Goat on a Boat Presents ‘The Joshua Show’

Joshua Holden, a puppeteer and performer whose production “The Joshua Show” won best performance and audience favorite awards at the Puppeteers of America’s National Festival in 2013, will perform at the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Mr. Holden brings a combination of puppetry, live music, tap-dancing, and physical comedy to “The Joshua Show,” which is a story about friendship and the importance of being yourself. Tickets cost $12, $10 for members and grandparents, and $8 for siblings and children under 3.

Pasta, Pizza, and Pajamas at CMEE

Special offerings starting tomorrow at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton will keep kids busy during the April break. Fresh pasta making is on the menu for a drop-off program for 4 to 7-year-olds tomorrow from 10 to 11 a.m. The cost is $24 including museum admission, $12 for members. Tomorrow night is Pizza and Pajama Night, with a reading of Frank Asch’s “The Earth and I,” watercolor landscape painting, and pizza, of course, starting at 6 p.m. It’s free for members, $10 for others.

Children of all ages can plant seedlings on Saturday at 10 a.m. in a program that is free with museum admission. Kids 4 to 7 have can make soda bottle planters with parents’ help on Monday and up-cycled birdfeeders in a drop-off program on Wednesday. Both cost $24, or $12 for members. Finally, next Thursday all ages are invited to work on a community mural at 10 a.m. The fun is included with museum admission; reservations are recommended for all CMEE events.

Creative Writing for Teens

Older students who like to write can fine-tune their skills during a weeklong creative writing workshop for teens with the Young Artists and Writers Project at Stony Brook Southampton. It runs Monday through Friday, April 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

Participants will work with professional writers on poetry, fiction, memoir, and dialogue skills and end the week with a completed piece of writing. The cost is $525 for the week, with some scholarships available. Registration is at stonybrook.edu/yawp or by email to [email protected].

Spring Break Week at SoFo

The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will have special April break programs all week. The first is a story time at 1 p.m. on Saturday that will include a reading of Alan Baker’s “Two Tiny Mice: A Mouse-Eyed Exploration of Nature,” and a walk in the field behind the museum. Nature and science programs for all ages are planned each morning at 10 a.m. Monday through Friday, April 10. Monday they’ll explore pond life. Tuesday it’s birding in the field behind the museum. Children will learn about insects on Wednesday, study the basics of electronics next Thursday, and take a spring field walk on Friday, April 10.

After ‘Wormy Cakes’ Comes ‘Frozen’

A solar printing workshop for kids 4 and older will be held at the East Hampton Library on Tuesday from 2 to 3 p.m. Kids 5 and older can make edible “wormy cakes” on Wednesday at the same hours. Don’t worry, no ­real worms will be used. Next Thursday, there’s a family movie night at 5 p.m. with a screening of the wildly popular “Frozen.”

The decision a few years ago to hire two maintenance employees has paid off for the East Hampton School District.

During Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Mark Field, head custodian, said those two crew members have enabled the district to scale back dramatically on the sum it would pay contractors for the same work. Mr. Field said the savings amounts to approximately $109,000 in the proposed 2015-16 school budget.

“This is the first year that we’ve been able to put it on paper,” he said. “They have been able to save us incredible amounts of money.” The pair’s skills, he said, span several trades: heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical, locksmith work, and more.

Isabel Madison, East Hampton’s assistant superintendent for business, said this has meant the district had to turn to capital improvement funds less frequently.

“Usually, school districts go to a large capital improvement, because the maintenance is very poor,” Ms. Madison said. “We tried for this to not happen. They look after every penny. They are wonderful.” C.S.

Several hours before its budget workshop was set to begin at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the Montauk School Board called a special meeting to approve a five-year tuition agreement with the East Hampton School District.

This year, the district pays for 113 students to attend the high school, at a cost of $24,942 per student. Next year, 134 students from Montauk will go there, at a decreased cost of $24,693 each.

East Hampton High School offers a 5-percent discount to feeder districts that agree to send all their students there, exclusively, after they graduate.

During the budget workshop the board agreed to reinstate the Montauk Afternoon program, pending budget approval. The program was one of several cut a few years ago when the school was forced to remain within the state-mandated tax levy cap. Without the program, many working parents were left scurrying to find after-school care.

The program, which is for all grades, begins immediately after the school day and runs through 5 p.m. During that time the students first finish homework and then are allowed free time to play outside, use the computers, read, or get crafty.

The program costs parents $7 per child, $5 for each additional sibling. The fees help offset the cost of the program, roughly $32,400, said Jack Perna, the school superintendent.

Parents of East Hampton children who will be 4 on or before Dec. 1 will want to mark their calendars for April 14 or 15, when the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center holds open registration for next year’s prekindergarten program, the first to go for the full school day.

The center, which runs the pre-K program for the East Hampton School District, will have an open house on April 13 from 6 to 7 p.m., giving parents a chance to meet the teachers and learn about the program. Sessions will be offered in English and in Spanish. Registration is April 14 and 15 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those who do not register those days have until May 15 to do so.

The center already offers a free morning pre-K program for students who live in the district. Next year, the program will run from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with extended day options on a fee basis. On registration day families must bring proof of a child’s age, in the form of a passport or birth certificate, and proof of residency in the district (a certified deed, tax bill, lease with a copy of the homeowner’s tax bill, or contract of sale), as well a complete immunization record.

Families in other districts may send their prekindergartners to the center for a fee.

Sag Harbor School District officials on Monday broke down a $37.4 million draft of the proposed 2015-16 district budget, which would keep an increase in spending within the tax levy limitations.

The $37.4 million budget would carry a 1.53-percent year-over-year increase, up nearly $565,000 from the 2014-15 budget. If the voters approve the budget, the tax levy would increase by about 2.65 percent. This year, Sag Harbor’s maximum allowed increase is approximately 2.68 percent.

The largest increase falls under the instruction budget line, which will jump 3.14 percent based largely on increases in employee salaries, the launch of an in-house special education program, the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, and more resources for the in-house prekindergarten program. The transportation increase is driven by a 7.38-percent rise in projected costs, which would allow the district to purchase what administrators called a much-needed spare bus for about $102,000. The district also plans to install a ventless cooktop and oven in the kitchen at the high school at a cost of $150,000.

All in all, this draft of the school budget calls for a 2.5-percent increase in the school tax rate. For a home assessed at $500,000, taxes would go up about $65 for the year; for a home valued at $1 million, they would rise by about $130.

The Sag Harbor administration is proposing reductions in its community services budget line, although Jennifer Buscemi, the district’s business administrator, said community programs and services would not change much. The district would also see a small decrease in the amount spent on employee benefits, which is mostly due to a decrease in its mandatory contribution to New York’s statewide teacher retirement system.

Another proposed project is dependent upon voter approval: Replacing what administrators described as the increasingly troublesome boilers at the elementary school, which would cost $513,600. This could be funded through reserves, but to do so would require a separate vote by the school board and then by the community at large. It would not then cost taxpayers more money. The project would appear as a proposition on the ballot in May.

A third proposition under development would ask the voters to approve the creation of a new reserve fund specifically for urgent repairs. Ms. Buscemi said this is partly motivated by the chronic problems the district experienced with the elementary school’s boilers this year, for which repairs have cost at least $10,000.

“You could tap into this reserve without voter approval for any sort of emergency repairs,” Ms. Buscemi said.

Superintendent Katy Graves cautioned against relying on reserve funds — the district has about $8 million in reserves altogether — but said she believes it is acceptable in this case because the district is already paying off a pair of bonds that voters approved in November of 2013.

“We have to proceed cautiously,” Ms. Graves said.

Ms. Buscemi explained that this year’s budget proposal was built from scratch.

“We pretty much built the budget from the bottom up,” she said. “It’s really a zero-base budgeting process where we did start at zero. . . . We reviewed and studied where we could scale back, and where we could compress and where we could make reductions.”

Ms. Buscemi said the draft budget will likely undergo at least one more revision before the board has to vote on its adoption. What complicates the situation is the State Legislature has yet to finalize the amount of money the state will give to school districts. State aid may be tied to what is emerging as a controversial plan by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to couple increased school aid with education reform. Among the proposed changes would be the requirement that schools adopt a system in which teacher evaluations would be based more heavily on student test scores.

“If those reforms are passed, the governor will support a significant funding increase,” Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s communications director, said in a statement on Monday.

The Sag Harbor School Board will next meet on April 14, postponed by one day from its original date due to a regional meeting that will explore shared services between various public entities on the East End.

Plans to move the original Amagansett schoolhouse, built in 1802 by Samuel Schellinger, a millwright, are proceeding. At a meeting on Tuesday, Eleanor Tritt, the district’s superintendent, told the school board that the State Department of Education’s Office of Facilities Planning had approved the installation of a foundation for the schoolhouse, which is believed to be the oldest on eastern Long Island.

“We’re very excited,” Ms. Tritt told the board. “Now we’re just waiting for the last legal paperwork.” Once the ground softens, she said, the foundation will be set. The plan is for the building to be moved to the school grounds from its present site, the Atlantic Avenue property owned by Huntington and Adelaide Sheldon, who announced their intention to donate it in October.

If all proceeds according to schedule, a “grand opening ceremony” will happen in the late spring or early summer, Ms. Tritt said.

The schoolhouse was originally on “Amagansett Street,” now Montauk Highway, about opposite today’s school building. It was moved to the west side of Atlantic Avenue, at what is now the southern part of the East End Cemetery, in 1864, and moved again in 1881, when it was auctioned to Marcus Hand. Mr. Hand sold it to Capt. Joshua B. Edwards, who moved it across the street to his backyard, which is now part of the Sheldon property.

In addition to a discussion of the 2015-16 budget and tuition rate, covered separately in this issue, the board announced that spring recess will be abbreviated, owing to the number of snow days this winter. Classes will be held on April 9 and 10. Unless families have travel plans that cannot be changed, students are expected to attend school on those days.

Ms. Tritt referred to education topics in the news, citing two recent articles in The New York Times. “If an Algorithm Wrote This, How Would You Even Know?” was, she said, “very sobering.” The article describes a new industry of automated narrative generation, in which algorithms and language generators create written content. This “is really going to be a challenge for all of our educators to help children research and really probe and think carefully about the information they are reading,” and its source, she said. “It gave me great pause to see what’s happening out there.”

Another article described the criticism leveled at Pearson Education, a publisher, for monitoring social media to identify students who might be leaking information about the tests it creates and administers. Administrators and educators, Ms. Tritt said, must “continue to be vigilant about what we allow students to do,” citing Pearson and other companies’ data-mining efforts and the questions of privacy those efforts raise. Parents, she said, must also “be aware of the consequences of what children are putting out there.”

Victoria Handy, the board’s president, opened the meeting by acknowledging the recent death of two former students, Eric Payne and Andrew MacNiven. Both Mr. Payne, who was 25, and Mr. MacNiven, who was 24, died on March 15. “It’s very sad,” Ms. Handy said. “Our hearts go out to their families.”

“I didn’t know Eric,” Ms. Tritt said, “but Andrew stands out in my mind, a wonderful young man who had everything to live for.” The school yearbooks in which the graduates were featured were displayed during the meeting.

Young Playwrights Showcase

Eight short plays by Bridgehampton and Ross School students who participated in the Young American Writers Project Middle School Playwriting program will be presented on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater.

The program, which is sponsored by Stony Brook Southampton’s Master of Fine Arts in creative writing, pairs students with professional writers and teaching artists for workshops on playwriting, screenwriting, poetry, the personal essay, and fiction. Professional directors stage the culminating performances. Admission is free, but space may be reserved by emailing william.chandler@s tonybrook. edu.

Budding Authors

Susan Verde, the author of “The Museum” and “You and Me,” will be the Hampton Library’s guest at a reception on Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. The reception kicks off the library’s monthlong young authors program.

Parents and high school students looking to plan for college may want to stop elsewhere at the library on Tuesday at 7 for a talk with experts from Long Island Funding for Education, who will discuss how to get accepted by, pay for, and graduate from college.

Earlier that afternoon, at 4, kids 7 to 12 will make tiny matchbox books. Reservations are requested for all library programs.

Don’t Be Late

The Children’s Museum of the East End’s annual Mad Hatter Tea Party and egg hunt will be held Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Youngsters can design and decorate their own hats and bags, then join in a hunt for thousands of eggs hidden around the museum. The party is free for members, $10 for others, and reservations are requested, as space is limited.

The East Hampton Kiwanis Club and Cittanuova on East Hampton’s Newtown Lane will host an Easter egg coloring festa on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., giving kids 3 to 8 the chance to dye eggs and meet the Easter Bunny. A suggested donation of $3 will benefit Kiwanis projects.

Easter will come early at the Ladies Village Improvement Society in East Hampton, too. The group’s annual Easter egg hunt for children under 8 will be on Saturday at 11 a.m., and there’s a special prize in store for anyone who finds a golden egg.

Eggs and Easter are also on the agenda at the East Hampton and Amagansett Libraries this week. An Egg-cellent story and craft time will get children thinking about the holiday, and spring, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Amagansett.

In East Hampton, a springtime story and craft program for ages 4 to 6 is planned Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. Those in sixth through eighth grade can use marshmallow Peeps and other candies to make a spring house on Wednesday at the same time.

Dance Into Spring

The spring semester of classes at the Hampton Ballet Theatre School in Bridgehampton will begin on Monday at 213J Butter Lane and at the Bridgehampton Community House.

In addition to the school’s graded-level ballet and contemporary dance classes, the schedule will include classes in hip-hop, contemporary dance, ballet, tap, ballroom, and flamenco. The A&G Dance Company, which is new to the school, will teach hip-hop for 5 to 8-year-olds on Mondays at 5 p.m. and tap for teens at 7:15 p.m. A contemporary dance class for 8 to 12-year-olds will be offered on Fridays at 4 p.m.

On Tuesdays, Ernesto Palma, a professional ballroom dancer, will teach that form of dance at 4 p.m. for younger kids and at 5 for teens. Mr. Palma speaks English and Spanish.

Sara Bedell Spataro will teach ballet on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. and flamenco on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. for teens. Information about the full schedule and pricing can be had by emailing [email protected] or calling 237-4810.

Budding Scientists

Teen scientists can conduct a scientific survey of Crooked Pond in the Long Pond Greenbelt on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the South Fork Natural History Museum.

Participants will use soil test kits, oxygen meters, pH testers, seine nets, binoculars, and microscopes to learn about the pond, its environment, and its inhabitants. Space is limited, so advance registration is a must. There is a $2 fee for a nature journal, or students can bring their own.

Leopard Meets Goat

At the Goat on a Boat puppet show on Saturday, the Magpie Puppets will present “Leopard Learns a Lesson,” at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tickets are $12, $8 for children under 3 and additional siblings, and $10 for grandparents and theater members.

After weeks of workshops, the Montauk School Board has come close to approving a final budget of a bit under $18.6 million for the 2015-16 school year. The board learned of a hefty fund balance of $1.2 million that they said Tuesday could be used for a slew of long overdue building improvements.

“It’s a problem, but it’s a good problem. Now we have to decide what to do with it,” Jack Perna, the school superintendent, said of the surplus. If the money were returned to taxpayers and taxes increased in the coming year, the school might have to pierce the state-mandated tax cap the year after, he said. Instead, said Mr. Perna, “We recommend taking part of the fund balance and adding it to the capital fund.”

The school building’s cesspools are acting up; a septic contractor was expected to inspect the system yesterday. A repair or replacement could be a costly project. “This cesspool issue is big in my mind,” said Diane Hausman, the school board president.

The board also discussed the parts of the building that need improvements, including repairing and repainting the stucco on its east and south sides, which was budgeted at $200,000. “But if we’re doing that, then we should also do the north and west sides,” Mr. Perna said. Jason Biondo, a board member and a building contractor, said the stucco repair would cost a lot more than what was budgeted and suggested they raise the amount to $300,000. No decision was made.

The surplus was attributed to several factors, a dearth of new students among them. When the district budgets each year for tuition fees for Montauk students attending other schools, it includes a safety net in case new students move into the district. Those funds were not needed this year. Also, one teacher took early retirement, making her ineligible for lifelong health insurance.

With teachers and parents alike anxiously waiting to hear if their spring vacation plans might need to be changed. the board also discussed making up snow days. Mr. Perna said after the meeting that students would have to attend school on April 3, Good Friday; May 22, and May 26. A fourth snow day will not need to be made up.

The next budget workshop will take place Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the school library.

Bambini Ball

Put on your dancing shoes and your party clothes. The Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre’s Bambini Ball is on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. The fun will include music by D.J. Carlos Lama, snacks, puppet shows, and games.

The ball helps the nonprofit bring puppeteers and performers such as Gustafer Yellowgold, Chinese Theatre Works, and Randy Kaplan to its Sag Harbor space. Tickets cost $30 for adults and $10 for kids. They can be reserved in advance at goatonaboat.org.

For Little Foodies

Young foodies of all ages can learn how food is grown in the aquaponic garden at Page at 63 Main in Sag Harbor on March 28 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The free event will also feature a cooking demonstration and tasting as well as a discussion of healthy food choices.

Those who plan to attend have been asked to email [email protected] to reserve a place in advance.

It Glows

Kids 3 to 6 will use household ingredients and a few extras to make their own glow-in-the-dark bouncy balls on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. The class costs $24 including museum admission, or $10 for members of the museum.

Science and Nature

The South Fork Natural History Museum will offer kids in kindergarten through sixth grade a close-up introduction to reptiles and amphibians of the area on Tuesday at the East Hampton Library. The program runs from 4 to 5 p.m.

Next Thursday at the library, children 5 and older can make their own fossils while learning the basics of paleontology from 4 to 5 p.m. Tonight from 5 to 7, the library will screen “The Lorax” for families.

Think Spring

The snow may be hanging around, but now is the time to think spring, especially if you’re planting carrots. On Saturday, the Amagansett Library will help welcome spring with a carrot story and seed-planting time at 3:30 p.m.

On Sunday at 2 p.m. kids in third through sixth grades will make book pillows using recycled fabric. Kids in prekindergarten through third grade can drop by the library for some crafting today at 3 p.m.

The time changed a week and a half ago, spring arrives this weekend, and Easter will be here before you know it. Some major egg decorating will go down at the Montauk Library on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. The library will have dye, stickers, and more on hand, but you may want to take your own smock.

Pizza and a Movie

The Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will screen “Guardians of the Galaxy” for ages 12 and up tomorrow at 7 p.m. Pizza will be served.

Soccer Skills and Drills

A skills and drills soccer program run by East Hampton Town for budding athletes in kindergarten through second grade began on Saturday at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center and will run weekly from 2 to 4 p.m. through April 11. The cost for the program is $25. Registration is at the playhouse or at the Recreation Department.

Leprechaun Hats

Before the short and family-friendly Am O’Gansett Parade on Saturday, kids can stop by the Amagansett Library to make their own leprechaun hats to wear while they watch. The materials will be out at 10:30 a.m. After the festivities, at 3:30 p.m., families can stop in again at the library for Irish tales and a chance to decorate a lucky shamrock box.

Prints and Compasses

At the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Saturday, kids 3 to 6 can work with homemade paints to make patterned prints from 10 to 10:45 a.m. The cost is $22, including museum admission, or $10 for members. At the same time, 7 to 10-year-olds can learn the science of magnetism and experiment with compasses in a drop-off workshop that runs till 11. The cost is $15, not including admission to the museum, and $12 for members. Advance registration has been requested for both workshops.

Sima will be at the museum to tell stories on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in a program that is free with museum admission.

For St. Pat’s

For St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, the East Hampton Library will have a holiday-themed story and craft time for 4 to 6-year-olds from 4 to 5 p.m. “The Lorax,” a new version of the Dr. Seuss classic, will be shown on the big screen downstairs in the children’s wing next Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Fun With the MakerBot

Kids 7 and older will learn to create and print things on the Hampton Library’s 3-D MakerBot printer on Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. At 6, teens will take a turn with the printer. Space is limited in the workshops so advance sign-up is required. Tomorrow, kids 4 and older can make rainbow handprints from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

April Theater Camp

Looking ahead to the April school break, the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor is planning another of its popular vacation theater camps for 7 to 12-year-olds. It will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day from April 6 through 10 and will include acting, singing, dance, and general performance instruction with some improv and theater games thrown in. The cost is $385 for the week; advance registration is required at baystreet.org.

Tech Celebration

Tweens and teens can play Minecraft on the Montauk Library’s computers or iPads, or their own, during a tech celebration on Saturday. Students in grades three through six have been invited from 2 to 2:45 p.m. and older kids will be welcomed from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.