After two years of negotiations, the Springs School Board called a special meeting on Monday night to announce a settlement with the Springs Teachers Association on a new contract.

    Last Thursday the teachers, who had been working without a contract since 2010, okayed changes made to the previous five-year agreement. The board unanimously accepted the new contract, which will expire in 2015.

    “I’m so glad that we’ve come to this point,” Maryellen Farrell, a Springs School teacher whose three children graduated from the school, told the board. “It’s very positive that we’re able to move on. I’m so glad Mr. Mucci is our superintendent. He’s brought a lot of positive energy, I’m hearing it from everyone. Mr. Casale and Mr. Mucci seem to make a good team.”

    Quality education was the top priority, said Margaret Garsetti, who teaches English as a second language. “I just want to thank all the board,” she said. “We’re all a team now. Morale is so great, I feel so happy again.”

    Teachers agreed to increase their contribution to health insurance to 15 percent of premiums effective July 1, 2014, and will receive a salary increase totaling 3.75 percent over the life of the contract. They had not had an increase since 2010, when the last contract expired.

    The board and the teachers association also agreed, according to a release, to “more rigorous professional development criteria for salary advancement, decreased insurance buyouts; and a mutual restructuring of non-teaching time.”

    In May, Springs approved the district budget, the first to come under the newly imposed, state-mandated 2-percent property tax cap, by a vote of 434 to 139. The $24.63 million budget reflected over $700,000 worth of cuts imposed by the school board to stay under the cap.

    The Amagansett School Board discussed a number of positive developments at its meeting on Tuesday.

    Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent, projected a spreadsheet summarizing Amagansett students’ state Regent exam results as of June 2011 and June 2012, and comparing the test scores of the district’s students with those of students in the entire Town of East Hampton. The purpose, said Ms. Tritt, is to ensure that the school’s curriculum program is adequately preparing students for secondary school. “You can see that the results are consistently very good,” she said, noting that 100 percent of students from Amagansett had passed most of the Regent exams. This is consistent with past results, she added. “Students across the board do extremely well. We get reports of the students feeling very comfortable when they get to seventh grade. They feel well prepared, very confident in their work, but we like to actually see the test results to confirm that that carries through.”

    The board also formally accepted the independent audit report and management letter for the 2011-2012 school year as prepared by the independent auditors Markowitz, Fenelon, and Bank. Mary Lownes, a board member, reported a positive meeting about the audit with Mary Kohlroser of the school’s accounting firm, Cullen and Danowski. “It’s probably the cleanest report that I’ve seen since I chaired the audit committee. Our district does not have, currently, any legal issues going on,” a rarity among school districts, Ms. Lownes said.

    “Mary [Kohlroser] has been an enormous help, particularly in the area of needing to project expenses, because there are so many issues that are unknown and beyond our control,” said Ms. Tritt.

    Ms. Kohlroser, who attended the board meeting, concurred that the audit report was “very clean. Having an unqualified opinion is the best opinion that an auditor can give when they do an audit. Congratulations to the business office and to everyone that helps make the school run so smoothly.”

    Ms. Tritt also offered congratulations to the newly elected student council officers for the 2012-2013 school year, Kurt Matthews as president, Grace Myer as vice president, Ethan Pratt, treasurer, and Emily Hugo, secretary.  

    On Tuesday night, Robert Tymann, assistant superintendent for the East Hampton School District, held a presentation on the district’s annual professional performance review plan, required under a revised teacher and principal evaluation law passed earlier this year. Earlier this week the district sent the plan to the state for approval.

    The district plan was outlined in an initiative, called “Race to the Top,” whose purpose is to make high school graduates “college ready” and “career ready.”

    “At the heart of the change is the idea of evidence,” Mr. Tymann said. “Students will have to prove they’ve learned what the teachers have taught them.” He added, “It’s not good enough for a teacher to say that fractions were taught; what is the evidence?”

    State and local test scores, student portfolios, and observations are other factors likely to be considered in the yearly teacher and principal evaluations, according the plan outline. “Teachers used to reward students who adapt to their way of thinking and teaching,” Mr. Tymann said. “Now, what students learned is a part of the equation.”

    Principals, teachers, and their lesson plans will be assessed using 77 interconnected factors, and rated as “ineffective,” “developing,” “effective,” or “highly effective.”

    The plan also expects to achieve goals established in a nationwide, state-led initiative, called Common Core Standards, which sets standards for math, English language arts, history, science, and technical subjects.

    “We will shift to text-based answers in English language arts, with a focus on increasing students’ academic vocabulary,” Mr. Tymann said. “In math, we will focus more on problem solving and deep understanding of the material taught.” He said teachers will be encouraged to reduce the amount of topics they teach in exchange for delving into more complex matters.

    Data inquiry teams will monitor and assess teaching and learning based on “evidence of district, school, classroom, teacher, and student yearly progress towards goals.”

    During the current school year, teachers and administrator will be trained on the new methods. The district has submitted its professional performance review plan in plenty of time for state approval. Under the new evaluation law, districts must have an approved plan in place by Jan. 17, 2013, or they will lose their share of this fiscal year’s education aid increase. The application review process may take up to six weeks.

    It’s Back! “The Magic Garden”

    WPIX’s “The Magic Garden,” one of the country’s most successful locally produced children’s television shows from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, will be recreated by the original stars at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead on Saturday at 2 p.m.

    As they did back in the day, Carole Demas and Paula Janis will stage the show in a colorful garden setting, where they will share stories, songs, games, and lessons. This event will be presented jointly by the East Hampton Library and seven other local libraries. Organizers have requested advance registration as seating is limited.

Jump Into Fall

    The Child Development Center of the Hamptons, a charter school, will celebrate the changing seasons on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with pumpkin decorating, face painting, bouncy castles, and games. Toys, books, and baked goods will be for sale. The free event will be held at the school, which is at 110 Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton. The rain date is Sunday.

Family Fun

    The annual Halloween Family Fun Day will return to American Legion Post #419 in Amagansett on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pony rides, pumpkin painting, a scavenger hunt, food, and fun for all are in store. The hall is at the corner of Montauk Highway and Abraham’s Path.

    In response to the suicide of David Hernandez, a 16-year-old junior at East Hampton High School, David Kilmnick, chief executive officer of Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth, has organized a community forum to take place at the school on Tuesday.

    Participants in the 6 p.m. event will discuss the possibility of establishing a G.L.B.T. community center on the East End.

“We will never know David’s true sexual orientation as he is no longer with us,” Mr. Kilmnick said in a letter. “What we do know, however, is that David, like all other teens on the East End, did not have a G.L.B.T. center to go to for support and community like those in western and central parts of Suffolk County and those in Nassau County.”

    The school district will also sponsor a program on cyber-bullying within the next month, a suicide prevention program in January, and Challenge Days next spring. The Gay-Straight Alliance is at the school every Thursday.    

    David H. Hernandez, the 16-year old East Hampton High School student who took his own life on Sept. 29, had attempted suicide twice before, with one attempt coming just 24 hours earlier, according to his mother, Carmita Barros, who met with the school’s principal, Adam S. Fine, on Monday.

    Ms. Barros, accompanied by a friend, Blanca Stella Buitrago, presented Mr. Fine with 115 signatures from Latino parents demanding protection for their children and action against those responsible for bullying the boy, which, they said, led to his death. According to Ms. Barros, the school ignored what was happening because David was Latino.

    The women presented Mr. Fine with a letter in both English and Spanish that had been written for Ms. Barros by a Latino employee of the school, who did not want her name revealed, fearing for her job. Another Latino employee interviewed for this article echoed that fear, saying that she would be fired if she were identified.

    The letter singles out six Latino students as the transgressors, and also questions the actions of a bilingual school counselor. While other students looked on, it says, “David was often pushed on purpose, made inappropriate remarks to and verbally harassed.”

    Ms. Barros also demanded copies of all documents and notes regarding her son. Under the state’s recently passed Dignity for all Students Act, “Schools will be responsible for collecting and reporting data regarding material incidents of discrimination and harassment.”

    On Tuesday, Ms. Barros returned to the school, this time with her sister, to pick up the records. A receptionist handed her an envelope. There was nothing in it about bullying, she told The Star.

    “I asked them, ‘Why don’t you have any records of my son’s bullying?’ They said, ‘That’s all we have,’ ” she said yesterday.

    She asked the receptionist why there was no record of two conversations she had had in September with the bilingual counselor about David. Both conversations, Ms. Barros said yesterday, were extensive. The receptionist did not know the answer, and the counselor was not available to answer the question.

    The East Hampton Town Police Department, which is looking into David’s death, has a copy of the letter presented Monday to the school, as well as a letter from Dr. Eric J. Bartky, the boy’s psychiatrist, whom he saw once a week. Dr. Bartky began seeing the teenager in May, shortly after his first suicide attempt. He wrote that “David described to me that he was being bullied in school on a regular basis by some male students who were making fun of his sexuality.”

    The boy’s mother said he had been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment after the May attempt and that the school was aware of it.

    The doctor’s letter continues, “David suffered with this again upon his return to school in September and he became progressively more depressed. David was an intelligent, quiet, very hurt, and confused adolescent who desperately wanted to be accepted by his peers. [He] was not able to find this in East Hampton.”

    It is not clear how much communication Dr. Bartky had with the school. A call to his office on Tuesday was not returned by press time.

    Ms. Barros also questioned the actions of the school administration, both immediately before and after the death of her son. On the day before he died, she said, she received a call from the bilingual counselor telling her that David was wearing a scarf in school, beneath which were visible red marks on his throat.

    “She said to talk to David, why he has these marks on his neck.”

    She confronted him that night. “I looked at the marks on his neck,” she said, as Ms. Buitrago translated. “I asked him what happened. He said, ‘Nothing, Mom, nothing.’ ” 

    “David,” she said, “You want to be an airplane pilot. Don’t do this to yourself.”    At that moment, she said, she decided she would take him out of the school. Twenty-four hours later, he was dead.

    At 9:33 a.m. on Oct. 1, District Superintendent Richard Burns attempted to call Ms. Barros. He left a voicemail message. “Hi, Senora Barros, Rich Burns calling from the East Hampton School district, I’m the superintendent here, I’m reaching out to you to express my extreme sorrow over this particular case. Our hearts go out to his family. If you’d give me a call, I’d appreciate it. I’d like to know if there is any way we could help.”

    He then put the bilingual counselor on to leave the same message in Spanish.

    Unfortunately, Mr. Burns had dialed a wrong number. His message of condolence was, in fact, left on the voicemail of Alberto Aguero, a cab driver in East Hampton. Mr. Aguero had never met Ms. Barros, but word of her son’s death had spread through the Latino community that weekend and he understood the importance of the message. He took it upon himself to search out Ms. Barros and delivered the message to her in person later that day.

    Until yesteray, the school administration did not address the central allegation made by Ms. Barros and other Latinos: that the system ignores bullying amongst Latino students, usually recent immigrants who speak little or no English and are unfamiliar with the culture. Yesterday, Mr. Burns released a statement:

    “The school community is deeply upset by the tragedy of David’s death, and our hearts and prayers are with his family and friends.”

    “It is without question that the issue of bullying behaviors is a very real one in our society. Our school district maintains a progressive, affirming culture of respect and acceptance through student-centered programs and services for families. These include everything from our Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to character education, anti-bias programs, cyber-bullying awareness for student and parents, suicide prevention workshops, and numerous other efforts. We consider our district to be in the vanguard with regard to these efforts, and will continue our commitment to this part of the instructional program.”

    “But it’s not just about programs and awareness. The caring professionals of our small school district are responsive to the needs of every student who walks through our doors. Numerous positive interventions are exercised on behalf of individual students on a daily basis. To the best of its abilities, the district attempts to meet the needs of all students in a direct and personal manner.”

    Ms. Buitrago said Monday’s meeting with Mr. Fine could be an important first step for Latino parents. She said Mr. Fine had told her that “every student is my responsibility.”

    Ms. Barros has applied for a temporary visa to bring her son’s body back to Ecuador for burial, as he requested in a farewell note. On the Tuesday after his death the school held a bake sale, which brought in over $4,000, enough to pay for his funeral service.

    “We as a community failed this kid,” George Aman, the head of East Hampton’s board of education said yesterday. Mr. Aman indicated that the teen-ager’s suicide raises complex questions for the entire community. “We have to do a better job.”

    The use of tablets and electronic textbooks is a potentially valuable development, but educators and administrators must proceed with caution, said Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent of the Amagansett School District, at a meeting of its school board Tuesday night.

    Ms. Tritt cited articles on the topic, such as one on the Web site mashable.com, which surveys what it referred to as a concerted effort by the federal government, book publishers, and the technology industry to “push tablets into public schools.” She also mentioned an article in Education Week magazine that details the considerable influence of the textbook publisher Pearson, which is active in digital education.

    In noting that teachers use Apple iPads in Amagansett classrooms, the superintendent said, “There needs to be more study on what applications are most efficient and effective, and we must be careful about making those judgments, rather than rely on the publishers’ self-interest.” She also told the board that “many applications can be replicated by hands-on material, but others capture students’ attention and focus.”

    School administrators are evaluating the use of tablets and moving cautiously in their wider adoption, Ms. Tritt said, again citing concern that the federal government is pushing a broad transition from paper to tablets. Pearson has recently branched into teacher-preparation products, she reported, saying, “We feel the for-profit companies have undue influence.” 

    The board also discussed the state’s Dignity for All Students Act. The act “seeks to provide the state’s public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function,” according to the New York Education Department. The superintendent and members of the board voiced concern about what they said was the broad definition of bullying, which may also include “cyber bullying.” A firmer understanding of the behavior that constitutes bullying, and a school’s responsibilities and procedures in regard to it, are needed, board members said.

    The board also approved the use of the school gymnasium by the East Hampton Town Recreation Department for youth basketball on Saturdays. The program will begin on Dec. 1 and end on or before March 2. Approval was made contingent on Amagansett students’ eligibility and participation.

A number of restaurants will get into the Halloween spirit over the next couple of weeks, with parties, drink specials, and prizes for the best costumes. 

Among them is Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett, where a costume party on Friday, Oct. 26, will feature a D.J. and drink specials from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. A $100 gift card, redeemable at the tavern and its sister restaurant, Bostwick’s Chowder House, will be awarded for best male and female costumes. Gift baskets will be awarded to most revealing, best couple, scariest, funniest, and most original costumes. There will be a $10 cover charge. 

The Springs Tavern on Fort Pond Boulevard will offer beer and drink specials at its costume party, on Friday, Oct. 26, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. This one, too, includes a D.J. There will be a $100 gift certificate for best costume, plus $50 gift cards for best female and male costumes. The Montauk Brewing Company will give out prizes for best couple, best group, scariest, funniest, most original, and most revealing costumes. This one also has a $10 cover.

A Halloween party, with no admission fee, will be held at the Backyard restaurant at Solé East Resort in Montauk on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. There will be free bar food, drink specials, and a D.J. Guests who arrive in costume will be entered into a raffle for a free weekend stay at the resort. 

Rowdy Hall in East Hampton will hold its annual Rowdyween costume party on Oct. 31 from 7:30 p.m. to midnight. Those attending must come in costume. The cost is $30 in advance and the $35 at the door, which entitles customers to one complimentary drink, free snacks, $5 draft beers, and $6 well drinks. There will be a D.J., and $500 in cash prizes will be awarded for best costumes. 

The Hunt is On

    Tomorrow at 3:30 p.m., children in grades K through 6 have been invited to a monster hunt at the Amagansett Library. The children’s search is sure to take them all through the shelves and many Dewey-decimal destinations.

    Starting on Saturday, those same grades can attend a series of art workshops sponsored by the Parrish Art Museum. In the 11 a.m. workshops, which continue on Nov. 10 and Nov. 17, children can create art in mixed media inspired by the museum’s permanent collection, including works by William Merritt Chase, Fairfield Porter, and Roy Lichtenstein. A fourth session will be held on Dec. 1 at the Parrish’s new home at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. That visit will include a tour of the galleries and time to create a work of art in the museum’s Open Studio.

    The workshops are free, but space is limited and advance registration is required.

    Next Thursday, all have been invited to meet in the field behind the library at 7 p.m. for stargazing. Joe Malave, a local teacher and guest astronomer, will point out constellations, binary stars, and planetary nebular. The rain date is Nov. 15.

Family Fiesta

    A family fiesta will be held at Guild Hall on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., called “Cuentos: Tales From the Latino World,” featuring David Gonzalez, a storyteller, from 3 to 4 p.m. and crafts throughout the afternoon. Refreshments will be served.

Pumpkin Decorating

    Kids ages 8 to 12 will have the opportunity to decorate pumpkins on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton. Organizers say the event is not appropriate for children with peanut allergies.

    Through Sunday in the young adult department, seventh graders and up will be making Thai string dolls during library hours.

Stories About Turtles

    Crystal Possehl and her puppet, Lodo the River Otter, will tell stories about turtles to kids ages 3 to 5, Saturday at 10 a.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike in Bridgehampton. The museum has requested registration in advance.

    Meeting on Election Night, the East Hampton School Board considered how to make up for the five days the school was closed because of Superstorm Sandy. Rather than hold classes on holidays, the board seemed more in favor of making school days longer.

    District Superintendent Richard Burns said legislation might be proposed in Albany lowering the required minimum 180 days of school due to the storm.

    Mr. Burns thanked the grounds crew, maintenance, custodians, and other school employees who “were terrific during and after Sandy.” When he visited the school immediately after the storm, he said, “I could barely tell a storm came through.”

    The high school will continue to offer hot showers to the community from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. daily as needed, the superintendent said.

    Jackie Lowey, a board member, praised Mr. Burns himself for his response to Sandy. “He was here day and night,” she said.    

    Earlier in the meeting, Ms. Lowey expressed disgust that the district has a budget item to pay for seventh and eighth grade students to attend the Hamptons International Film Festival. She said the $3,580 charge “rubs me the wrong way. I’m surprised that a nonprofit is charging us for a community event.”

    Noting that students miss classes to attend the festival, she said that “we should take a close look at this in the next budget.”

    Toward the end of the meeting, Ms. Lowey suggested that in subsequent years the board not meet on Election Night.