Education

Monday’s deadline for school board candidates to file their petitions has come and gone. Just two local school districts, East Hampton and Wainscott, will have contested races.

The Springs School Board has an uphill mountain to climb as it seeks support from the community for an over-the-tax-cap budget plan that will need a supermajority of at least 60-percent voter approval to pass.

Erik Kelt, a Shelter Island native who has been a principal in New Orleans, is coming home to the East End take on that role in Springs starting in July.

A new principal and a new honor for the Bridgehampton School.

The coming week brings movie madness for kids and teens, from classic films to newer box office hits, along with plenty of other activities to learn and play.

The Springs School District’s over-the-tax-cap budget proposal for the 2023-24 school year continues to take shape as Tuesday’s state-imposed deadline looms. Schools must finalize their budgets by then.

East Hampton Town police spent Tuesday morning investigating an anonymous email threat received overnight by multiple school districts and ultimately deemed it “noncredible.”

Michael Miller, who has been principal of the Bridgehampton School since 2018, is leaving the district to take the superintendent and principal position in the East Quogue School District as of July 1, and on Thursday the district announced that the assistant principal, Michael Cox, will take over from Mr. Miller.

The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton has a variety of activities lined up for kids of all ages, just in time for school vacation next week, and there's a lot more going on, too.

An unprecedented influx of 18 new students arrived this year in the Wainscott Common School District, a tiny school that educates kids in kindergarten through third grade and pays tuition to send older children to nearby districts. The influx led to sharply rising tuition costs and left the district facing an anticipated budget deficit of about $902,000 this year, as well as a projected increase in next year’s budget of about 43 percent.

East Hampton Town police spent Tuesday morning investigating anonymous email threats received overnight by multiple school districts, including Springs, Amagansett, and Wainscott, and ultimately deemed them "non credible."

The Sag Harbor School Board voted 5-to-0 to formally add a $6 million bond referendum onto the May 16 budget ballot for the potential purchase of five properties on Marsden Street.

The Amagansett School Board voted Tuesday to put a $13.16 million budget on the ballot in May, including a tax-levy increase that complies with New York State rules.

The curtain rises Thursday on the Pierson High School theater department’s production of “Cinderella” by Rodgers and Hammerstein. In this musical, audiences can expect “a new take on the classic story full of charm, humor, and magic, with an incredible student cast,” its director, Bethany Dellapolla, said.

Since New York State’s cap on tax-levy increases was enacted in 2012, the Springs School District has never attempted to pass an over-the-cap budget. That’s about to change.

The curtain rises Thursday on the Pierson High School theater department's production of "Cinderella" by Rodgers and Hammerstein. In this musical, audiences can expect "a new take on the classic story full of charm, humor, and magic, with an incredible student cast," its director, Bethany Dellapolla, said.

Our Fabulous Variety Show’s next family-friendly event is “Neverlanded,” an original take on the classic tale of Peter Pan, featuring students in Project Most’s performing arts classes. Plus: movies, book clubs, dance classes, pizza parties, and more for kids and teens.

Pierson High School in Sag Harbor has announced its senior class valedictorian and salutatorian, Emily Squires and Griffin Greene, respectively, who have credited their families for instilling in them the importance of hard work and have acknowledged the special bond with their peers that arose from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Sag Harbor School District announced plans on March 15 to attempt an outright purchase of the properties on Marsden Street that had up until that point been on the table for a joint purchase with Southampton Town.

Four East Hampton High School seniors are giving their Spanish-speaking peers a boost by starting a bilingual tutoring program.

Petitions for candidates interested in serving on public school boards of education are officially available from district clerks across the state. Paperwork is due to be handed in directly to the clerks by 5 p.m. on April 17; the vote is on May 16.

Twenty-two people have applied for the position of principal at the Springs School, its superintendent, Debra Winter, told the school board on Tuesday. However, when she crosschecked their qualifications with a key part of the school board's employment criteria — that candidates live somewhere on the East End — that pool of applicants shrank to just four.

A retired East Hampton builder is raising money to bring a mobile trailer resembling a small house — complete with kitchen, living room, and bedroom — to the community here to teach kids what to do if a fire breaks out at home.

Bay Street Theater has put out a call to teen writers to enter its Writing the Wave: The 2023 New Works Creative Writing Competition. Plus: St. Patrick's Day fun, a library escape room, arts and crafts, and kids' movies coming up this week.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. of Sag Harbor has signed on as a co-sponsor of three bills aimed at updating and balancing the state’s system of designating money for schools, which were introduced by Assemblyman Nader J. Sayegh of Yonkers. “More and more demands are being placed on local school districts to meet higher standards. . . . To achieve better quality education for all, there must be adequate support from the state,” he said in a statement.

The Sag Harbor School District announced plans late Wednesday to attempt an outright purchase of the properties on Marsden Street that have up to now been on the table for a joint purchase with Southampton Town, which held two lengthy public hearings on the matter over the last two weeks. 

Two conclusions emerged when Christine Cleary, principal of the Springs School, did a deep dive into the data surrounding her students’ proficiency levels in English and math.

In an email sent late Monday night to the Sag Harbor School District, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman pitched the idea of using C.P.F. money to buy development rights at Mashashimuet Park, which would then — in theory — be spent on renovations at the park.

Acknowledging that social media use is closely tied to students’ mental health, East Hampton High School administrators will hold two parent forums next week — in Spanish on Wednesday and in English next Thursday — to equip parents with information and tools to help their children navigate the digital world.

Starting this weekend, artwork by more than 1,000 children and teens from East End schools will be on display at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. Plus: St. Patrick's Day activities, movie screenings, and plenty of family-friendly activities.