Education

The Sag Harbor School District last week reported that costs for school busing, office administration, maintenance, utilities, and operations are increasing only marginally in its 2021-22 budget proposal. A senior school official also announced a target tax-levy increase of 1.5 percent, which is a smidge under the maximum that Sag Harbor would be allowed to enact under New York State's limits on tax levy increases.

A student art show, birdwatching, abstract drawing, and more activities coming up for kids and teens.

With the pandemic still upending normal life, East Hampton School District officials have made it clear they are taking seriously the mental health and academic needs of their students, quite literally putting their money where their mouths are.

For the third year in a row East Hampton High's boys swimming team won the League II meet, this one contested Saturday at Hauppauge High School, topping four teams — Hauppauge, West Islip, Sayville-Bayport-Blue Point, and Northport — that had defeated the 3-4 Bonackers in dual meet competition.

During the pandemic, physical education teachers here have jumped through some hoops in order to keep students safe while at the same time active.

It was pretty much good news all around for East Hampton High's active winter teams this past week. The swimmers, in their final home meet of the foreshortened season, defeated Lindenhurst 71-59, "exhibitioning" in the final two events so as not to run up a score; the boys track team here on Saturday defeated Rocky Point 50-45, and the girls, whose coach, Yani Cuesta, was still awaiting Rocky Point's long jump results as of Sunday, were leading 43-39.

A round of Covid-19 testing for East Hampton High School athletes and a more general testing session at the Springs School have turned up good results for both schools, officials announced this week.

The Amagansett School Board last week reviewed a second draft of next year's school budget, which is proposed at $11.9 million, up from this year's $11.37 million. If the district moves forward with the version presented, the year-over-year spending increase would be 4.7 percent.

Expressing concerns over the timeline of the district's major renovation and expansion project, the Springs School Board and administration on Monday postponed approving the official 2021-22 school calendar.

More activities for kids and teens from the folks at the East Hampton, John Jermain, and Montauk libraries.

Here's what's coming up for kids during the February school vacation.

"The district did not have to search far for an individual who is intelligent, hard-working, curriculum focused, dedicated, and always puts students first," Debra Winter, the district superintendent, said during Monday's school board meeting.

Sag Harbor's Board of Education, faced with a student petition to overturn a recent decision by the district superintendent, Jeff Nichols, not to let Pierson High student-athletes compete this winter in "high-risk" sports, once again seconded the superintendent at a meeting Monday night.

"Over the past few weeks, there has been a significant decrease in the number of high school students attending in-person," Brittany Carriero, the school principal, said in an email to families.

In the first of two rounds of Covid-19 testing at the Springs School, there were no positive results in the 55 people tested, the school district announced Monday.

Following the county's okay of certain "high-risk" school sports, East Hampton High's boys and girls basketball teams and Bridgehampton's boys team are set to play games, but East Hampton's wrestling team will work out only intramurally this year and will not compete with against other teams.

The East Hampton School Board on Tuesday approved its 2021-22 academic calendar. The first day of the next school year will be Sept. 8.

Activities are coming up at the South Fork Museum of Natural History, Project Most, the East Hampton Library, and more.

Nissa Larsen, a local gymnastics pro, is offering private one-hour lessons at home for $125 per child and $25 for each additional child. Perfect for getting out any pent-up quarantine energy, said Ms. Larsen, who wants kids to "get creative with exercise."

The Bridgehampton School District last week unveiled a rough draft of next year's school budget. Having been heavily affected by the pandemic, the district now has a lot of homework to do, school officials said.

Students in the Bridgehampton School's film and media class have produced a video tour of the newly expanded school, which has more than doubled in size since the start of the district's $29.4 million construction project last year.

The East Hampton School District officially broke ground last week on its new transportation hub at the town's former scavenger waste site on Springs-Fireplace Road. The 10,800-square-foot facility will serve as a parking, maintenance, and fueling depot for most of the district's 37 school buses. It will also feature classroom space for a new student program in auto mechanics.

Michael Henery, the Springs School's business administrator, announced this week that the district will adhere to the state-imposed cap on tax levy increases in its 2021-22 spending plan, rather than push to pierce the cap with a supermajority of voter approval of the budget in May.

Eric Casale, who was principal of the Springs School for 15 years until his resignation in December, received a settlement worth $300,000 from the district last month following a leave of absence that began in August.

Jeff Nichols, the Sag Harbor School District superintendent, reported Thursday that there is actually evidence of school-related transmission in these two cases — an unusual finding given that that has not been the case in most other school districts on the South Fork.

Costs are rising for retirement plans, Medicare reimbursements for current retirees, and compensation for employees who opt out of the district's health insurance plan, according to Jennifer Buscemi, the school business administrator.

The Montauk School Board took action on Tuesday on two fronts: an ongoing building project that will see its decades-old portable classrooms replaced with new ones, and setting up the potential to use the school as a Covid-19 vaccine distribution site.

The New York Hysterical Society will host another round of comedy classes for children ages 10 to 16 in February through the Southampton Cultural Center.

In collaboration with the John Jermain Memorial Library, the donation allowed the school to buy more than 125 books promoting "a better understanding of people, how others live, and cultures other than our own," said Betty Reynoso, the assistant principal, who co-chairs the school district's diversity and inclusion committee.

The pandemic, the 2020 election, the former President Trump's impeachments, Supreme Court appointments, the Capitol riot -- these events are the kind of stuff that history textbooks are made of. But today's students aren't waiting for it all to be written down before they study it in the classroom. Many are watching and learning as history unfolds before their eyes, often in a controversial way.