The Parent Teacher Student Association of Sag Harbor’s Pierson Middle and High School elected four new executive board members following a Sept. 10 meeting. The meeting was called following the resignation about three weeks ago of the previous leaders in response to  misunderstandings about this year’s homecoming event.

The officers are now Fran Nill, president, Christa Schleicher, vice president, Susan Kinsella, treasurer, and Joan Dudley, secretary. The meeting was called by the Sag Harbor School District administration and attended by members of the regional P.T.S.A. as well as about 20 others.

“We are all optimistic about this,” Ms. Nill said in an email Tuesday. “It is about the kids, and we look forward to an exciting and fun year.” She said she and all three of the other new board members had volunteered with the P.T.S.A. Ms. Kinsella also is the school board president and Ms. Schleicher, a member of the board of Sag Harbor’s Booster Foundation.

The P.T.S.A. is largely responsible for planning of the annual homecoming festivities, which will be on Oct. 9 and 10. The board will hold a meeting today at 7 p.m. in the Pierson library, seeking volunteers and ideas.

The misunderstandings that promopted the resignations concerned whether a bonfire would be held this year.  “We have ideas and would love to continue the tradition of the bonfire, but will see how everything goes Thursday night,” Ms. Nill said.

Eric Bramoff, the district athletic director, said by phone on Friday that the administration will “work with the committee to put forth a homecoming that the P.T.S.A. best feels suits the traditions and the kids.”

Meanwhile, the Sag Harbor Elementary School Parent Teacher Association is without a president and treasurer. According to an email from Catherine Smith, who is co-vice president along with Paul Denkewitz, a new president and treasurer will be elected during the next P.T.A. meeting, on Oct. 1 at 3:30 p.m.

The Amagansett School is the latest local district to begin paying a consultant for help with the hefty record-keeping associated with the federal Affordable Care Act.

At the heart of the issue is the law’s requirement that businesses, schools, and other entities with 50 or more employees go through a complex reporting process to make sure the rules are being followed. Many school officials have said it is an enormous task — one that incurs monetary penalties if not completed properly.

Some local school districts are just on the cusp of that 50-employee threshold (a number often complicated by the substitute teacher system), and have acknowledged they need help.

On Sept. 8, the Amagansett School Board hired the Seneca Consulting Group. The consultants will be paid an annual fee of $11,000 if it is determined the district has 50 or more employees, or $5,000 if it is found that there are fewer than 50.

“The Affordable Care Act has created many, many additional responsibilities and the onus is on districts and businesses,” Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent, said during the board’s Sept. 8 meeting. “It’s very technical.”

Tom Lamorgese, a recently appointed part-time member of Amagansett’s administration, commented that “we have to be on the ball with this reporting, which is really a nightmare.”

The Bridgehampton School District worked with the Seneca Consulting Group last year, paying the Hauppauge firm $11,000. On July 1, Bridgehampton’s school board extended its contract with Seneca to this year, in the amount of $13,000.

Some larger schools have also turned to outside help. The East Hampton School District has also hired Seneca, first approving a contract for several months during the 2014-15 school year (the figure was not immediately available), and then extending it to the 2015-16 school year at a rate of $10,000.

The Sag Harbor School District completes its Affordable Care Act reporting requirements in-house, according to its business administrator, Jennifer Buscemi. Springs, Wainscott, Montauk, and Sagaponack districts also do not use outside services.

Albert Barbuzza, Seneca’s business development director, said yesterday that the firm is working with over 70 Long Island school districts, as well as several upstate. He agreed with school administrators who say the Affordable Care Act is extremely complicated.

“It’s a confusing thing,” Mr. Barbuzza said. “Even the attorneys and some law firms disagree about different meanings.”

The East Hampton School District is looking for community members who are interested in teaching classes for adults in its continuing education program.

Classes can be on any topic or area of expertise, including but not limited to subjects such as foreign languages, computer technology, acting, singing, and sewing.

The continuing education program runs Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between Oct. 6 and Dec. 10. Class times may fall in the 6-9 p.m. time frame. Potential teachers may propose classes of varying length on one or more days, and may charge a fee for people to take those classes.

The East Hampton School District will list the continuing education classes on its website. For more information or to submit a proposal for a class, teachers can email Debbie Mansir, the programs coordinator, at dmansir@ ehufsd.org.

The East Hampton School District has hired a new liaison to the district’s Latino families. She is Teresita Winter, a Sag Harbor resident who has replaced Ana Nunez, who was the liaison for three years and resigned this summer with plans to go to law school. Ms. Winter and Ms. Nunez worked together for three days this summer to help make the transition a smooth one.

“I didn’t think it was possible to lose someone like Ana and seamlessly move ahead and actually expand the responsibilities of the position, and we’re able to do that,” Robert Tymann, East Hampton’s assistant superintendent, said in a recent interview.

Ms. Winter, 33, has a master’s degree in social work from Adelphi University and is also a licensed substance abuse and addiction counselor. She graduated from Pierson High School in 2000 and has two children, who are 2 and 3 years old. She previously was a social worker in the Riverhead and Southampton School Districts.

Many families here are already familiar with Ms. Winter. East Hampton tapped her last year for several Spanish-language workshops on substance abuse prevention in the middle and high schools.

“The goals will continue to be to make sure that the Spanish-speaking community has equal access to everything our education system provides,” Mr. Tymann said. He said Ms. Winter’s background “mirrors the experience of many of our students and parents.”

 “I moved here when I was 9 years old from South America with parents who spoke very little English,” Ms. Winter said. “I know how it is to go through the school system and have parents not able to participate as much as they would have liked to because of the lack of language.”

East Hampton has about 300 students from kindergarten through 12th grade whose first language is Spanish. The name of the program in which they are enrolled was recently changed to English as a new language from English as a second language.

Ms. Winter’s typical school day will be 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with quite a few evening meetings for parents, which is similar to the schedule Ms. Nunez had for the last few years. Her work will cover student orientation, report cards, the Common Core, and the college application process, among other topics.

“The families that we are working with are so willing and want the help and the information,” Ms. Winter said. “That always makes your job a little easier. It’s so great to be able to connect with them. . . . I want them to know that I am a resource here. They can always come through those doors and ask for me.”

The start of the school year also brings the start of the fall semester for the Hampton Ballet Theatre School, which will begin classes on Wednesday at the Bridgehampton Community House and on Sept. 15 at Yoga Lila in Montauk.

The school, under the direction of Sara Jo Strickland, offers classical ballet and a new contemporary dance track for ages 3 to 18. Placement auditions for a fall workshop for “The Nutcracker” will be held on Sept. 26, with students appearing in a production on Dec. 11, 12, and 13 at Guild Hall in East Hampton. This year the school will also offer a new community class for boys 6 to 12.

The Bridgehampton Community House is on Main Street. Yoga Lila is at 12 South Etna Avenue. A full list of classes can be found at hamptonballetheatreschool.com. Registration is at 237-4810 or [email protected].

East Hampton High School will inaugurate a program this year to provide internships for seniors at businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other community entities.

According to Debbie Mansir, East Hampton’s programs coordinator, the internships “will be quite a bit more intensive than something you do once or twice for an hour each week.” About 30 students are expected to participate in the test run.

“Our end goal is to have every senior, if possible, be involved in some form of internship,” Ms. Mansir said in an interview last week. “By that time, a lot of them have finished all their core requirements and have enough credits. This would allow them the opportunity to have that real-world experience in a field they think they might want to look at.”

Ms. Mansir said the program would be structured within the scope of the school day so it wouldn’t interfere with sports, after-school clubs, students’ part-time jobs, or other commitments. At the end of the year, she said, she envisions students making presentations about their experiences. A meeting will be planned in September for interested students and internships would begin after the Columbus Day weekend.

 Morgan Vaughan, the executive director of Local TV, which has already agreed to offer an internship, said they were incredibly valuable for students. In fact, she said, the public access TV provider’s previous executive director had been an intern.

“It’s important to be in a real, professional working environment, like an office, with people who are really doing the job so it isn’t just about having fun or doing whatever you like,” Ms. Vaughan said in an interview on Aug. 26. “This may sound strange, but I think it’s really, really good to figure out when you’re in high school what you don’t want to do. You might try it out and say, ‘I never want to have an office job,’ or ‘I never want to do videography.’ Those are good things to realize about yourself.”

LTV expects to offer its interns technical and production duties such as producing, recording, and editing video, designing graphics, and working with cameras. “They will leave with quite an impressive portfolio,” she said. “This is not a ‘you’ll be making coffee’ internship. You’ll be part of a team. That’s an important part of being in 12th grade — self-esteem and something to show in future work.”

Ms. Mansir said the internships would span law enforcement, education, hospitality, culinary arts, technical trades, health, business and finance, journalism, graphic design, engineering, environmental studies, and nonprofit fields, among others.

In addition to LTV, Ms. Mansir said the Meeting House restaurant in Amagansett, the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, several departments of East Hampton town government, Meals on Wheels, and a number of doctors’ offices have signed up.

With the start of school fast approaching, the Bridgehampton School has hired several new staff members, including a new athletic director and its first-ever full-time business teacher.

Michael Miller will be the school’s new gym teacher and athletic director, filling the role recently vacated when Eric Bramoff left to become the athletic director and facilities administrator in the Sag Harbor School District. Mr. Miller “comes highly recommended from Mattituck” schools, according to Lois Favre, Bridgehampton’s superintendent.

Mr. Miller taught health and physical education at Mattituck for five years, and prior to that taught in Center Moriches. Originally from Dolgeville, N.Y., a tiny hamlet upstate, Mr. Miller holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State University at Cortland and an administrator’s certification from Stony Brook University. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school and played basketball in college.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Mr. Miller said, “The first thing I want to do is meet as many people as I can and introduce myself.”

He will teach gym classes in the mornings and work as the athletic director in the afternoons. He hopes to get as many students involved in athletics as he can and help them measure and improve their overall physical fitness; also to integrate technology into the health and gym curriculum and help build the respect, pride, and tradition that he said he has already observed at the Bridgehampton School.

Kameron Kaiser, who holds nine certifications — including business education, special education, and teaching English to speakers of other languages — as well as degrees from SUNY Cortland and Long Island University, has been appointed to a full-time business and marketing teaching position. Mr. Kaiser, a Southampton native, previously held leave replacement, teaching assistant, and substitute teaching positions in districts including Hampton Bays, Tuckahoe, and Amagansett.

“His certifications are so perfect for a small school district,” Ms. Favre said. “I’m really, really excited to have him on board.”

Christina Cassel has been appointed to the part-time position of family and consumer-science teacher. A resident of Sagaponack, Ms. Cassel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johnson and Wales University. She is not only a teacher, but “a chef extraordinaire,” Ms. Favre said. She has taught at East Providence Career and Technical Center, a high school in Rhode Island, and as a substitute in Bridgehampton, South­ampton, and East Hampton schools. Ms. Favre said it has been two years since Bridgehampton had a certified family and consumer-science teacher.

“It’s going to be an exciting year all around,” she said.

Springs School fifth graders will have access to laptop computers, tablets, and interactive whiteboards this year, thanks to a state grant.

The grant, totaling $136,874, comes from the SMART Bonds Act, which helps schools to expand student access to technology. It will allow Springs to grow its one-to-one technology program, which put a Chromebook laptop into the hands of fourth graders during the 2014-15 school year. This year, the fifth graders will have them too.

SMART required school districts to hold public hearings to detail their plans for how the grant money would be used. At Springs’s hearing, on Aug. 24, Liz Mendelman, the school board president, said the one-to-one program had been extremely successful. She said the Chromebooks allowed teachers to adjust activities and lessons to the needs of their students, and encouraged students to spend more time working on homework and projects.

Ms. Mendelman also said the children took very good care of their laptops. “You’re always concerned about what’s going to happen to the computers. Are the kids going to break them? I was so pleased with the ownership that those kids took for their technology and how they used it.”

According to a description of its technology plan on the school’s website, “The staff will continue to integrate these technologies into every aspect of school life and model the appropriate use of technology so that the students develop exceptional levels of proficiency.”

The Sag Harbor School Board appears poised to reverse its policy against the video recording of public comments at its meetings.

On Monday, the school board took up its annual review of videotaping, and all seven members eventually said they would support what some have called “gavel to gavel” recording. The last time this came up for a vote, the board’s 4-to-3 vote fell against taping the public portion of meetings, based in part on concern that the district could get in legal trouble over what people might say.

 Chris Tice, the board vice president, was the first to advocate changing the policy. She called public comments a key part of the meeting and noted that  “there is very, very limited liability” resulting from potentially controversial comments made by members of the public.

“We’ve been told we can’t find any district that has been sued and lost a lawsuit in New York state based on having their meetings videotaped, which is much more common now than even two years ago when we started this discussion,” Ms. Tice said.

Tommy John Schiavoni, a board member who previously voted against videotaping the public sessions, said he supported the change. “Since we put the videotaping policy in place . . . people simply stopped coming to the meetings,” he said. He changed his mind, he said, “in order to lure people back to the meetings.”

Some board members appeared to have reservations. Sandi Kruel suggested the district’s business administrator should “give us the bill for the amount of time someone calls the attorney” regarding a potentially questionable comment. She also said she would support recording public comments “as long as we’re able to shut it down and use that gavel” in case the situation gets out of control. Elena Loreto, a resident of Sag Harbor, had advocated for the policy change at the start of the meeting. “How can you folks be held responsible for someone else’s speech? It really doesn’t make quite a lot of sense to me.”

The board may vote on the policy change as soon as its next meeting, which is set for Sept. 21. The modified policy would then go into effect for the following meeting, scheduled for Oct. 5.

Seek Committee Members

The board announced Monday that it is seeking parents and other residents to serve on several committees that have been charged with making recommendations to the school board this year. Included are committees on athletics; nutrition, wellness, health, and safety; communications; facilities planning, and for a Wall of Honor and the Community Coalition.

“Members of the community with the requisite knowledge may serve on a committee,” Susan Kinsella, the school board president, said in a letter dated Tuesday.

Those who are interested can write to Mary Adamczyk, the district clerk, by email at madamczyk@sagharborschools. org or by mail to the Sag Harbor Union Free School District, 200 Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor 11963. The deadline is Sept. 15.

Geological Wonders

A program on geology for ages 8 and up at the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center in Bridgehampton on Saturday will explore rocks, gems, fossils, volcanoes, and more geological wonders. Eric Powers of Your Connection to Nature will also help kids identify rocks from their own collections. The program starts at 2 p.m. Advance registration has been requested.

History Set to Music

A lesson in American history, nature, and social action will be set to music when Lloyd Miller performs at the Southampton Arts Center this afternoon at 4:30. Mr. Miller, who founded the group the Deedle Deedle Dees, plays a mix of rock, country, hip-hop, punk, folk, and New Orleans piano music. The concert, which is at the former Parrish Art Museum building on Job’s Lane, is free.

Participatory Circus

Artists from the National Circus Project and children who took part in a circus mini camp at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center will entertain families tonight at 7 at the playhouse. Tickets cost $15 per person, and audiences should go prepared to participate!

Sidewalk Art

At the Montauk Library on Saturday, kids have been invited to create sidewalk art with the library’s chalk and enjoy ice pops between 2 and 3:30 p.m.

Reptile Edventures

Erik’s Reptile Edventures will stop by the East Hampton Library at 2 p.m. today with live Madagascar roaches, an alligator, a python, and more. Tomorrow at 2 p.m., children 4 and older will make collages in the style of Eric Carle, creator of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” The same age group will look to Leonardo da Vinci for inspiration during an inventions workshop on Wednesday at 4 p.m., and on Friday, Sept. 4, they can make 3-D pop-up pictures of their favorite local spots at 2 p.m. Reservations have been requested for all programs.

“Scarlet the Scientist”

The Children’s Museum of the East End’s Pizza and Pajama Night on Friday, Sept. 4, will include a visit from Kimberly Kleinbaum, the author of “Scarlet the Scientist: A Day at the Beach.” She will read from the book and sign copies. The fun begins at 6 p.m. and will include pizza, of course, and a craft. The program is free with admission to the museum, which is in Bridgehampton, but reservations are a must, as space is limited.