michele Sacconaghi, president and C.E.O. of the Wellness Foundation.

 

“It’s important that kids have an environment that’s as safe and healthy as possible. We know schools are doing their best, but there’s always room for improvement. We want parents to feel like they can work as partners with the school.”

The program will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature discussions by Bettina Elias Siegel and Patricia Wood. Ms. Siegel, a school food activist and author of the blog “The Lunch Tray,” was named one of Family Circle magazine’s 20 Most Influential Moms of 2015. Ms. Wood, an expert on the impact of environmental conditions on children, is the creator of the ChildSafe Schools program and the executive director of the nonprofit Grassroots Environmental Education.

“I think the speakers are really powerful. It should be a really great discussion,” Ms. Sacconaghi said.

There will be a question-and-answer session and resource materials for parents to take home. The lunch itself, she said, will feature “a very local, farm-based, healthy, fresh summer lunch.”

Tickets cost $75 and proceeds will support the Wellness Foundation’s programs in local schools. More information, along with tickets, can be found online at wfeh.org.

Bus Depot Is On the Market

Bus Depot Is On the Market

The Schaefers have owned the property leased by the East Hampton School District for its bus depot. Hal Zwick, director of commercial real estate at Town and Country, said there is no particular reason why they have decided to sell.
The Schaefers have owned the property leased by the East Hampton School District for its bus depot. Hal Zwick, director of commercial real estate at Town and Country, said there is no particular reason why they have decided to sell.
Morgan McGivern
By
Christine Sampson

The East Hampton School District’s bus parking lot and maintenance depot, which is at 41 Route 114, has been put up for sale, leaving the district, which leases the property, in a quandary. Although the school board met on Tuesday, an anticipated discussion of the options did not take place.

Listed at $3 million by Town and Country Real Estate, the one-acre site is owned by the Schaefer family of East Hampton, which operated a bus company there that serviced schools until 2006. The property has two buildings, one measuring 3,000 square feet, another of about 3,600 square feet, ample parking, and it is zoned for commercial-industrial use, which allows trade sites, repair shops, storage, and exercise studios.

Richard Burns, the district superintendent, said after the meeting that the district was interested in the property. “I’m going to be contacting people. It depends on the price. There are so many variables.” Also speaking after the meeting, J.P. Foster, the school board president, said, “We have to explore every option. We’re just gathering information at this point.”

The school board had held an executive session prior to the meeting, but did not state what the general topic of the session would be.

The East Hampton School District began operating its own buses when the Schaefers went out of business, and in October 2015 the board began discussing building a bus depot on its own property. The district pays approximately $103,000 a year to rent the Schaefer site.

A separate online listing, on the website Loopnet.com, initially said the property could be delivered vacant, despite the school district’s lease, which is through September 2017. Hal Zwick, director of commercial real estate at Town and Country, said that online listing had been corrected to address the lease. In an interview yesterday, he said any potential buyer would honor the school district’s lease and might even discuss extending it.

The Schaefers “have owned the property for years, and it was just time to sell,” Mr. Zwick said. “There’s no special reason. It doesn’t make sense for them to own it anymore.”

Mr. Zwick said he had received at least eight phone calls about the property last week and already has “a couple of strong offers.”

“The situation is that the demand for commercial and industrial is high now and there’s not a lot of supply. That’s why the inquiries came so quickly.”

Kids Culture 07.21.16

Kids Culture 07.21.16

Local Educational News
By
Star Staff

“Peter and the Wolf” Returns

In what has become a summer tradition, the Hampton Ballet Theatre School and the Hampton Festival Orchestra will present Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet “Peter and the Wolf” this week at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center and the Children’s Museum of the East End. 

The production was choreographed by the ballet school’s director, Sara Jo Strickland, and will be narrated by Bonnie Grice of WPPB radio. Adam Baranello of the A&G Dance Company will dance the role of the grandfather. Andrew Perea will conduct the orchestra. 

The ballet will be at the Children’s Museum in Bridgehampton on Tuesday at 6 p.m., with doors opening at 5:30. Tickets cost $17 in advance, $15 for members, or $20 at the door. The production moves to the playhouse next Thursday at 7. Tickets cost $15 and can be reserved at 631-668-1124.

 

Paper Boat Regatta

The Amagansett Library’s annual paper boat regatta will set off at 3 p.m. Saturday at the library. Families will make origami boats and then race them in rain gutters. 

 

Magic and Hats

Magic, wearable art, yoga, and lip balm are on the schedule at the East Hampton Library this week. The yoga session on Monday at 11 a.m., which includes a story, will be led by Susan Verde, a children’s book author, and is for kids 5 and up. Adults have been asked to occupy themselves elsewhere in the library. 

Kids 6 and older will use organic ingredients to make their own lip balm on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., and Friday, July 29, at 1 p.m. kids 4 and up can create a beach hat using foam, ribbons, beads, and other decorations. 

T.J. Tana will deliver a magic show complete with live animals and lots of audience participation next Thursday at 3 p.m. Advance registration has been requested for all programs. 

 

Ahoy, Matey!

Pirate ships will pull into port at Guild Hall on Wednesday afternoon. First, kids 5 and older will draw treasure maps and create treasure chests during a workshop that starts at 4. Then at 5 it’s “Pirate School,” described as a “madcap, swashbuckling comedy variety show for the whole family.” The “pirate professor” Billy Bones, a.k.a. David Engel, a former Big Apple Circus clown doctor, will teach kids 4 to 9 how to talk, sing, and guffaw like a buccaneer. 

The workshop costs $10, $8 for members. The performance costs $18 for adults and $14 for kids, or $16 and $12 for members. Advance tickets have been strongly suggested, as many of Guild Hall’s KidFest programs sell out. 

 

All About Oil Spills

At the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton on Sunday kids 6 to 8 will observe a simulated oil spill and learn what happens afterward. After a reading of Melvin Berger’s “Oil Spill!” at 10:30 a.m., participants will create a mini “spill” of their own and then work to clean it up. 

Also at 10:30, children 8 and older will also turn their attention to the water, in this case with a controlled experiment involving sea monkeys, or brine shrimp. Children will learn about these creatures and their important role in the aquatic food chain. The results of their experiments will be on display at the museum through the beginning of September. 

Space is limited in SoFo programs; advance sign-up has been suggested. 

 

Toddler Dance Party

The Southampton Arts Center on Job’s Lane will be rocking this afternoon at 4:30 when Baby Loves Disco busts out a free dance party for toddlers, preschoolers, and their parents. 

Next Thursday Jeff Boyer, the Bubble Guy, will make some bubble trouble at the museum in an interactive show at 4:30 p.m. It, too, is free. Space for arts center programs can be reserved online. 

Getting Ready for Brazil

Getting Ready for Brazil

Christin Aucapina has been awarded a fellowship through the prestigious United States Fulbright Student program, through which she will teach English at a university in Brazil for a year.
Christin Aucapina has been awarded a fellowship through the prestigious United States Fulbright Student program, through which she will teach English at a university in Brazil for a year.
Christine Sampson
Recipient of a prestigious Fulbright fellowship
By
Christine Sampson

In between hostess shifts at Cittanuova, hanging out with friends, and catching up on her reading list this summer, Christin Aucapina has challenged herself to improve her knowledge of Portuguese.

Come February, the 22-year-old from East Hampton, who graduated from Brown University in May, is going to speak the language every day when she heads to Brazil as a recipient of a prestigious Fulbright fellowship.

Ms. Aucapina, a 2012 graduate of the Ross School, learned this spring that she had been chosen for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program, which places American students in classrooms overseas to teach students ranging from kindergarten to college.

She has already spent time abroad, including courses taken in India and Cuba. In the summer of 2014, she spent a month in the Brazilian state of Sao Paolo.

“I really love Brazil,” she said. “I love how diverse it is. Their culture is really lively, and the people are extremely friendly. . . . It’s a really open community.”

Winning a Fulbright placement is a strenuous process; she spent months fine-tuning her application, Ms. Aucapina said. Because most applicants are linguistics or language majors, and her Brown degree is in public health studies, she had to find other ways to prove herself.

According to the program’s website, in the 2015-16 school year, more than 4,400 people across the U.S. applied for the English teaching program, and about 1,000 were chosen. The Fulbright program, which is government-sponsored, awards separate fellowships for research and other special projects.

For her application, Ms. Aucapina needed recommendations from professors or work supervisors. One came from Yolanda Rome, assistant dean for first-year and sophomore studies at Brown. Ms. Aucapina spent several semesters working in Ms. Rome’s office, where she assisted other students, some of whom were in crisis. 

Ms. Rome said by phone this week that Ms. Aucapina was one of her “top recommendations” for the Fulbright program. “She’s great,” Ms. Rome said. “She’s always so excited and interested in helping other people, and has this global perspective that will make her a great Fulbright scholar, so I was so happy when she got accepted.”

Ms. Aucapina will learn her specific teaching assignment in October and will begin in March, when Brazilian schools begin their academic terms.

She plans to take full advantage of her Fulbright fellowship. “I want to make the most of my time there, so I definitely will want to fit in with the campus life there and the city,” she said. “I want to get involved somehow, hopefully through a public health route. I don’t just want to go to work and come home.”

The Portuguese word that best describes her feelings right now, she said, is animada — excited. “This was my goal. I have a plan. It feels good to know what I’m doing after graduation.”

C.D.C.H. Space Off Table

C.D.C.H. Space Off Table

Morgan McGivern
“The state education laws prohibit the district from leasing space outside the district’s boundaries,”
By
Christine Sampson

The cure to the woes that ail the Springs School District will not be found in the former home of the Child Development Center of the Hamptons, the district’s lawyers have concluded. 

After researching the possibility of purchasing or leasing the Stephen Hand’s Path, East Hampton, C.D.C.H. building to alleviate overcrowding at the school, the district’s law firm, Ingerman and Smith, found that neither would legal, according to Barbara Dayton, the Springs School Board president.

“The state education laws prohibit the district from leasing space outside the district’s boundaries,” Ms. Dayton said. “The only exception is when a school district leases property from another school district, but C.D.C.H. is not another school district.”

The district can send its prekindergartners to the former Most Holy Trinity School space in East Hampton Village because it contracts with Scope Education Services, a Smithtown nonprofit, for the pre-K program and it is Scope that leases the space, not the school district, Ms. Dayton explained. 

Education law would permit Springs to purchase property only within its district boundaries, “but there is no authorization for purchasing property outside of a district. If we were to go ahead and do something, we would potentially be putting ourselves in the position of litigation from anybody who would feel it is not the right thing to do,” Ms. Dayton said.

The C.D.C.H. charter school closed in June amid financial difficulties and declining enrollment. Anticipating absorbing approximately 30 students from Springs who had attended the charter school, Springs officials said that month that they were exploring using the C.D.C.H. building in some capacity to address the district’s space concerns.

Ms. Dayton said the district must now turn its full attention to addressing the building’s needs. At its July 5 school board meeting, Springs hired B.B.S. Architects and Engineers to serve as its architect for a potential expansion of the school building.

“I’m hoping that most people are willing to take a wait-and-see approach as to how the process moves forward and ultimately what kind of space is put forward,” Ms. Dayton said. “Hopefully, people aren’t rushing to judgment on it when it’s going to take a little time.”

Springs is not the only local district to bump up against this particular part of state education law. The East Hampton School District, in its quest to build its own transportation depot, or “bus barn” as it has been called, recently considered acquiring space outside of district lines for such a facility, but was advised by its attorneys that it would not be possible to do so.

SoulGrow Gets Even Busier

SoulGrow Gets Even Busier

By
Star Staff

Between yoga and dance and gardening, fishing and painting and cooking, surfing and skating and horseback riding, not to overlook opening three locations since the spring of 2015 and refurbishing a bus, it’s been a busy two years for Camp SoulGrow.

On Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. the nonprofit organization will celebrate its second anniversary with a free midday family throw-down at Third House in Montauk, one of the camp’s bases. Those who attend have been invited to bring a picnic, a towel, and a bathing suit. Some refreshments will be provided, and there will be games and crafts and other fun.

Camp SoulGrow offers creative learning experiences and adventures for kids 7 and up that encourage them to connect with each other and their community. The goal is to give “all kids equal opportunities to do real things, feel accepted, and form relationships with kids from all walks of life,” its founder, London Rosiere, said. “The strongest people are the ones that know themselves. And we offer equal opportunities to all kids to come figure out who they are, what they love, and grow confidently into their true selves.”

Its programs are free, though donation are welcomed, and are offered year round, but summer is the busiest time, with things happening at Third House in Montauk County Park, at a downtown Montauk studio on Carl Fisher Plaza, and at Squiretown Park in Hampton Bays.

Sign-up for Saturday’s party is online at campsoulgrow.org. Children who are preregistered can also sign up online for a variety of classes throughout the week. Early registration is a must, though, because spaces fill up quickly.

On the schedule for next week is a daylong trip to the camp’s Hampton Bays location on Tuesday. On Wednesday, there’s rug making with Denise Haines at Third House at 11 a.m. and family yoga at Love Yoga in Montauk at 3:30 p.m. Parasailing with Montauk Parasail is in store next Thursday at 8 a.m., and on the schedule for Friday, Aug. 5, are yoga and vocal expression at 10 a.m. and sun prints at 11:30 a.m., both at Third House.

Kids Culture 07.28.16

Kids Culture 07.28.16

By
Star Staff

Selfie Much?

Lucille Khornak, a fashion and portrait photographer with a gallery in Bridgehampton, is offering a free photo session to the teenager with the best selfie. “Are you a work of art? Do you have thoughts of being a model?” the gallery asks. Those who think they’ve got a winning self-portrait have been asked to email it to [email protected] by Aug. 15.

Pictures must feature only the photographer. Judges will pick a winner “based on your ability to successfully capture your radiance and inner beauty.” Submissions will be hung on the gallery wall as part of a larger installation.

 

Nutrition on the Menu

Healthy snacks will be the focus of hands-on nutrition programs offered by the Wellness Foundation next week at the East Hampton Library. Kids will talk about healthy and unhealthy sources of fats and then make their own nutritious snacks. A program for ages 4 to 7 and an adult will take place on Tuesday at 11 a.m. One for kids 8 to 13 follows next Thursday at 1 p.m.

On Tuesday at 4 p.m. kids 4 and older will make and decorate high-flying bullet kites. Those entering first through fifth grades will use sticks, beads, and ribbons to make spirit trees inspired by John Gile’s book “The First Forest” on Wednesday at 2 p.m. On Friday, Aug. 5, kids 5 and older can decorate hula hoops to take home. The program begins at 2.

Family movies this week will be “Toy Story 3” on Sunday at 2 p.m. and the 2015 live-action version of “Cinderella” next Thursday at 4 p.m. Advance registration has been requested for all library programs.

 

Buckaroo Bindlestiff Is Here

“Buckaroo Bindlestiff’s Wild West Jamboree,” a show filled with lasso tricks, bullwhip cracking, juggling, and comedy knife throwing, will sidle up to Guild Hall on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Before the show, kids 5 and older can make their own cowboy masks and western scenes in an arts and crafts workshop that starts at 4 p.m.

Tickets to the show are $18 for adults and $14 for kids, or $16 and $12 for museum members. The workshop costs $10, $8 for members. Space is limited so advance purchase has been recommended.

 

Harry Potter Party

In anticipation of the release of the latest Harry Potter book, the Montauk Library will hold a Harry Potter party on Saturday at 3 p.m. for kids in kindergarten and above. Snacks and butterbeer, a drink featured in the books, will be served, and there will be wand making and a trivia contest. Advance sign-up has been requested.

 

Animals and Puppets

Free children’s programs at the Southampton Arts Center on Job’s Lane this week include a mandala making session today at 4:30 p.m., and a visit from a representative of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge and an outdoor puppet show next week.

Animals from the wildlife refuge will be at the center at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday. On Friday, Aug. 5., also at 5:30, the Puppet Company will present “Al E Gator,” a marionette show. Space can be reserved at the center’s website.

Band Directors on the Move Are Playing Musical Chairs

Band Directors on the Move Are Playing Musical Chairs

Shawn Ward will take over as band director at the Montauk School.
Shawn Ward will take over as band director at the Montauk School.
Christine Sampson
By
Christine Sampson

A game of musical chairs following the retirement in June of Marilyn Van Scoyoc, East Hampton High School’s longtime band director, will bring Christopher Mandato to East Hampton High from the Montauk School, where he was band director, and Shawn Ward, a 2008 East Hampton High School graduate and a former student of Dr. Van Scoyoc’s, to Montauk as Mr. Mandato’s successor. The Montauk School Board unanimously appointed Mr. Ward last week after receiving 20 applications and interviewing 12 candidates.

Mr. Ward has spent four years as a substitute teacher in the East Hampton, Springs, and Amagansett schools. His primary instrument is trombone, but he also plays piano, tuba, and baritone horn. As a student in East Hampton, he took part in band, jazz band, the pit orchestra for musicals, chorus, and two audition-only singing groups, Camerata and Manly Men.

Of Mr. Mandato, Mr. Ward said, “I want to show him he left his school in good hands and make my former teachers proud. I’m blessed to be able to give back to this community. I’m local and I really just want to see all kids succeed out here in the arts.”

Dr. Van Scoyoc recalled her former student as hard working and talented. “I think he’s going to do a great job out there and I’m really excited for him,” she said. “It’s really nice to have a local student who grew up here and went to our school systems become a great music educator, teaching students in our community.”

Mr. Ward is working on a master’s degree in  early childhood and in special education at Touro College in Bay Shore. He received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Syracuse University. He is 25 and one of the 14 children of Steve Ward and the late Louise Ward, two longtime residents who fostered and adopted many children while living in Montauk and East Hampton. He was the first of 10 children to be adopted.

“It’s always been natural to me, especially growing up with so many siblings. I was constantly showing people younger than me how to do something,” he said. He also spent more than 10 years as a summer camp counselor and this year is camp director at Hampton Racquet.

At the Montauk School, Mr. Ward will work alongside Steven Skoldberg, who directs the chorus and teaches music in grades one through six. In addition to instrumental band, Mr. Ward will teach general music in grades seven and eight, which will involve some guitar instruction, music history, music technology, composition, and an introduction to international music.

“He is going to be an excellent role model for our students,” Jack Perna, the Montauk superintendent, said. “My colleagues from the neighboring school districts have worked with Shawn and they all had wonderful things to say about his musical and teaching abilities.”

“I’m thankful to have a job where I can be close to my family but be in my own kind of new community,” Mr. Ward said. “As much as Montauk is part of East Hampton, it is its own entity, and I feel excited about teaching in a new culture.”

Summer Recreation Offerings Ramp Up

Summer Recreation Offerings Ramp Up

By
Star Staff

Sailing, swimming, games and crafts, tennis, basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, and roller hockey — the East Hampton Town Recreation Department has put together a hefty list of summer offerings at the Youth Park on Abraham’s Path in East Hampton, the Sportime Arena across the street, and local beaches.

For kids (and parents) needing a longer stretch of activities, there are games and crafts at the Springs recreation building on Old Stone Highway and the Montauk School Mondays through Fridays until Aug. 19. Morning sessions run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and afternoon sessions are from 12:30 to 4. Kids can take part in one or both. A half-day costs $100 per week per child, $150 for two children, and $200 for three. The program is for kids in kindergarten through age 12. Sign-up is at the Parks and Recreation Department behind Town Hall.

The second round of the town’s free swimming instruction for kids 4 and up will run from Monday through July 22 at Maidstone Park Beach in Springs. Registration is at 10 a.m. the first day of instruction. Children have been asked to bring goggles and water shoes. Swimming instruction will be offered from July 25 to Aug. 5 at East Lake Beach in Montauk and from Aug. 8 through 19 at Albert’s Landing Beach in Amagansett.

Sailing classes at Fresh Pond in Amagansett for children 12 and up and adults will run from Monday through July 21, with morning sessions from 9 to noon and afternoon sessions from 12:30 to 3:30 for all levels. The cost is $225 per person. The program will also be given from July 25 through Aug. 4 and from Aug. 8 through 18. Registration is at the Parks and Recreation Department.

At the Youth Park, clinics began last week and will continue through Aug. 18, but latecomers can still join up as long as space is available. Evening tennis clinics will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7 for kindergartners; Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7 for second and third graders; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 8 for fourth and fifth graders, and Mondays and Thursdays at the same hours for sixth graders and up.

Evening basketball clinics are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 to 6 for kindergartners; Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 for second and third graders; Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 8 for fourth and fifth graders, and Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same time for sixth graders and up.

The cost is $45 per child per clinic or $60 for both basketball and tennis. Registration is at the Recreation Department or the Montauk Playhouse Community Center.

At the Sportime Arena, clinics get under way on Monday. Offerings include volleyball for ages 11 to 15 on Mondays from 6 to 7 p.m., roller hockey for ages 6 to 12 on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m., and dodgeball for ages 8 to 13 on Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m. The cost is $125 per six-week clinic, and registration is at Sportime at 320 Abraham’s Path.

Kids Culture 07.14.16

Kids Culture 07.14.16

By
Star Staff

“Pinkalicious” in Song

Young fans of Elizabeth and Victoria Kann’s “Pinkalicious” series of books will be happy to know that there’s also a “Pinkalicious” musical that will come to the Guild Hall stage on Wednesday at 5 p.m. It follows the original story of a girl who eats so many pink cupcakes that she develops Pinkititis. John Gregor wrote the music for the production, which features lyrics by him and the Kann sisters. The musical is best for children 2 to 7.

Before that, children might indulge in some pink sugary sweetness of their own during a cookie-decorating workshop with the folks from Citarella at 4 p.m. The workshop costs $10, $8 for museum members. Tickets to the musical are $18 for adults and $14 for kids; $16 and $12 for members.

 

Be Smart, Eat Right

High school students and those heading there next year can get an early start preparing for the SATs with a practice test on Monday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the East Hampton Library. The test and results are free.

The second in a series of nutrition programs for kids presented by the Wellness Foundation will be held next week. This one will focus on the benefits of berries and the difference between natural and refined sugar, and will include a demonstration of a tasty sorbet kids can make at home. A class for kids 4 to 7 with an adult will be held on Tuesday at 11 a.m. It will be repeated for an older group, ages 8 to 13, on Friday, July 22, at noon.

Tuesday will also bring a recycled-art program for ages 4 and up at 4 p.m. Kids will use all sorts of discarded materials to make three-dimensional wall sculptures. Advance sign-up has been requested for all programs.

 

Band-Aids and Seine Nets

The great outdoors are pretty great, but there are hazards, too. In a “first aid in the forest” program on Sunday at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton, kids 6 to 8 will learn how to avoid those hazards while also being prepared for them. There is a $3 materials fee for the program, which begins at 10:30 a.m.

A family beach exploration at Northwest Harbor in East Hampton on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. will introduce adults and children to some of the creatures that make their home in the harbor and its nearby tidal creek. Participants will use a seine net to find these creatures and a variety of other tools to get a closer look. Advance registration with the museum has been requested.

 

Lights, Camera, Action

Kids can learn some of the basics of professional filmmaking during student workshops with Hamptons International Film Festival filmmakers later this month at the Southampton Arts Center on Job’s Lane. The workshop will focus on “visual self-expression,” according to a release. Participants will learn the various steps to making a complete film, from development to writing and acting to blocking, production, cinematography, and editing, all with the guidance of experienced filmmakers.

A workshop for ages 8 to 11 will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. from July 25 through 29; one for kids 12 to 15 will take place the same days from 2 to 5 p.m. The cost is $375 for younger participants, $450 for the older group. Registration is online at hamptonsfilmfest.org.