Education

Here’s how tight for cash the Wainscott School District is: In October, the tiny district closed the books on the 2021-22 school year having spent nearly every dime in its $3.83 million budget. There was no significant end-of-year surplus to speak of.

High school students take note: The winter holiday season is a great time to earn those community service hours toward high school graduation requirements. Plus: stories and crafts, stop-motion animation, a parody play, and more for kids and teens.

The Hampton Ballet Theatre School has put on a performance of the classic holiday ballet “The Nutcracker” nearly every year since 2009 — the one exception a byproduct of Covid in 2020 — but this year’s production is the first time in school history that the annual production will feature a pair of real-life siblings in the roles of Clara and her brother Fritz.

The Sag Harbor School District and IBI Group, the architectural firm hired in 2017 to carry out the transformation of the former Stella Maris Regional Catholic School into the Sag Harbor Learning Center, have reached a settlement, following a conflict over how much IBI Group charged for its services during a period in which little to no work took place.

As a child growing up in Springs, Laura Rosner was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease, an incurable juvenile form of macular degeneration. Now a special education teacher at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton, she has a unique perspective when it comes to educating students with disabilities and diverse educational needs.

The Montauk School Holiday Book Fair, featuring books, gifts, diaries and journals, fun school supplies, and other classic book fair goodies, will begin on Monday and run through Friday, Dec. 2.

The season of sugar and spice has arrived — it’s time to get your gingerbread on. Find activities at the Children's Museum of the East End, the Golden Eagle art store, and other places around town.

Bonac Lights, a fund-raising initiative launched last year by the East Hampton Masons that incorporates holiday light displays, is back again and bigger than before.

When the federal government doles out dollars to schools, those that receive grants of at least $750,000 find themselves facing an audit at the close of the fiscal year. The Springs School District, one of many across the country in that position during the Covid-19 pandemic, has passed its first such “single audit” with flying colors, according to the district’s auditing firm, EFPR Group.

An ice maker that produces sludge, desks in disrepair, nonworking generators, chipping paint, an ‘unreliable’ gymnasium partition, worn-out carpeting and wood flooring — these are just a few items on a long list of facilities issues identified by the East Hampton School District this week as urgently in need of attention.

Wildlife explorations with the South Fork Natural History Museum, candle-making and Thanksgiving crafts at local libraries, and a screening of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Sag Harbor Cinema are just a few of the things happening this week for kids and teens.

In the heart of the Shinnecock Indian Nation reservation, a newly renovated clubhouse for kids and teens has been bustling with activity since it opened its doors in April.