After weeks of review, the Springs School Board presented a final 2014-15 budget of $26.6 million last Thursday. Since last month’s meeting, the proposed budget has gone up more than $300,000, mainly due to an increase in enrollment and the consequent need for more personnel.

According to Eric Casale, the principal, enrollment now stands at 733 students in grades pre-K to 8. A year ago at this time, Springs had 701 students. Already, said Mr. Casale, 30 children have registered for pre-K in the fall and 62 for kindergarten.

The proposed budget includes funds for a possible additional kindergarten class next year. It also covers tuition for a projected 270 high school students. By the 2020-21 school year, high school enrollment is expected to swell to 378.

Thomas Primiano, the school’s treasurer, said that between part-time and full-time positions, a total of 7.8 jobs would be added, in addition to a part-time Hispanic liaison. The more than $300,000 budget increase, he said, includes $151,000 for the additional staff and $125,000 to make the superintendent’s job, which is currently part-time, a full-time position.

The board president, Elizabeth Mendelman, explained earlier this week that with the increased number of students, the school needed a full-time superintendent. 

A seventh bus route will be added due to increased ridership, said Mr. Primiano, observing that each bus will keep 36 cars off the road.

  The $26.6 million budget represents a 4.9 percent increase over the current budget, $25.4 million. The tax levy would increase by 3.18 percent, which is under the state tax cap after exemptions are taken into account.

As reported previously, for homeowners whose houses are valued at $400,000, the increase would result in a tax hike of $163. Properties valued at $600,000 would see an increase of $245, while those valued at $800,000 would pay $326 more.

The meeting began with a presentation by Sara Faulkner, a local artist and parent, and Colleen McGowan, the school’s art teacher, concerning next week’s Mystery Art Sale. The sale begins on Wednesday, with each work, no matter the artist, priced at $20. The works will be signed, but only on the back, and they cannot be taken off the walls until paid for. All proceeds will benefit the Visiting Artists Program, which brings professional artists into the school. So far, more than 700 pieces have been received, including some 500 created by Springs students.

According to John Finello, the superintendent, the school will soon unveil its new website. Michael Conte of Syntax Communications Group, a consulting firm that works with school districts across Long Island, said the site would go live in six to eight weeks.

The school board will next meet on Monday at 7:30 p.m., to adopt the proposed budget.

Healthy Kids Day

Saturday is Healthy Kids Day at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, and there will be free activities for the whole family starting at 9 a.m., when mothers with babies have been invited to join in an outdoor workshop. Family games like relay races and hula hoop contests are planned from 10 to 11 a.m., and at 11 there will be an open house for the Y.M.C.A. summer camp, offering a preview of what’s in store for campers ages 3 to 13, including a rock wall, bounce castle, games, and arts and crafts.

At noon, there will be an informational session on the RECenter’s swim lessons and the Y.M.C.A. Hurricanes swim team. An ocean rescue water safety presentation is scheduled for 1 p.m., and from 2 to 3 p.m. there will be open swim time for families.

This year, the camp will participate in a nationwide effort to combat the “summer slide” in reading that generally takes place when kids are out of school. A half-hour of reading will be incorporated in each camper’s daily schedule. To help with this effort, the Y is taking donations of children’s books starting on Saturday.

National Day of Puppetry

The Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor will celebrate the National Day of Puppetry Saturday with a morning of free fun. Kids from the theater’s Puppet Club will present their own puppet show at 11 a.m. Following that there will be a puppet-making workshop and an appearance by the Goat’s Minkie the Monkey.

Adventures and Experiments

An excursion around Trout Pond in Noyac for older children and a chance for little kids to learn about why water is important are on the schedule on Saturday at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton this week. Crystal Possehl will lead the Trout Pond adventure starting at 10 a.m., paying close attention to early spring plants, invertebrates, and amphibians along the trail. Kids 8 to 12 will borrow backpacks full of explorer tools.

Why do we need water? Why does it rain? How big is the ocean? Parents familiar with these sorts of questions about the natural world may want to sign their 3 to 5-year-olds up for a water program at the museum at 10 a.m., when kids will get some answers to their water questions and conduct a few simple experiments. Reservations are required for both programs.

Papermaking, Libros

Standouts among the local library offerings this week are a papermaking workshop at the Amagansett Library on Saturday and a Spanish and English story and craft time at the East Hampton Library on Wednesday.

In Amagansett, children in kindergarten through sixth grade can make new paper from old in a recycled-papermaking session starting at 3:30 p.m.

The Spanish-English book celebration in East Hampton runs from 4 to 5 p.m. and includes readings of stories in both languages for kids 4 and up followed by a craft.

The Amagansett School District will present a $10.47 million 2014-15 budget to district voters on May 20. The school board unanimously approved the proposed budget at a meeting on April 8.

The budget represents a 1-percent increase over the previous year, said Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent. “Our tax levy cap was 1.01 percent. Our actual levy is a 1-percent increase, so we’re just under the tax cap,” she told the board. “We feel that it is a very reasonable budget. We were able to keep under the cap by having an agreement with the teachers union to freeze the teachers’ salaries for this year, which went a very long way in us being able to maintain all of our programs.”

The 2014-15 tax levy, at $8,798,651, represents 84 percent of total revenues for the upcoming school year. Total expenditures rose $255,383. “We’re very pleased,” Ms. Tritt said.

Victoria Handy, the board’s president, thanked her colleagues for their efforts.

An informational session on the budget will be held on May 13 at 6:30 p.m.

At the board’s meeting yesterday, Ms. Tritt recommended that the board approve the administrative budget for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) for 2014-15. The board voted unanimously to approve the budget, and also cast votes for five BOCES board candidates. Anne Mackesey of the Sag Harbor School District, Walter Denzler of the Three Village School District, Susan Lipman of the West Islip School District, William Miller of the Longwood School District, and Catherine Romano of the Islip School District each received one vote from the board.

Two Montauk parents will run for one five-year term on the Montauk School Board, seeking the seat that will be vacated by Lisa Ward.

Jason Biondo and Cynthia Ibrahim both have children at the school. Mr. Biondo was an outspoken critic of the current longtime board members last year when the school board proposed increasing class size.

District residents will vote for a new board member on May 20, the same day they vote on the district’s proposed $18.6 million budget, which the board unanimously approved on April 8. The budget is down from this $100,000 from this year’s and will include a tax levy increase of just .43 percent, well under the state-mandated cap. The lower figure reflects the payoff of a loan that was used to expand the building and purchase a piece of property for parking south of the school in 2000.

A proposition on the ballot will ask voters to authorize money to replace modular classrooms and incidentals for an amount upward of $400,000, which would be transferred to the capital fund from an undesignated and unreserved fund balance from 2013-14 school year.

The modular classrooms were attached to the building 40 years ago and expected to last only 10 years. They are in dire need of replacement, according to Jack Perna, the district superintendent, who joked during a budget workshop that on windy days he fears having to move the students.

At meeting on Tuesday, the board discussed a May 13 meeting at 4 p.m. to enable parents and members of the Montauk PTA to discuss the Common Core, a national education standard for students in kindergarten through 12th grade that has parents and educators frustrated. They see the tests that also link teacher evaluation scores as being too difficult for students in the younger grades.

Students in third grade took a portion of the tests earlier this spring and will continue next week, said Bridget Collins, the vice principal and head of the curriculum committee. She told the board that the students were not provided with the proper tools to study and were unable to complete the tests on time. Some of the students were in tears, she said, when they were told their time was up.

On Monday, following months of debate, the Springs School Board convened for precisely eight minutes, during which time board members unanimously voted to adopt the $26,657,873 budget for the 2014-15 school year.

“I want to thank the staff for all of their hard work in putting the budget together,” Elizabeth Mendelman, the board president, said to the small handful of parents and community members in attendance. “We have a great future ahead of us at Springs, and it will be great to add these incremental resources. Next year, I look forward to a great year under the budget.”

The $26.6 million budget represents a 4.9-percent increase over the current budget of $25.4 million. As such, the tax levy would increase by 3.18 percent, which is under the state tax cap after exemptions are taken into account.

As previously reported, for homeowners whose houses are valued at $400,000, the increase would result in a tax hike of $163. Properties valued at $600,000 would see an increase of $245, and those valued at $800,000 would pay $326 more.

Monday was also the deadline for Springs residents to declare whether they intended to run for the two school board vacancies. Only Ms. Mendelman and Timothy Frazier, both incumbents whose terms expire June 30, submitted paperwork. Each seeks a second, three-year term.

Ms. Mendelman, 55, helps run a family business that owns and operates four marinas on Three Mile Harbor. She has lived in Springs for the past 12 years and has served as president of the school board since July.

Ms. Mendelman earned a bachelor’s degree at the State University at Plattsburgh and a master’s degree at the State University at Albany. For the past two years, she has led the Safe Routes to School program in addition to serving on the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee. Her two daughters attend the Springs School.

Mr. Frazier, 60, a resident of Springs for the past 14 years, has worked as an educator for more than 30 years. The principal of the Southampton Intermediate School, he is also the president of the Southampton Association of School Administrators and serves as a trustee for the East End Health Plan. In the past he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Micronesia.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Mennonite University and a master’s degree from James Madison University. He also pursued a doctoral degree from the University of Virginia, where he completed everything but his dissertation.

His wife, Tracy Frazier, teaches fifth grade at the Springs School, where his youngest daughter attends. An older daughter, who also went to Springs, is now at East Hampton High School.

The next school board meeting is planned for May 12 at 7 p.m. in the school’s library. Thomas Primiano, the district’s treasurer, will lead a final budget presentation in advance of the May 20 vote. May 15 is the last day for voters to register, with May 19 the deadline for absentee ballots.

Before adjourning into the rain-soaked night, Tuesday night’s East Hampton School Board meeting took on a deeply personal tone, with recently terminated employees vociferously airing their grievances.

All told, the district sliced more than $1 million from the $65 million 2014-15 school budget. Among the cuts, the district eliminated seven paraprofessional positions and reduced an elementary guidance position to part time.

Tuesday’s meeting was heavily attended, with audience members spilling out into the adjoining hallway.

“It feels like the little guys are getting squeezed, although we know the squeeze is district-wide,” said Pat Hand, president of the non-teaching association, which includes several dozen paraprofessionals among its members. “We understand how the budget works and that sometimes we all get caught up in the numbers and spreadsheets. But these positions are also people. As you finalize the budget, ask yourselves if we can put a monetary value on that.”

 John Prusack, a paraprofessional assigned to East Hampton High School’s library said that he was “disappointed and a little taken aback.” And Regina Astor, a paraprofessional at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, concluded her remarks by saying, “We make a difference.”

“The laying off of people is due to the seniority list,” Patricia Hope, the board’s president, said yesterday. Ms. Hope, a retired high school teacher, adjourned Tuesday’s meeting with tears in her eyes. She said that “no job description will go unfilled” and that the district plans on “repurposing the staff.”

Earlier that night, the board unanimously voted to adopt the nearly $65.1 million proposed budget for the 2014-15 school year. Even with the staffing cuts, budget will exceed the state-mandated 1.46-percent cap on tax levy increases. The cap allows school districts to increase their budgets by either 2 percent or the consumer price index (the 2013 consumer price index is 1.46-percent) — whichever amount is lower.

The proposed budget represents a 2.43-percent increase in the $47.5 million tax levy. As such, it requires the approval of 60 percent of voters in order to pass on May 20. The budget is up by 1.3 percent, or around $800,000, over this year’s $64.2 million budget.

“After much work that started in November, we looked at every possible line, every nuance,” said Richard Burns, the superintendent. “The board is in agreement that we’re going to move above the tax-levy cap.”

Isabel Madison, the assistant superintendent for business, explained that if that budget fails to gain the support of 60 percent of voters, the board would present an amended budget to voters in mid-June. “After that, if the budget still doesn’t pass, we will go to a contingency budget based on the 2013-14 numbers,” said Ms. Madison, who said that would mean an additional $400,000 worth of cuts.

“I don’t think there are any other places to cut, and $400,000 is quite a swipe,” said Mr. Burns.

“Good education costs money and I don’t think we should apologize for that,” said Jackie Lowey, a board member. “This community is at a crossroads and it’s my hope we can all move forward on that.”

The board again referenced a recent plan unveiled by Gov. Andrew M. Cuoma that will give residents who live in districts that stay within the cap a rebate check equal to the tax increase imposed by their new budget. Should voters in East Hampton approve the adopted budget, which pierces the cap, they would not receive a rebate.

Mr. Burns explained that only those making less than $500,000 a year and those whose primary residences are in East Hampton would be eligible. He estimated a rebate check in the amount of $27 for a house with a median assessed value of $6,000. A $4,000 assessed value would see rebate checks in the amount of $18, while an $8,000 assessed value would see checks in the amount of $36. All numbers are approximate.

Earlier in the meeting, the audience briefly relocated to the gymnasium, where members of East Hampton Middle School’s Science Olympiad presented their experiments. Out of 36 teams at a recent Long Island competition, the East Hampton team ranked 20th and placed far higher in individual events. Jonathan Mautschke, a technology teacher at the middle school, oversees the program.

The board also acknowledged Theresa Kraycar, a math teacher at East Hampton High School, who was recently named a New York State Master Teacher.

In other news, the board voted to extend Beth Doyle’s maternity leave by one week. Ms. Doyle, the principal of John M. Marshall Elementary School, is now expected to return on May 19. The board also accepted a donation of 88 nonfiction books from DWJ Books for the high school’s library and approved the addition of $9,000 to its budget to cover snow removal costs. 

Monday was also the deadline for East Hampton residents to declare whether they intended to run for two school board vacancies. Only Ms. Hope and Ms. Lowey, both incumbents whose terms expire June 30, submitted their paperwork. Each seeks a second, three-year term.

Ms. Hope, 72, retired from East Hampton High School in 2007 after 33 years. She was the first woman hired by its science department. A native of Manhattan, she moved to East Hampton in 1970. She first attended the City College of New York and later finished her undergraduate degree at Southampton College. She also received a master’s in biology from Stony Brook University.

“I have a lot of regard for the district. I get it,” said Ms. Hope, who described the decision to run again as an easy one. “I’m not finished on my journey down the educational pathway. One of the things I would like to see smoothed out are the snags that keep teachers from addressing their passions.”

Ms. Lowey, 49, who runs her own consulting firm, has two children in the district. A graduate of Swarthmore College, Ms. Lowey served during both terms of the Clinton administration and as the deputy director of the National Park Service. She also worked on various congressional campaigns, including that of her mother, Representative Nita Lowey.

 “Despite extreme fiscal challenges, I believe we have made great progress in moving the district forward in the past three years and am seeking re-election because I’d like to be part of the effort to continue this progress,” said Ms. Lowey. “All of the pieces are in place. We have a solid administrative and support team, a staff of skilled and committed teachers, and a board of education with a shared vision for the future of the district.”

A final budget hearing is planned for May 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Family Fun Day

Games, arts and crafts, live animals, seed planting, tastings, music, and more will be offered on Saturday morning at a free Peconic Family Fun Day at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. The fun, which is sponsored by the museum and a dozen other nonprofits, will happen from 10 a.m. to noon.

Backyard Birding

Across the street at the South Fork Natural History Museum, there will be short, guided family walks at 10:30 and 11:15 a.m. Saturday. On Sunday, children 8 to 11 have been invited to take part in a backyard bird count at the museum starting at 10 a.m. Lindsey Rohrbach will help participants identify birds and record their findings. Reservations have been requested.

Cinco de Mayo!

The Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo is the inspiration for two programs at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton this week. Tomorrow, kids 7 and older can try their hands at Mexican bark painting during a workshop at 4 p.m., and on Monday the library will host a Mexican fiesta for the whole family starting at 4 p.m. There will be crafts, a pinata, food, readings, and dancing on the library’s back deck. A do-it-yourself Mother’s Day craft fair on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. will give kids of all ages a chance to create something special for their moms. On Tuesday, the author Tonya Hurley will talk with teens about her best-selling young-adult series, “Ghostgirl,” and her follow-up series, “Blessed,” at 7 p.m. The library has requested reservations for all of its programs.

Surf’s Up!

A group of local surfers have teamed up to launch Montauk Boardriders, a surf school that is offering after-school lessons to kids in fourth grade and above. Instructors work with students to assess the ocean and develop surfing skills to “make them competent and strong in the ocean.” Sessions are offered in East Hampton in one or two-day-a-week packages, Monday through Friday from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m.

The cost starts at $45 per day, with monthly and semester-long options available. Sign-up is at montaukboardriders.com.

For Mom

Kids 4 and older will make something special for their mothers during a craft program on Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. at the East Hampton Library. At the Amagansett Library, bugs will be the focus of a story and craft time on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Reservations have been requested for both programs.

A pair of drug-sniffing dogs from the Suffolk County Police Department’s K-9 Unit paid a surprise visit to East Hampton Middle School last Thursday. During the unexpected sweep, students remained in their classrooms as the dogs roamed the hallways and adjoining lockers, searching for illegal substances.

Ultimately, a small bag of marijuana was seized from a locker in the girls’ locker room and turned over to the East Hampton Village Police Department. According to Capt. Chris Anderson, the matter is now being handled internally by the school.

“Police confiscated the bag and the district conducted an internal investigation,” said Superintendent Richard Burns, in remarks disseminated by Syntax, a media relations firm that works with several Long Island school districts.

“The district maintains a zero-tolerance policy for students who choose to bring illegal drugs to school, and the responsible student will be disciplined appropriately,” said Mr. Burns in his statement. “The safety and security of our students is top priority and it’s why the district puts these proactive initiatives into place.”

Shortly after the sweep started, Charles R. Soriano, the principal, sent an email to parents advising them that a lock-down had begun and that they could not enter the school until the search had ended. He added that similar searches were likely to occur in the future, at random intervals. “While the search is a surprise, searching school property is not meant to be a secret,” he concluded.

In a follow-up email to parents and staff later that day, Dr. Soriano said the district “will fully cooperate with law enforcement officials and continue to investigate and monitor this matter internally. The safety and security of our students is a top priority and it’s precisely why we put these proactive initiatives into place.”

“Illegal drugs are a reality in the larger community, and the school is a reflection of that world — even among middle schoolers,” he continued, asking that parents use the sweep as an opportunity for a frank discussion about drug and alcohol use, including the consequences of poor decision-making.

Dr. Soriano had sent letters home last month telling parents that searches were likely to occur and that the school hoped the prospect would be seen as a deterrence. He explained that students would not come into direct contact with the dogs. He also said that the school owns all lockers, locks, and combinations,  and that students should not have “any right or expectation of privacy for anything stored within school lockers.”

Last November the East Hampton School Board unanimously voted to allow drug-sniffing dogs on its campuses. At the time, a group of vocal parents urged that individual students — not just hallways and lockers — be searched as well. They were unsuccessful in their pleas,

Two months later, in early January, two dogs from the county unit scoured East Hampton High School. The dogs scratched and sniffed at several lockers, which were subsequently searched, but no illegal drugs were found. A second search occurred in March. Again, no drugs were found. Adam Fine, the principal, has promised that the dogs will return at regular intervals.

At the November meeting, Mr. Fine warned that in the event of illegal drugs being found, a student would face an automatic five-day suspension and a superintendent’s hearing, as well as possible arrest.

Some details from high school may get fuzzy as time goes by, but two East Hampton High Schoolers shouldn’t have any problem remembering two special moments.

Robert F. Anderson Jr., a senior from East Hampton who goes by R.J., and Melissa Perez, a junior who lives in Springs, have been dating for about four months after meeting at Project MOST, where they work as counselors after school. In early April, with the junior prom approaching on May 17, Melissa set out to do something extra special for her boyfriend.

He is always doing sweet things for her, she said. During midterms when she was stressed about exams, he surprised her with flowers after one, and when she was sick he brought her soup. “I just thought he was really special with me so I thought I should make it a big thing. I wanted to surprise him in a way that he would never forget it,” she said.

After looking on websites like Pinterest, she came up with the idea to set up eight colorful signs with balloons on Hand’s Creek Road, so he would see them on his way home from work, asking “R.J. will you go to prom with me?”

Stunned, he called her from the car to accept the invitation. She was already at his house waiting for him.

With his senior banquet also around the corner, R.J. promised her he would find a way to one up her.

Last Thursday, he suggested they drive by the East Hampton movie theater to check what was playing for a date they had planned. He drove very slowly past the marquee on Main Street, and in the middle section, between “Heaven Is for Real” and “Rio 2” was the question: “Melissa will u go 2 banquet with me?”

Of course she said yes.

R.J., who works as a traffic control officer for East Hampton Village and plans to attend the Suffolk County Police Academy in January, said he was definitely trying to top his girlfriend’s request. “What better place than a big sign in the middle of the village?” he asked. He spoke to the manager of the theater who agreed to put up the sign for about an hour if he would make a donation to the Stars of Hope, a foundation the theater chain supports.

“Never in my head did I imagine that. I was really surprised,” Melissa said.

The Mystery Art Sale at Ashawagh Hall in Springs last week, a show and sale of more than 1,100 small works by professional, amateur, and student artists, raised more than $30,000 to support the Springs School’s Visiting Artists Program.

The artworks, offered at $20 apiece, were displayed anonymously, with the artists’ names finally revealed at a party on Saturday night that also included an auction of other art led by Lucas Hunt, a poet. By Sunday afternoon, over 1,000 people had attended the show and every piece had been sold, according to Sema Mendelman, one of the organizers.

Even before the doors opened on April 23, there was a long line of people waiting to get in to the hall and buy a piece.

“Because we had 1,100 pieces, a visitor could have visited every day and looked at every piece of artwork but not have truly taken it all in and ‘seen’ the work,” Ms. Mendelman wrote in an email. “So there was something new to discover with each visit back.”

“Besides donating artwork, we had so many local artists come to the exhibit and buy children’s artwork,” she wrote. “We had over 600 pieces of children’s work and not a single piece is left.”

The show was the brainchild of Sara Faulkner, who borrowed the idea from the Royal College of London, which runs a similar fund-raiser. It was overseen by Ms. Faulkner, Ms. Mendelman, Nancy Rowan, Karen Pardini, Andrea McCafferty, Tammy Krahe, and Claire Condon, with help from the school’s art teachers, Colleen McGowan and Sue Ellen O’Connor, and many other volunteers.

Money raised will pay professional visiting artists to teach classes in the school and cover the cost of materials needed for their workshops. C.K.