Organizers of the sixth annual Am O'Gansett Parade, happening on March 15 at 12:02 p.m., may have outdone themselves in the selection of this year's grand marshal.

     The grand marshal of what is said to be the world's shortest parade, a sort of alternate-universe St. Patrick's Day march, cannot be of Irish heritage. In a way, officials of the Amagansett Chamber of Commerce, who oversee the parade's planning, have satisfied that requirement: They have named the Amagansett School this year's grand marshal.

     The parade begins on Main Street outside of Mary's Marvelous and proceeds to the Mobil gas station at the corner of Main Street and Indian Wells Highway.

     "We're delighted," Eleanor Tritt, the school's superintendent, said on Friday. "It's really exciting. We're looking forward to it." Ms. Tritt learned of the honor bestowed on the school on Thursday afternoon. "We're going to be sending information home to parents today," she said. "Some people may have already made plans, but I'm sure that everybody in town will want to participate."

     Students, parents, alumni, faculty, and board members will be invited to march, Ms. Tritt said. "It should be a lot of fun."

            Following the parade, there will be children's activities at Miss Amelia's Cottage. 

Shiver Me Timbers!

       The Star of the East Masonic Lodge will host a pirate ship-building workshop for dads, grandpas, uncles, and kids on Saturday at the East Hampton Town Marine Museum in Amagansett. Kids 8 to 10 and their adults will make replicas of the Black Diamond pirate ship and also have a chance to tour the museum and learn about East Hampton’s seafaring past. The program runs from 1 to 4 p.m. Reservations have been requested at 907-3500.

Creature Feature

       Dogs with wings? Giraffes with trunks? A monkey with zebra stripes? Using plaster gauze, children 4 and older will create creatures from their own imaginations during an art program at the East Hampton Library on Saturday. Joyce Raimondo will lead the workshop, which runs from 2 to 3 p.m.

       On Wednesday, kids the same age can mold their own birdfeeders during a program from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Reservations are required for both.

Mangia!

       Pasta is on the menu at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Saturday, when 2 to 6-year-olds will mix, knead, and shape their own pasta from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. The cost is $23 including museum admission, or $12 for members.

       Ralph Carpentier, a landscape painter, will guide children 6 to 10 in a color-mixing and painting session from 10 a.m. to noon that day. The workshop, which does not include museum admission, costs $14, or $10 for members. Advance registration is required.

Just Right

       A Couple of Puppets will present “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” a show ideal for 2 to 6-year-olds, on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor. Tickets costs $12, $8 for second children or those under 3, and $10 for members or grandparents.

       The Montauk School Board had its first peek at next year’s proposed budget, but it is far from being stamped with final approval, especially since one item’s fee was deemed “insane” by the school board president, Diane Hausman.

       Looking at preliminary figures, next year’s budget would come in at $18.6 million, which is $85,000 less than this year’s budget. The reduction is due, in part, to the fact that the district will at the end of this fiscal year pay off a loan it had taken out to purchase property, according to Jack Perna, the district’s superintendent.

       What raised the board’s hackles was the cost to transport a student by bus to Mercy High School in Riverhead — $110,713. The amount is billed to Montauk but ultimately shared with other districts, if they send students to the school. By law, the taxpayers must cover transportation costs for students living in the school district, Mr. Perna explained.

       School board members joked that for that cost they would drive the student.

       Other figures that Mr. Perna highlighted were the cost to remove asbestos in the school attic for a fee of just under $25,000, tuition fees to the East Hampton High School, which will be reduced next year from the $4.3 million earmarked for this year to $3.8 million, and an extra $95,000 for special education charter school students, because of rising tuition costs. Tuition payments to the C.D.C.H. Charter School next year are estimated at $475,000. All tuition fees include a “safety net” in case additional students move into the district, Mr. Perna said.

       Decreases in various line items leave the school room to add $250,000 to its capital fund, Mr. Perna said, adding that he would like to use the money to remove and replace some portable classrooms on the east side of the property that were installed 40 years ago and were only supposed to last 10 years. “Every time we have wind I have to move those students,” he told the board.

       The money would be a down payment on a three-year loan that would total an estimated $600,000, and would cover other contingencies and electrical wiring, he said.

       The budget workshops will continue through the rest of the month and into April unless the board settles before then on a final proposal to bring to voters. The district vote is on May 20 from 2 to 8 p.m. at the school.

       At a regular meeting before the workshop, the board devised a plan for making up days missed because of snow in order to meet state requirements. School will be in session the Monday after Easter, April 21, and on May 23 and 27, the Friday before and Tuesday after Memorial Day.

       They also agreed to grant tenure to Christopher Mandato of the music department, who has worked at the school for three years. “I’m very happy with his performance,” said Mr. Perna.

       On Monday night, for the first time, the Springs School Board pinned a specific number on the budget it is considering for the 2014-15 school year —$26.24 million — and discussed how it would impact taxpayers.

       That number represents a $921,221, or 3.62-percent, increase over this year’s $25.4 million budget. The tax rate would increase by just over 4.4 percent, and the tax levy would increase by 3.18 percent.

       The state cap on tax levy increases for the 2014-15 school year is 1.46 percent, but after exemptions are taken into account, the budget discussed Monday would come in under the tax cap, district officials said.

       To stay under the tax cap, the administration recommended applying $777,000 from its projected 2013-14 fund balance, estimated to be $8 million by the end of the fiscal year.

       “The district’s fund balance strategy should be to set aside sufficient assets to realize our longer-range goals and provide insurance against unanticipated expenditures and revenue shortfalls,” said Thomas Primiano, the district treasurer. “We’re fortunate to be in this position. Other districts are bottoming out.”

       For homeowners whose houses are valued at $400,000, the changes next year would result in an additional $163 in taxes. Properties valued at $600,000 would see an increase of $245, while those valued at $800,000 would see an increase of $326.

       Regular education costs at Springs are proposed at just under $7 million for next year, which represents a nearly $250,000 decrease from this year. Special education costs, proposed at $767,876 next year, would decrease $300,00 from this year.

       Expenses related to Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services will prove costly. For next year, Springs has budgeted $2.15 million, an increase of $856,150 over this year. Though 30 percent of BOCES costs are eligible for state-aid reimbursements, special education students account for 82 percent of the cost.

       Employee benefits, meanwhile, are only projected to increase around $40,000, for a total of just over $4.7 million.

       “We’re growing as a district — increasing our staffing and adding more classes. Where do you put them? We’re tapped out of space. It’s difficult to find space now,” said John Finello, the superintendent. “That’s the reason why we’re trying to be prudent in the planning. We’re doing a lot of guessing — it’s not an exact science — doing it as cost effectively as we can and beyond that, not overspending or under-spending.”

       Earlier in the meeting, talk of increased enrollment and limited space led the agenda, with administrators reporting a district-wide 63-student increase over the past two years.

       According to Elizabeth Mendelman, the board president, Springs had 680 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade last June. As of March 6, the enrollment was up to 728 students — or an increase of 48 students in less than a year.

       By 2021, high school enrollment is projected to grow by 117 students, for a total of 378 Springs students. Next year, the projected high school enrollment for Springs is 270 students, and nearly all of them will be at East Hampton High School, with six at Pierson High school and two at the Bridgehampton School. This year, Springs paid tuition for 261 high school students.

       The decrease in projected tuition costs results from negotiating a lowered rate from East Hampton High School. And the special education reduction is because of a decline in high-needs placements. For next year, Springs will pay $24,942 for each student that it sends to East Hampton — an $847 decrease from this year. Overall, the change in tuition rates, plus a slightly lower enrollment number, are projected to save the district $241,000.

       Also at Monday’s meeting, Toby Karoussos, a special education teacher, was granted tenure.

       The next meeting is planned for April 7 at 7 p.m. A budget hearing is planned for May 12, with the final budget vote on May 20.

       A line-by-line dissection of the East Hampton School District’s 2014-15 budget continued on Tuesday night, as school board members pored over items related to technology and special education.

       Chuck Westergard, who manages the district’s information systems, presented a proposed technology budget of $537,015, an $8,000 decrease from last year.

       Unlike prior workshops, when cuts of as much as 15 percent were suggested, technology elicited little in the way of debate. Among the bigger-ticket items, $50,400 will go to replace faculty workstations in each high school classroom. The updates will replace computers last purchased in the 2007-8 school year. The 72 computers, which among other things help teachers take attendance, cost $700 apiece.

       Board members also seemed to support the purchasing of 180 additional Chromebooks, which would allow for 60 devices at each of the district’s three schools. Each Chromebook costs $330, for a total of $59,400. In addition, $2,000 was budgeted for Apple apps and $3,000 for Google apps.

       Cindy Allentuck presented budget items related to special education, a department that she oversees. District-wide, 220 children in grades pre-K to 12 are in special education, with others currently undergoing referrals.

       Special education proposed an annual budget of $1,669,368, which represents a decrease of over $120,000 from last year.

       Board members briefly debated the need for a $471 fax machine for sending and receiving psychiatric evaluations; two electric three-hole punches, each at a cost of $79.68, and two electric pencil sharpeners, $83.97 apiece.

       Cost-cutting proved a consistent theme. Patricia Hope, the board president, urged that before submitting next year’s requests, department heads  first submit lists of existing materials, thus avoiding the added expense of purchasing duplicate materials.

       Psychiatric evaluations also proved costly, with $18,000 budgeted for Lea DiFrancisci Lis, a Southampton-based practitioner, among several others. Though the district is required to pay for initial evaluations — and provide necessary interventions when deemed appropriate — it is not required to pay for ongoing psychiatric care.

       Speaking of special education and appropriate placements, Ms. Allentuck underscored the potential expense of high-needs children unexpectedly relocating to East Hampton. For next year, the district has budgeted $125,000 for a residential placement at Westbrook Preparatory School in Westbury. In past years, residential placements have ranged between $100,000 to $200,000 a year for each child.

       “It is our responsibility, and it should be our responsibility, but one student can make the difference in hiring three more teachers in the classroom,” said Jackie Lowey, a board member.

       Finally, the board discussed hiring an additional speech pathologist at John M. Marshall Elementary School, where the need is particularly great. The district now employs four speech pathologists, who split their time among the various schools. Last year, the district stopped offering speech therapy for elementary students who lacked individualized education plans. Currently, its caseload is overwhelmed with special-ed students and there are too few practitioners to meet the need of others in the schools.

       “There’s not much we can cut,” concluded Christina DeSanti, a board member, shortly before the meeting was adjourned.

       “But it’s important to sit here and do it,” said Ms. Hope. “And for the public to hear.”

       The next budget workshop will be on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m., when transportation and athletics will be covered. A regular school board meeting will take place on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Calling Kid Book Reviewers

Kids and parents who love to read might find themselves in good company at an Amagansett Library book reviewer program this afternoon at 4. The library and the Bank Street College Children’s Book Awards are looking for kindergartners through sixth graders to review books this year. This afternoon, they will learn about what that entails from Todd Jackson of Bank Street and some young local reviewers who are already participating. Those who take part will get free copies of new books before their publication, not to mention other prizes. Snacks will be provided.

Rain will be the subject of the library’s first spring family story and craft time on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Kids will make their own rain sticks to take home. Reservations have been requested for both programs.

Bambini Ball

The Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre’s 2014 Bambini Ball will take place Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. in the parish hall of Christ Episcopal Church in Sag Harbor, above the theater. The party will include a light dinner, games, crafts, a puppet show, music by D.J. Carlos Lama, juggling by Jester Jim, and other surprises. Parents and children 7 years and under will be welcomed, and costumes have been encouraged. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $10 for children, and are available at goatonaboat.org.

Egg Drop Challenge

The Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton is challenging children and parents to design containers that can protect raw eggs when dropped from high in the air. The Egg Drop Challenge will put those containers to the test at noon on Saturday, but before that, at 10 a.m., those who don’t do the construction in advance can design and build containers at the museum. All materials, and the eggs, will be provided. The program is free with museum admission.

Scientific Survey for Teens

Teen scientists can help the South Fork Natural History Museum with a habitat survey at a North Sea beach on Saturday at 10 a.m. Using microscopes, soil test kits, refractometers, and pH test kits, participants will collect information on soil, water quality, salinity, and elevation, and how each of these affects the organisms living at the beach and in the water there. They have been advised to take a journal to record their data, but simple ones will be provided. Advanced registration is required with the museum, which is in Bridgehampton.

The stresses of budget season came to the fore this week as East Hampton School Board members, facing the need to make cuts for the third year in a row, discussed a host of possibilities, including the elimination of fall cheerleading and seventh and eighth-grade boys and girls tennis.   

“It’s a difficult task,” said Richard Burns, the superintendent. The board has met at least once a week since the start of the year, doing line-by-line dissections in sessions that can last between four and five hours.

With the state’s tax-levy cap holding the increase at 1.46 percent, Mr. Burns said doing so would allow an increase of only $255,000 in the whole budget for the 2014-15 school year. All told, the district is faced with eliminating between $1 million and $1.5 million in spending.

“At the end of every strand, of everything we dig into, there are people at the other end who are affected. It’s an extraordinarily difficult thing to do,” Pat Hope, the school board president and a retired East Hampton High School science teacher said later in an interview.  During Tuesday’s board meeting she was nearly moved to tears.

The board’s next full meeting is on April 1 at 6:30 p.m. “At that point, we’ll be making the decision to stay at the cap or go over the cap. Your help is so important,” Ms. Hope said. “The more information and feedback we get, we appreciate it,” she said. “I had expected the PTA to be throwing tomatoes at us. Instead, they offered to help and fund raise. It’s beyond the pale.”

On Monday night during a budget work session that lasted more than three hours, the board faced hard decisions about sports. Joe Vas, the athletic director,  made a presentation with difficult news, even though his department budget shows a decrease for next year. He has proposed spending $842,195, down $25,000 from this year.

Of the East Hampton Middle School’s 249 students, 71 percent participate in at least one sport, he said. And at East Hampton High School half the 868 students participate in at least one sport. The elimination of varsity football would result in a $30,000 savings, he said, although the junior varsity and middle school programs would remain.

 Along with varsity football, Mr. Vas said that fall cheerleading would be discontinued, with 12 cheerleaders likely to be impacted. Though Jackie Lowey, a board member, advocated that cheerleading be viewed and budgeted as its own sport and competitive activity, Mr. Vas said East Hampton’s cheerleaders only wanted to cheer at football games.

Then at Tuesday’s board meeting, Board members considered the possible elimination of seventh and eighth-grade boys and girls tennis. “The district is changing and sports are changing,” said Ms. Lowey, reporting that no girls played tennis this year. Eliminating the teams would result in a $10,000 savings. Mr. Vas later said “one or two kids had come out” in the last two years and added that the high school teams would remain intact.

Mr. Vas also proposed the addition of a strength and conditioning class that would meet five days a week. The district now spends about $14,400 on a class that meets three days each week. He said it would help students develop a “competitive edge, put us on equal footing, and reduce injuries.”

Still, the need for cuts quickly came back into focus. “We’re about to cut a lot of other things and people’s salaries,” Ms. Lowey told Mr. Vas. “We have a lot of other priorities.”

“We want to see them have everything. They can’t have everything. What’s the priority?” Christina DeSanti, a board member, asked.

And following weeks of intense debate, the board finally approved a boys varsity lacrosse team trip to West Point to see an Army vs. Navy game on April 12. The district and the lacrosse program will split the cost of transportation, each paying $725. Two board members, Liz Pucci and Ms. Lowey, voted against it.

Awards and uniforms were also a target of possible cuts at Tuesday’s meeting, as was $450 allocated for Suffolk Zone, an annual student recognition dinner. Ms. DeSanti suggested eliminating fifth graders from the annual middle school dance competition, which would mean one less instructor and a $1,500 cut. In addition, board members weighed charging a nominal fee for the competition, and deemed $250 for helium and balloons unnecessary.

In addition to the presentation by Mr. Vas at Monday’s budget session, the board heard about necessary increases in transportation costs. Joseph Lipani, who oversees transportation for the district, presented a roughly $422,000 spending plan, which reflects a nearly 57-percent increase over last year’s $269,000. New equipment accounts for the bulk of the increase.

Since the start of this school year, the district has logged 1,939 hours for trips related to sports, daytime field trips, and extracurricular activities, Mr. Lipani said. Repairing aging buses also proved costly, he said. Mr. Lipani noted that some of the buses, last purchased in 2005-06, have accrued upwards of 100,000 miles. The board then agreed to buy a new wheelchair-accessible van at a cost of more than $77,000 and weighed buying a second, $60,000 van.

In other action at Tuesday’s meeting, the board recognized Carly Grossman, East Hampton High School’s valedictorian, and Mary Pizzo, its salutatorian. Members also voted to approve an employment change for Annette Zaino, a school bus driver, from part-time to full-time, at an annual salary of $36,650.

At no cost to the district, members also voted to begin a pilot program with Jigsaw Meeting, a distance-learning platform, from March 11 to June 30 to explore services related to its virtual classroom software program.

Board members announced that the John M. Marshall Elementary School principal, Beth Doyle, has given birth to a daughter, who has been named Olive Frances. During her maternity leave, Robert Tymann, the district’s assistant superintendent, is assuming principal duties.

During the second opportunity for public comments on Tuesday, the president and vice president of East Hampton Middle School’s PTA, spoke about the hope of keeping the school’s graduation ceremony there. In recent weeks, with an eye toward saving money, board members had suggested consolidating the district’s various graduation ceremonies at the high school, counting up the cost of chairs, sound systems, and decorations at each of its three schools.

Deme Minskoff, the PTA president, pledged an annual $500 donation from the PTA, in addition to a donation of $500 from the school’s graduation committee.

The next budget workshop will be Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m.

Prekindergarten enrollment for children in the East Hampton School District will be held next Thursday and Friday, April 4, at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center.

To be eligible for the program, children must be 4 on or before Dec. 1. Parents or guardians will be asked for proof of the child’s age in the form of a birth certificate or passport, proof of residency in the district (a deed, lease, contract of sale, or tax bill), and complete immunization records.

The center, formerly the East Hampton Day Care Center, runs the East Hampton School District’s prekindergarten program.

The free half-day program is offered in a morning session from 8:30 to 11:15 and an afternoon session from 12:30 to 3:15. Extended day options are available for a fee. Children living in other school districts may attend the center’s pre-K program for a fee, as well.

Registration will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the center, which is on Gingerbread Lane Extension near the John M. Marshall Elementary School.

New at the Goat

After taking a Saturday off for its annual Bambini Ball fund-raiser last weekend, puppet shows will resume this week at the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor. A Couple of Puppets will debut a new show, “The Doubtful Sprout,” on Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Tickets are $12, or $10 for members, grandparents, and kids under 3. 

SoFo Explorations

Working with the South Fork Natural History Museum’s resident marine animals on Saturday, children 6 to 10 will learn about how sunlight acts when it travels through water and how animals in the ocean react to it.

The marine lab, led by Melanie Meade, is designed to supplement the state’s intermediate level science core curriculum for fifth through eighth graders. It will start at 10 a.m.

Also on Saturday, at the same time, Crystal Possehl will lead 5 to 7-year-olds on a backpack adventure to explore the Sagg Swamp. Participants will borrow a backpack stocked with magnifiers, binoculars, a compass, sample bottles, and a sketchpad to study and record their observations.

Enrollment in both programs is limited and advance registration is required.

For Sara Faulkner, the origin of the Springs Mystery Art Sale came from attending an event at the Royal College of Art in London, where big-name artists created postcard-sized pieces of artwork that were sold anonymously alongside student-created works — and all for relatively small amounts of money.

“The idea always stuck with me,” said Ms. Faulkner, an artist and native of the United Kingdom, whose family moved three years ago from Wales to Springs, where her 7 and 10-year-olds now attend school.

 “Owning an original piece of artwork is not always affordable, it’s not always within people’s reach,” said Ms. Faulkner. For the Mystery Art Sale, which will benefit the school’s Visiting Artists Program, each piece of 5-by-7-inch artwork, no matter the artist, will cost just $20. As in the Royal College of Art show, all works will be displayed anonymously. “You’re getting people to buy stuff, rather than fixate on the name,” Ms. Faulkner said.

That said, some pretty big-name artists have agreed to participate. Among them, according to organizers, are Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, John Alexander, Dan Aykroyd, William King, Connie Fox, Eugenio Cuttica, William Quigley, Jim Gingerich, Peter Dayton, Scott Hewett, and Almond Zigmund, with the list growing every day. The deadline for submitting artwork is April 7.

For others who want to contribute, packets are available for pickup at the Golden Eagle Art Store on Newtown Lane in East Hampton. Nancy Rowan, its owner, is a Springs parent who is one of the Mystery Art Sale’s organizers. She said she will happily email instructions as well. Any piece of similarly-sized canvas or cardboard will do, she said.

Finished pieces can be dropped off at the Golden Eagle or sent in an envelope to the school. Artists have been encouraged to sign only the back of their submissions. Writers, photographers, and sculptors may also submit pieces of the same dimensions.

The Mystery Art Sale will convene from April 23 to 27 at Ashawagh Hall in Springs. A closing party is planned for the afternoon and evening of April 26, when the identities of each artist will be revealed. Buyers can claim their pieces on April 27.

The show’s organizers see the potential for the Mystery Art Sale to become an annual event. Orange posters with white question marks, created by Colleen Bothwell, a graphic designer, adorn several local storefronts. Limited edition silk-screened T-shirts, which will also include the trademark question marks, are also in the works.

“When budgets are tight, the arts are the first to go,” said Ms. Rowan. “The school is actively fighting to keep the programs that matter going — and we’re not just relying on taxpayers to fund it. It’s in everyone’s best interest for the school to be strong and for the kids to thrive.”

The Visiting Artists Program brings professional artists into the school to help teach new and different ways of making art. Every year, each grade gets access to a different artist who instructs them in various techniques — be it printmaking, drawing, or illustration. Ms. Faulkner, whose background is in fine art and has worked as a set painter, has served as one of those visiting artists.

Additional proceeds will also help purchase new art supplies and equipment, while also funding art enrichment programs.

 In past years, parents have gone door to door asking local business owners to donate to the program. This not only frees them of that obligation, but organizers say the $20 price tag is proving a far more palatable alternative — with a potentially much wider reach. With more than 700 students and the anticipated participation of 250 artists, organizers are hopeful that the Mystery Art Sale might raise a significant amount of money.

 “We’re sitting in one of most richly artistic communities in the country,” said Ms. Faulkner. “Let’s tap into that.”

 “It’s a small ask,” said Ms. Rowan. “A little bit from everybody adds up to a lot.”