Education

Voting for school budgets and board members will be by absentee ballot this year, and ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9. Here's what you need to know.

The Wainscott and Sagaponack school budgets are two of the tiniest spending plans across Long Island’s 124 school districts, with proposals of $3.7 million and $1.7 million, respectively, for the school year to come.

District officials in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, Montauk, Springs, and Sagaponack have all fielded inquiries from new families who are considering placing their children in schools here due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Residents will cast votes by absentee ballot this year to weigh in on the East Hampton School District’s proposed $71.98 million budget, plus a separate measure to move forward with building a culinary arts education facility at the high school.

There are five candidates running for the Sag Harbor School Board in the June 9 election — two incumbents, Alex Kriegsman and Brian DeSesa; a former school board member, Sandi Kruel, and two newcomers, Helen Roussel and Ronald Reed.

An online public hearing on the budget, followed by a virtual meet-and-greet session with candidates for the school board, is planned for Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Google Meet.

Students in Melanie Freyre’s East Hampton Middle School chorus took part in an online songwriting workshop last week with Jim Papoulis, an acclaimed composer.

With an eye on school enrollment, which is likely to increase, the Amagansett School District has proposed a budget of $11.37 million for the 2020-21 school year.

The Montauk School District’s $20.87 million proposed budget for the 2020-21 academic year takes into account increases in tuition for high school students, expanded special education programs, and improvements to the facilities.

The East Hampton School District has reached a tuition agreement with at least three of the five schools that send their seventh-through-twelfth-grade students to East Hampton Middle and High Schools.

Priscila Ortega of Amagansett, who graduated in December from the State University at Old Westbury, has received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence from SUNY.

There are approximately 230 seniors in East Hampton High School's class of 2020, and community members are lining up by the dozen — virtually, of course — to make sure every one of them feels special during these challenging times.