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.

Just before the start of school, the Springs School Board met briefly last week to finalize the district’s hiring plans for the coming year.

In the spring, partly because of the district’s increasing enrollment, the board decided to hire a full-time superintendent. For the past few years, the position has been part time.

Elizabeth Mendelman, the board president, said that John Finello, who has served as superintendent over the past year, would assume full-time duties starting in January. From now until December, he will continue to serve in a part-time capacity, provided he secures a necessary waiver from the state’s commissioner of education since he is technically retired and below the age of 65. Come 2015, when Mr. Finello turns 65, a state waiver will no longer be necessary.

“We fell in love with him and convinced him to stay,” said Ms. Mendelman, adding that the board had opened up the search for about a month, subsequently interviewing a handful of candidates. She described Mr. Finello as “absolutely the most qualified person for the job.”

For the 2014-15 school year, the district budgeted an annual salary of $174,167 and an additional $56,139 in employee benefits. Though the district had previously supplied a monthly housing allowance of $3,600 to help offset the cost of moving, Ms. Mendelman said that as of this month Mr. Finello will pay his housing costs himself. The full-time contract is for three years.

Regarding other appointments, Frank Cole will split his time as a technology and social studies teacher. His full-time annual salary will be $110,994 plus benefits. In addition, Tracy Larkin will work as a part-time family and consumer science teacher at an annual salary of $28,824, and Stephanie Marigliano is now a part-time library media specialist at an annual salary of $28,823. Finally, Diana Russell, Kyle McCann, and Jacklyn Rossi were all appointed teaching assistants at annual salaries of $22,580.

In other news, the Springs PTA will host its annual back-to-school barbecue and family fun night on Sept. 19 starting at 6. The PTA will provide hot dogs and hamburgers, and families have been asked to contribute potluck items, beverages, and desserts. An outdoor movie will be shown.

The board will next meet on Monday at 7 p.m.

The East Hampton School Board had a full agenda Tuesday night, one that could be said to have gone from soup to nuts, just hours before the start of the new school year. Of particular interest were announcements that it had decided to appoint someone to fill the vacancy on the board left by Patricia Hope’s surprise resignation in July, that it would be posting a security guard at each of the three district schools, and that it had come up with a way to prompt those parents with outstanding balances for their children’s lunches to pay up.

 Since Ms. Hope’s resignation, the board had weighed whether to hold a special election, which could have cost upward of $10,000, to appoint someone, or keep the seat vacant. In order to make an appointment, the board is soliciting interest among residents of the district. They are being asked to send letters no later than Oct. 1 to Kerri Stevens, the district clerk, explaining their background. Of particular interest, the board said, are candidates who have finance, or even municipal finance, backgrounds. Interviews will be conducted in public, and the board hopes to announce an appointment by Nov. 1. The new member will serve until next May’s annual meeting and election.

Richard Burns, the district superintendent, announced that after reviewing the security audit commissioned in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a decision had been made to hire a security firm to place one guard in each school during daytime hours.

On the matter of school lunches, the district realized it had a problem in June, when it found that it was owned nearly $17,000 from parents whose children participate in the program using a swipe-card system called NutriKids. NutriKids, which does not distinguish between those paying full or reduced prices, allows parents to prepay. Now, after numerous letters and phone calls, the outstanding balance has been reduced to $6,300.

Nevertheless, J.P. Foster, who became president of the board after Ms. Hope’s resignation, said the children of those with an outstanding balance will not receive hot lunches, but a “basic meal,” such as a bagel and an apple, until payment is received. They also will be prohibited from charging for extra snacks like cookies or muffins.

Also at the meeting, enrollment and class sizes were briefly discussed. Beth Doyle, the principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School, said that some grades were in the high teens to mid-20s, with the highest section being first grade with 25 students. Charles Soriano, the principal of the East Hampton Middle School, said four to five classes there had hit the 30-student mark because of limited sections

Earlier in the meeting, the board accepted the resignation of Kyle Anello, a technology teacher, and Michael Denslow, a paraprofessional. It reinstated the employment of John Prussack, and appointed Kylie Tekulsky to a part-time, non-tenured English as a second language teaching position at an annual salary of $36,249.

Toward the end of the sparsely attended meeting, Stephen Grossman, an attorney who is a school district parent and the husband of Laura Anker Grossman, a former president of the board, asked about recent performance on annual statewide exams.

“Newsday posted some pretty dismal state scores,” Mr. Grossman said. “Is there a reason, or, if you think those tests are relevant, do you have a plan to improve those scores?”

“Are they relevant? Yes. Do we have a plan? Yes,” said Robert Tymann, the assistant superintendent. “The scores don’t appear the way we would have liked them. But when we look at districts we compare ourselves to, we stayed about the same. But what was disappointing was that we didn’t improve as much as everyone would have hoped. Staying the same isn’t good enough.”

After a robust discussion, Claude Beudert, a middle school teacher, noted that the dismal eighth-grade math scores were related to the fact that 48 students opted out of taking the exam since they were enrolled in upper-level high school math courses.

Before the meeting was adjourned, Mr. Grossman urged that the board reconsider its preference for appointing someone to the board with a financial background. “You’re discouraging people from applying, people who have an interest in education,” he said.

The board will next meet on Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m.

Write Your Heart Out

With the start of the school year comes a return to more heady pursuits at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor.  A free teen writing workshop for 12 to 14-year-olds will start on Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and run through May. According to the library’s website, the workshop will include discussion of the writing craft, writing prompts, and constructive group critique.  Writers will develop a number of pieces and hone selected samples for publication in the library’s online magazine of teen creative work. Mireille Sturmann will lead the class. A second teen writing workshop for those 14 and older will begin on Oct. 15 and meet weekly on Thursdays from 4:45 to 6 p.m. Emily Weitz will be the instructor. The library will offer free math tutoring for middle schoolers in either English or Spanish on Mondays from 4:45 to 6 p.m. starting this week.

Sing a Song

Does a beautiful day at the beach ever make you want to sing? Ever feel moved to song by the sunrise over a farm field or a pond full of lily pads? Tyler Armstrong will help kids 8 to 12 channel those musical impulses in a nature songwriting workshop at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton on Saturday.  No prior music experience is required for this class, which begins at 1. A $4 materials fee will cover the cost of a CD recording of the session, which will be mailed to participants. Advance registration with the museum is required.

Calling Cub Scouts

Boys in first through fifth grade interested in joining or continuing with East Hampton Cub Scouts Pack 426 can get information about what scouting entails and sign up on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. and Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Amagansett Firehouse.

The East Hampton Town Recreation Department is offering a number of sports clinics and programs for kids beginning Monday, when a flag football clinic for 6 to 12-year-olds runs from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Sportime Arena on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett. Also at Sportime, inline skating for kids 6 to 9 happens on Tuesdays from 5 to 6 p.m., and for kids 6 to 12 there’s floor hockey from 4 to 5 p.m. that day and roller hockey from 6 to 7 p.m.

Dodgeball for 8 to 13-year-olds begins Friday, Sept. 19, from 5 to 6 p.m. Sept. 20 brings soccer for 5 to 12-year-olds from 9:30 to 11 a.m., basketball for 7 to 13-year-olds from 11 a.m. to noon, and baseball for kids 6 to 12 from noon to 1 p.m. Each clinic runs for eight weeks and costs $125.

The town will offer tennis clinics starting on Friday, Sept. 19, and Sept. 20 across the street at the Youth Park tennis courts. Sessions for fourth through sixth graders will be on Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m. On Saturdays there will be sessions for kids in kindergarten and first grade from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. and for second and third graders from 3:30 to 4:30. The clinics will run through Oct. 25. The cost is $40 per child.

The town’s youth soccer program will start on Sept. 20 at the Stephen Hand’s Path soccer field in East Hampton. Children in first through sixth grade will be divided by age group. The program costs $40 and continues on Saturdays through Nov. 8, with playoffs on Nov. 15. Registration is at the Recreation Department on Pantigo Road or at the soccer field this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.

Finally, free basketball clinics for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade will start on Sept. 23 at the Youth Park and continue on Tuesdays through Oct. 21. The K-through-third group will gather from 4 to 5 p.m., and the fourth-through-sixth group follows from 5 to 6 p.m.

During Monday night’s Springs School Board meeting, the board swiftly tackled business related to the start of school.

Eric Casale, the principal, provided updated enrollment numbers. As of last week, 735 students were enrolled in prekindergarten to grade eight, with 26 more currently being registered. At 761 students, such an enrollment would put Springs at 25 more students than at the start of school last year, and 70 more students than two years ago.

The number of students from Springs attending the upper grades at East Hampton High School continues to grow as well. All told, there are 76 more children attending pre-K to 12th grade than at the same time last year.

Mr. Casale also addressed the recent release of statewide English and math scores. “The scores don’t reflect exactly what we want as of yet, but it’s still a transitional period and the test scores will reflect that,” Mr. Casale said early yesterday, citing a similar performance as compared to last year’s scores in English, with a slight increase in math. “They’re still not where we want them to be, but they’re headed in the right direction.”

In staff news, the board hired Carl Fraser to provide services to the district superintendent related to financial operations. Elizabeth Mendelman, the board president, explained that Mr. Fraser would work with the district on a temporary assignment from now until June. Mr. Fraser formerly was East Islip’s assistant superintendent for business. His pay is a per diem rate of $700. As a retiree, he is capped at working 42 days or earning $30,000 each calendar year.

Also, Laura Foti, a math teacher, will help provide additional academic intervention services.

Before adjourning, the board accepted a donation from the Jewish Federations of North America, a philanthropic organization based in New York City, of 60 backpacks filled with grade-specific supplies. All of the backpacks have already been distributed to students in need.

The board will next meet on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.

Smoke and Mystery

The Nelson Illusions Smoke and Mystery Tour will materialize at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Wednesday with shows at 1 and 5 p.m. The show, according to the museum, “combines rare and original illusions from around the world with award-winning, jaw-dropping magic.” It is geared to those 5 and up. Tickets cost $16 for adults, $13 for kids, and $14 and $11 for members.

An arts and crafts workshop focusing on an op-art project will precede the show at 4 p.m. The cost is $10, $8 for members.

Circus Camp

Want to learn to juggle, walk a tightrope, or just clown around? The National Circus Project will lead a circus camp for kids 8 to 12 Monday through next Thursday at the Montauk Playhouse. Campers will gather each day from 1 to 5 p.m. to learn circus skills and can take part in a National Circus Project performance next Thursday at 7 p.m. The camp costs $150, $100 per additional sibling, and includes two tickets to next Thursday’s show. Tickets to the show alone cost $15.

Frogs, Toads, and Bugs

Kids 4 and older can learn about “frogs that stick, toads that fizz, and bugs that hiss and sing” during a nature program tomorrow from 2 to 3 p.m. at the East Hampton Library. At the end of the free program, demonstrators will inflate a giant science weather balloon.

“The Happy Clam Show,” an interactive music adventure for kids 2 and older who have completed the Read-to-Me summer reading club, will be at the library on Tuesday from 2 to 2:45 p.m. On Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m., kids 4 and older can create wise owl luminaries from Chinese lanterns, card stock, and other materials.

Rock for Kids

Suzi Shelton will take her lively interactive pop-rock to the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $17, or $15 for members, in advance, and $20 at the door. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. The rain date is Wednesday.

Sunday brings a free story time with Sima from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

“Danes Are Great!”

Victor Joseph, the author of “Danes Are Great! Follow the Adventures of Brando and Kruger,” will read from his book during a story time at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt Nature Center. A coloring activity will follow, and refreshments will be served. The center is at 1061 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike.

Making Brushbots

What do you get when you mix a toothbrush head with a tiny motor? A brushbot, of course. On Saturday at 10 a.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton, kids 6 to 9 can make their own brushbots while learning about simple robotics. There is a $4 materials fee for the program.

Camp Shakespeare, a summer program for students between 8 and 15, will wrap up its 15th season on Friday with a 3:30 p.m. performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett, where the camp holds two weeklong sessions each summer. 

“It’s difficult to find other theater nerds, so it’s great to come here and find people who share your interests,” said Tyler Thompson, a 13-year-old, after a successful performance of a half-hour version of “Romeo and Juliet,” in which he played Mercutio, on Friday, when the first camp session came to an end. The general mood among the actors before and after the performance was clearly one of excitement and happiness. Many said they were sad that the week was over and intended to be back next year.

Amelia Shapiro, who has attended the camp for seven years, said, “There’s an amazing sense of community here. It’s nice to be with people who like Shakespeare as much as I do.”

The camp is run by the Hamptons Shakespeare Theater Festival, which began presenting outdoor Shakespeare performances at Montauk County Park in 1996 and later offered full productions at Lake Agawam in Southampton, among other venues. Most popular with children of middle school age, the summer program has a devoted following. Nathaniel Greenlaw, who is 13 and played Romeo in last week’s production, came all the way from Wisconsin. “I needed more acting opportunities. Then I heard about this program. This is my second year,” he said.

 According to David Brandenburg, the artistic director of the festival, “Shakespeare, for this age group, works really well. . . . We benefit from the fact that Shakespeare was meant to be performed, not just read. Getting it on its feet really opens it up to kids.” To help make their camp experience enjoyable, campers engage in improvisation, play movement games, do arts and crafts, and learn about the historic context of the plays they undertake. And, of course, they memorize lines.

 Mr. Brandenburg said character development is a basic teaching tool. “I think that character is really the key for younger kids to get into the play, because the characters are so timeless and clear . . . on a basic level they are very approachable and understandable,” he said.

 Putting together a production, even a short one, with only a week’s time, however, can be challenging, Enrico Spada, the director of Camp Shakespeare, said. “They can only memorize 20, 30, maybe 40 lines, and as the day approaches, we don’t want them to worry. So we don’t demand perfection.”

For each production, five or six scenes are chosen and linked with narration. “Romeo and Juliet” opened with a fight scene between the Montagues and the Capulets, and was followed by a few other well-known scenes, including Mercutio’s soliloquy about Queen Mab and the lovers’ tryst in the Capulet orchard.

Maizy Scarpa, one of the camp’s teachers, said the experience differs from other educational programs. “There is so much goal-oriented work these days, telling kids that they have to be the best all the time,” she said. “Camp Shakespeare is different because it gives kids a chance to play, but with structure . . . and encourages them to let their voices be present.”

 During performances, Ms. Scarpa holds the book and helps the players, who are allowed to ask for their lines. In “Romeo and Juliet,” though, many of the players got through their lines, including lengthy soliloquies, without a problem.

In addition to Camp Shakespeare, the Hamptons Shakespeare Festival performs at schools and has internship programs for college students during the academic year.

It was a brief but contentious meeting of the Montauk School Board on Tuesday afternoon. Carmine Marino and Dan Stavola, both of whom have children who are certified teachers, took issue with the board’s hiring process and executive sessions, which they said weren’t properly publicized.

The men spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, after the board had approved the hiring of two new teachers, Melissa Palumbo, who will teach elementary reading and math, and Shannon McLoughlin, a speech teacher.

Mr. Marino and Mr. Stavola were under the impression that there would be additional public discussion before the final hiring. Mr. Marino said, “That’s it?”

He wondered why the board went into executive session before the public portion of the meeting, during which attendees could have aired any issues they might have had with the hiring. On the school board’s website, the board meeting was announced as an executive session that started at 4:30 p.m., with the public meeting at 5:15.

Mr. Marino said that he is on two other boards, the board of commissioners of the Montauk Fire Department and the board of trustees of the Montauk Library, and said it is against state law to exclude the public from a meeting that would normally go into executive session after it opened publicly.

Diane Hausman, the school board president, said that the board did open publicly, as is required, before immediately going into executive session, but only did so in an effort to avoid making people sit outside the room, waiting for 45 minutes.

“We were told that no decisions would be made before an open meeting,” Mr. Marino said, adding that it should be the public’s choice whether to wait or not. He said it was a deceitful way for the board to operate. “You did a disservice to the public. It should be our choice whether to wait or not.”

Mr. Stavola took issue with the board’s hiring process, which he said should not involve Jack Perna, the district superintendent. He said that one of the 23 candidates was a good family friend of Mr. Perna’s who was invited back for a second interview. Mr. Perna should have recused himself from the process, he said, adding, “If I hadn’t cried foul, I’m sure that person would have been hired.”

The hiring process starts with an application submission, Mr. Perna said later. He weeds through the applications and decides who should be called in for interviews with the two hiring committees, one of which is made up of two teachers and two site-based committee members, and the other of two board members, Brigid Collins, who is the assistant principal, and himself. The candidates spend 20 minutes with each committee, and if the members feel a candidate should come back for a second interview, they call him or her back.

In retrospect, said Lee White, a board member, Mr. Perna should have excused himself from the process. Board members said that the superintendent has always been included in the hiring process, but agreed that maybe changes are due.

“This was tough,” Mr. Perna said after the meeting. “We haven’t hired a regular teacher in 11 years, and there were many young people out there competing for the few jobs available.” He said he would like to see the hiring process streamlined in the future.

Monday night’s meeting of the Springs School Board tackled updates related to technology and enrollment, with the start of school less than one month way.

At the sparsely attended meeting, Elizabeth Mendelman, the board president, expressed excitement at the start of a new school year. “I’m sure my kids aren’t that excited, but their mother certainly is,” she said.

Eric Casale, the principal, next led a presentation related to a new technology initiative. Come September, the school will go 1-to-1 in grades three to eight, meaning that each student will be paired with his or her own digital device. As well as using Chromebooks, the school will also adopt a B.Y.O.D., or Bring Your Own Device, policy, whereby students can bring their own laptops, iPads, and smartphones for use during lessons.

To prepare for the transition — and its increased bandwidth requirements — Mr. Casale said the building has upgraded its Wi-Fi capabilities. In addition, teachers will create individual web pages where nightly homework assignments, monthly newsletters, and teacher contact information will be posted. Google Translate will help translate the pages into Spanish, a particular help for the school’s Spanish-speaking families, more than 50 percent of the school.

In other news, Thomas Primiano, the district’s treasurer, discussed the front vestibule project, which he said is now “60 to 70-percent complete.” He estimated that most of the work would be done by next week. With $168,000 budgeted, he said, the work came in “very close to budget” — about $20,000 over the initial projected costs.

Mr. Casale updated the board concerning enrollment. So far, the pre-K to grade eight enrollment is at 730, which is 9 students ahead of last year’s numbers. The incoming pre-K class is now at 41, and 71 students are enrolled for kindergarten, though these numbers are likely to increase in the coming weeks.

Later in the meeting, the board approved several new hires. John Finello, the district superintendent, said that the district had received more than 1,000 résumés over the summer.

Ashley Dellapolla, Amanda Rivera, and Nicole Sabatello will work as leave replacements. Laura Dunham was hired as a special education teacher, and Meghan Cereola was hired as a physical education and health teacher. Both will work for three-year probationary periods at an annual salary of $55,246.

What’s more, Joseph Van Asco will work as a teaching assistant, with Maria Del Vecchio working as a part-time account clerk. Sherry Williams will work as a part-time art teacher, with Angelina Modica assuming the role of part-time music teacher.

Lisa Seff, Laura Foti, and Sean Knight will see slight increases in their teaching loads, with commensurate increases in salary. The board appointed Keri DeLalio as chairwoman of the committee on special education. Ms. DeLalio will also oversee the committee on preschool special education.

The next meeting is planned for Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.