Creature Camouflage

On Sunday at 10 a.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton, Melanie Meade will lead a program for 3 to 6-year-olds on how animals camouflage themselves in nature. Kids will play an outdoor game and then do a craft inside. Advance sign-up has been requested.

Rocket Day

Across the street at the Children’s Museum of the East End, Sunday will be Rocket Day. At this free event, kids of all ages can make and launch their own rockets behind the museum from 10 a.m. to noon. In case of rain, the fun will be postponed until Monday.

Sketching Captains Row

Kids who love to sketch may want to join in a walk, talk, and sketching tour of historic Sag Harbor on Saturday at 10 a.m. Janet Sygar, an architectural educator with the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, will explore the elegant doorways of the village’s Captains Row with kids 8 to 14, with stops along the way to sketch. Participants will learn what the doors say about the “growing importance and affluence of Sag Harbor’s whaling industry,” according to a release.

The meeting place is the Sag Harbor Custom House on the corner of Main and Garden Streets. The cost is $10, and reservations can be made at 725-3229.

Animal Invasion

Creatures from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge will pay a visit to the Amagansett Library on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Kids can expect to meet a snake, a turtle, a chinchilla, and a bird of prey, among other animals.

Children in first through third grade can make their own pair of wings during a costume workshop at the library on Sunday at 2 p.m. At the same time the following Sunday, participants can make capes. The programs are free and materials will be provided, but advance registration has been requested.

Teen Book Club

A young teen book club is in formation at the East Hampton Library. Kids in sixth through eighth grade who love to read have been invited to stop in at the library on Wednesday from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. with their favorite summer novel or a new one they’d like to read.

Citing concerns about privacy, security, and potential distraction, the East Hampton School District has withdrawn cooperation in a planned series of articles in The East Hampton Star that would have profiled kindergarten students at the John M. Marshall Elementary School over the course of the school year.

The series was intended to illustrate East Hampton’s changing demographics through an examination of students in a single kindergarten class and their families. It had been approved last spring by Richard Burns, the district superintendent, and Beth Doyle, the school’s principal, and was to be written by Amanda M. Fairbanks. Ms. Fairbanks had also addressed parents in Kristen Tulp’s class at an open house in September and secured the permission of those whose children would be profiled prior to the Oct. 2 publication of what was to be the first article in the series. However, a member of the school board objected to the article in the The Star and complained to Ms. Doyle.

J.P. Foster, president of the board, said on Tuesday that the contretemps resulted from “a lack of communication” and cited “a lot of legal implications we wanted to avoid,” including students’ privacy and confidentiality of information. “It’s inappropriate to do it in a classroom,” he said of Ms. Fairbanks’s reporting. “It’s disruptive and not the best practice.”

At the board’s Oct. 7 meeting, Mr. Burns apologized to board members. While he voiced appreciation for the article, “our heightened world of security” necessitated a change of course, he said. “What concerns me, and I know the board, are security and safety of our students. . . . That was something that I should have been more on top of.”

Mr. Burns referred to unspecified alternatives to the previously agreed-upon arrangement. He did not return a call seeking comment. The Star will examine its options with the hope of continuing the series in some form.

Jack-o-Lantern Time

And suddenly it’s pumpkin-carving time again. Carve them too soon and they’re rotten by Halloween. Wait too long and what’s the point? On Wednesday, the East Hampton Library will provide all the materials for a carving session for kids 4 and older from 4 to 5 p.m. That includes stencils and a “safety carving kit,” not to mention battery-operated tea lights to make it glow.

A Horticultural Alliance of the Hamptons member will stop by the library next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. to lead kindergartners through third graders in planting amaryllis bulbs. Advance registration is a must for both programs.

Birds of a Feather

How do birds stay warm in winter? How do they find food? Lindsey Rohrbach of the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will answer those questions for kids 3 to 5 on Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Noyac. Advance sign-up has been requested.

Adventureland and More!

There’s lots of fun on this week’s schedule for the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, including a bus trip to the Adventureland amusement park in Farmingdale on Saturday for kids 13 and older.

A bus will leave the library at 11 a.m. and return at 9:30 p.m. The cost for the trip, including the bus and all rides, is $20. Parents should send extra money with their kids for lunch, arcade games, and snacks. Advance registration and a signed permission slip are required.

Kids 13 and older can drop by the library to make scary box heads from Saturday through Oct. 25. On Sunday, a story time for kids 4 and older will include tea and treats, and on Monday there will be a “jam session” for young kids at 11 a.m. Those 7 and older can make glow-in-the-dark duct tape bags on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., and all ages have been invited to create kaleidoscopes on Friday, Oct. 24, at 4:30 p.m.

For a Blustery Day

Among the other activities for kids this week is a blustery day story and craft time at the Amagansett Library on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Sunday brings a cape-making workshop for first through third graders at 2 p.m. Kids might save those capes to wear on Friday, Oct. 24, at a family Halloween bash at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. The fun runs from 4 to 6 p.m. More details next week.

The Montauk Teachers Association issued a letter to the school board on Tuesday asking that the district take a tougher stance on its attendance policy. Students who take extended vacations often fall behind and struggle to keep up with their classmates, said Laura Schilling, a special education teacher.

After the meeting, teachers said that the stakes are higher now, since the state has imposed standardized testing, known as the Common Core, which the Montauk teachers have embraced, unlike many others statewide.

In Montauk, parents who work through summer vacation often take their children out of school for long periods before and after the February or spring breaks, sometimes for months at a time. It is when these vacations are prolonged that the students find it harder to catch up with schoolwork, Ms. Schilling said.

At present, a student who misses 20 days of school is taken off the enrollment rolls, said Jack Perna, the district superintendent.

Ms. Schilling said the teachers association considered the change after many months of research. She said the teachers have recognized a pattern with students who go away for extended periods. “It has illuminated the struggles the students have on state tests,” she said.

Teachers said that though some students are tutored during long breaks, the tutors are often not certified instructors and unaware of newer teaching methods.

Jason Biondo, a school board member, asked what constitutes a long period of time and was told it could be months or six to eight weeks.

Along with the teachers’ letter, the board also received from Ms. Schilling copies of other schools’ attendance policies to review. The board tabled its discussion until its next meeting, on Oct. 28.

A group of eighth-grade parents has asked about holding the June graduation ceremony outdoors this year, the board learned. Mr. Perna said a parent had asked him to bring the notion before the school board. Mr. Biondo said he was part of that group and has a child graduating in June.

Traditionally, the eighth-grade graduation ceremony takes place in the school gym on one of the hottest days of the year. “It would just look nice out on the field,” said Mr. Biondo, who added that one parent came up with the idea and it “snowballed” from there.

Board members said that it wasn’t that easy to just up and move the ceremony. Noting the acoustics of being indoors versus outside, they said the band and chorus would have to be part of the decision. Also, the cost of a tent for the ceremony could be upward of $10,000, and a tent would be mandatory for an outdoor event, the board said.

Moreover, members said the school must take into consideration hauling chairs down a steep hill to the ball field for the ceremony, as well as handicapped access and parking on narrow Second House Road, which is a secondary and level entrance to the school field.

Parents are willing to hold fund-raisers to pay for the tent and other expenses, Mr. Biondo said. “This is not a lazy group of parents. They’ll do what they have to do.”

Parents and school administrators were on high alert Tuesday afternoon, following news that Southampton Elementary School would shutter its doors for a thorough cleaning yesterday after one of its students had come down with enterovirus.

A letter from Scott Farina, the district’s superintendent, said that the student did not have enterovirus 68, a pernicious strain of an otherwise common virus that causes respiratory distress — and whose rapid and sudden onset is a particular threat to infants, children, and teenagers.

The Southampton student was diagnosed over the weekend and did not attend school on Tuesday. Public schools were closed on Monday in observance of Columbus Day.

In recent weeks, two young children in New Jersey and Michigan have died from enterovirus 68, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently citing 691 cases in 46 states.

Mr. Farina explained that Southampton Elementary would close yesterday to undergo a “cleaning by an outside professional cleaning company.” The company was to disinfect the entire school building, applying an “antibacterial product to further prevent the spread of germs.”

Since it is a respiratory illness, enterovirus 68 is spread by an infected person’s secretions — through saliva, mucus, and feces. It most likely spreads from person-to-person contact, when an infected person either coughs or sneezes and then touches a surface that is shared by others, thereby making schools particularly vulnerable breeding grounds.

To avoid catching and spreading enterovirus, Mr. Farina echoed the C.D.C.’s recommendations to wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, avoid close contact with people who are sick, cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or a shirtsleeve (but not your hands), clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, and keep sick children home and out of school.

Though Southampton Elementary planned to reopen its doors today, other South Fork districts are paying close attention — each hoping to stop the virus before it can spread.

Richard Burns, the East Hampton superintendent, said that custodians were directed to “take extra care in wiping down door knobs, bathrooms, and heavily used areas as preventative measures.”

Eleanor Tritt, the Amagansett superintendent, said that the entire school would undergo an extra cleaning over the weekend. “We’re also in the process of replacing soap and paper towel dispensers with motion-activated ones and wiping down our buses,” she said, noting that a letter would be sent home to parents, reminding them about the importance of frequent hand washing and usual methods of keeping things clean.

“We disinfected classrooms as a precautionary measure,” said Lois Favre, the Bridgehampton superintendent.

Despite growing levels of hysteria, Zachary McClain, a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, advocated a common-sense approach.

“Enterovirus causes common colds every year and the important thing to do is what you would do for any virus,” said Dr. McClain, who doesn’t study infectious disease, but takes care of children and teenagers. For preventing the spread of enterovirus, he emphasized hand-washing, and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces when someone is sick. “It’s important to keep schools clean and for kids to stay home when they’re sick.”

On Monday night, the Sag Harbor School Board appointed Thomas J. Schiavoni, a parent and longtime schoolteacher, to fill a vacancy.

Mr. Schiavoni, who lives on North Haven and teaches at Center Moriches High School, is filling the seat of Daniel Hartnett, who resigned last month after he moved to Springs. To remain on the board, Mr. Schiavoni would have to seek a full three-year term during the regular elections in May 2015. He was elected to the North Haven Village Board in June.

Known as Tommy John, the 51-year-old was among four candidates who were interested in the position, which the board decided to fill instead of leaving vacant until next year’s election or holding a special election.

Mr. Schiavoni said he does not have any agenda in joining the board. “I think the district is on a great trajectory academically. I want to maintain what I consider an upward trajectory,” he said Tuesday. Joining the board is something he said he has long considered.

When Mr. Hartnett, a bilingual social worker at the East Hampton Middle School, left the board, he said he hoped it would be filled by another educator.

“My career is children, and this is part of it,” Mr. Schiavoni said. He has taught social studies to grades 7 to 12 in Center Moriches, and this coming year will teach economics and participation in government to seniors.

He and his wife, Andrea Schiavoni, an attorney who serves as a justice for Southampton Town and Sag Harbor Village, have two children attending school in the Sag Harbor School District — a daughter entering eighth grade and a son going into fifth. Mr. Schiavoni grew up on North Haven.

Theresa Samot, the school board president, said the decision to appoint Mr. Schiavoni was unanimous. “As an educator, Pierson graduate, parent of students in the district, and someone who is involved in many aspects of the community, the board feels that he brings valuable experience to the board that will best serve our community,” she said.

On a sunny afternoon in Sagaponack, parents and food advocates gathered last week at the home of Erica and L.A. Reid to dine, shop, and listen to a panel discussion on healthy eating given by nutrition experts. The event, called “Food Fight: Get Into the Ring,” was hosted by Healthy Child Healthy World, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating safer environments for children and providing parents with access to educational information and solutions.

Healthy Child Healthy World was started 22 years ago by James and Nancy Chuda after they lost their daughter, Collette, to cancer, attributed to pesticides. Today, Gigi Lee Chang is its chief executive officer.

Ashley Koff, a nutrition expert who has been involved with the organization for the past three years, explained that it “relies on experts so that they can simplify things for the members . . . better nutrition is simple, so we strive to come up with simple tips.”

Before the panel began, guests had a chance to purchase jewelry, accessories, and beauty products from a variety of vendors, including Lafayette 148 and Beautycounter. A percentage of the sales was donated to Healthy Child Healthy World.

Dr. Mark Hyman, the New York Times best-selling author of “The Blood Sugar Solution,” founder of The UltraWellness Center, and an expert in the practice of functional medicine, was the lead speaker. Functional medicine, he told the gathering, is “medicine by cause, not by symptom.”

Ms. Koff and Bun Lai, the executive chef at Miya’s Sushi in New Haven, said to be the only sustainable sushi restaurant in the nation, were the other panelists. Samantha Ettus, an author and a radio and television host, was the moderator.

Dr. Hyman opened the panel with comments on the importance of healthy food choices for families and children. “Food is not just calories,” he said. “The quality of the fuel you put in determines the quality of health.”

Having dinner together as a family, nightly, is one of the easiest ways to implement healthy food practices, he said. He also stressed the importance of removing high-fructose corn syrup from children’s diets, because even though it is not much worse than sugar, it is “in everything that is a poor quality industrial food.”

“What you put at the end of your fork is the most important thing you’ll ever do for your health and your family,” Dr. Hyman concluded.

Ms. Koff spoke about the dangers of genetically modified organisms. “G.M.O.s are grown with more pesticides­ than anything else,” she said. “These pesticides have been shown to be hormone disrupters, and they are in every seed of every G.M.O. plant.”

Mr. Lai, the chef, stressed the importance of eating seafood low in chemicals and eating “simply, naturally, whole, and fresh.” Environmentalism and nutrition are fundamentally related, he said, so much so that “invariably, when you produce food that is destructive to the environment, it is destructive to our health as well. The ecosystem of our body is directly linked to and part of the ecosystem of the entire world.”

Activities for Summer’s End

As those free and easy summer days wind to a close, the local libraries have a few more activities to keep the imagination going and the brain engaged.

At the East Hampton Library tomorrow, kids 4 and up can create their own clay creatures using shells, rocks, and other items found outside. The program runs from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Nature Nick will visit the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton with a porcupine, miniature kangaroo, squirrel monkey, python, and who knows what else on Saturday at noon.

Sidewalk chalk art and snow cones are on the schedule at the Montauk Library on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m., and the Amagansett Library will get youngsters in a school state of mind with a back-to-school story and craft for all ages at 3:30 p.m.

Dance, Dance, and More Dance

At Dancehampton in East Hampton, registration is under way for all sorts of dance classes that begin the week of Sept. 7 for children from preschool to high school age. The studio on Lumber Lane offers ballet, tap, hip-hop, jazz, Irish step, musical theater, lyrical, and acrobatics classes after school and on weekends. A full schedule and fees can be found online at dancehampton.com

­The Amagansett School has a new principal. Brigit DiPrimo starts in the position Thursday, while Thomas Lamorgese, who had been appointed interim principal in June following the resignation of Robert Brisbane, has been named interim administrator on an as-needed basis, also effective today. The school board voted to appoint Mr. Lamorgese to the new position at its meeting on Tuesday morning.

Ms. DiPrimo comes to Amagansett from W.S. Mount Elementary School in Stony Brook, where she was assistant to the principal. Prior to that role, she was an elementary educator for 14 years.

“We’re delighted,” Eleanor Tritt, the district superintendent, said Wednesday. Ms. DiPrimo, she said, “has a great background in curriculum, instruction, and technology, and has done a lot of staff development previously. We know she’ll be a great asset in helping us move forward in implementing the Common Core standards.”

The school is also fortunate to have had Dr. Lamorgese as the interim principal, Ms. Tritt said. The administration will “rely upon his knowledge to help us make a smooth transition,” she said.

The New York State Education Department has designated the Amagansett School a Reward School, Ms. Tritt told the board. “This is in recognition of the achievement of the students over a period of years,” she said, as well as an indication that special-needs students have also demonstrated achievement and growth.

In a detailed presentation to the board, Ms. Tritt reported good test results from AIMSweb, which provides academic assessments in reading, math, and language arts, and the Northwest Evaluation Association, a not-for-profit organization offering educational products and services. Amagansett students compare well to the other East End districts, where students are typically among the highest scorers in the state. “Our students always perform favorably in comparison to both Suffolk County and the state,” she said.

“We can see that the percentage of students achieving growth has increased as well,” Ms. Tritt said. “That’s reflected in the state indicating that we are a Reward School. We feel that our efforts are on the right track, but of course we want to always continue to do better and see how we can help our students achieve at higher levels consistently.”

The school’s summer program, she said, was very successful. “We know that when students are not participating in a program over the summer, they do typically regress slightly. We’re very pleased that we were able to offer a program that was not only academically but socially enriching for the children,” she said, citing participation in events at South Fork museums, farms, and libraries.

In developing goals for the coming academic year, a statement by the state School Boards Association “reflects the constant conversation on the state level and the national level,” Ms. Tritt said. College preparation and career readiness are popular areas of emphasis, “but the discussion of the School Boards Association is that, to most people, what’s important is not only the academics and career but also a well-rounded citizen of the community, someone who can lead a successful, productive life and contribute to the community.”

Long-range goals at the Amagansett School, she said, will always focus on development of well-rounded students through encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving, and communicating the importance of responsibility and respect for others.

School staff will incorporate an appropriate use of technology, Mr. Tritt emphasized. “We still want to maintain personal interaction among people and to use technology where we feel it can support the program.”

A new school website went live at the end of last month. “We’re going to be working with teachers to develop their own web pages as a way of communicating with parents,” Ms. Tritt said.

Finally, the superintendent reminded the board that the school must comply with state mandates, including new data-privacy legislation, auditing, and provisions of the Affordable Care Act. “We have a very healthy set of objectives set out,” she said, “but we feel excited, invigorated, and ready to go.”

It’s back to the books in this first week of school for many students, which might seem a bit humdrum for kids sad to say goodbye to summer. Young adults might change their minds about school after listening to Patricia McCormick talk at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton on Saturday about her collaboration with Malala Yousaf?zai.

Malala, now 17, was the target of a Taliban assassination attempt after she became an advocate for girls’ right to education in Pakistan and around the world. Her book, “I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban,” became a best seller. Ms. McCormick, an author of young-adult books, worked with Malala on a young-readers edition, titled “I Am Malala: How a Young Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World,” published last year.

The program will start at 2 p.m. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the library that day.