Kindergarten Series Nixed

Citing concerns about privacy, security, and potential distraction, the East Hampton School District has withdrawn cooperation in a planned series of articles in The East Hampton Star that would have profiled kindergarten students at the John M. Marshall Elementary School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

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

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

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

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