Education

There was no official “first flush” fanfare, but instead a simple announcement on Twitter last Thursday that the Springs School had turned on its newly completed innovative/alternative septic system while the students were on winter recess.

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will run free after-school art workshops for children in kindergarten through fifth grade on Mondays and Thursdays from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. starting next week. Participants will learn about various artists and use the work of professionals as inspiration for their own artwork. Advance registration is required at parrishart.org.

Adam Fine, who has championed school safety, academic growth, and mental and physical health for teens during his 10 years as the East Hampton High School principal, will take over for Richard Burns as superintendent in the 2021-22 school year, the district announced Tuesday.

Project Most, a nonprofit organization that runs after-school and summer programs for young children, has announced that it will offer Saturday sessions beginning on Jan. 11 at the Neighborhood House in East Hampton. A full nine-week summer camp there is also on the horizon.     

The Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton will have another of its “sensory friendly” mornings on Saturday from 8 to 10.

Kids can meet the South Fork Natural History Museum’s diamondback terrapins and learn about where they live, what they eat, and how to identify them in a program on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. in Bridgehampton. On Sunday families will head outside to search for and identify animal tracks and scat, also at 10:30 a.m.

Christmas came early for 10 teachers in the East Hampton and Springs School Districts this year, after the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation announced the winners of its annual grant program earlier this month.

Applications close on Jan. 6 for multiple adult education teaching and administrative positions at the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

High school students in grades 8 through 12 can submit applications for New York State Summer School of the Arts programs in dance, choral studies, media arts, orchestral instrumentation, visual arts, and theater arts. Auditions begin on Jan. 5 at various state university centers and nonprofit arts centers throughout New York.

Larrilee Jemiola’s teaching career has spanned about five decades. The veteran East Hampton educator has seen it all — from major shifts in state education policy to movements in social-emotional learning, special needs programs, and support for children who are not native English speakers.

The Southampton School District has joined the growing list of schools that have come out against a state proposal to make the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine mandatory for children born after Jan. 1, 2009.

On light of the difficulty in making and receiving calls, the Springs School Board weighed updating policy to allow students and staff to use the school's Wi-Fi network for personal reasons during lunchtime and other breaks, specifically because cellphone data connections are unreliable in the hamlet.