Education

In the East Hampton School District, anonymous donors have stepped up to start wiping out about $7,000 in school-lunch debt that the district has incurred over the last few years.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has put Stony Brook University’s administration on notice for what he alleges is years of neglect of its Southampton campus. Last week, he called for Stony Brook to commit to renovating the crumbling Southampton Hall, develop a five-year plan for the rest of the campus, and appoint a senior administrator dedicated to overseeing it all.

The East Hampton School District is planning to put a proposition on the May 16 budget ballot enabling it to withdraw $3,925,000 from its capital reserve account for several big-ticket projects, with one important asterisk.

Jack Perna doesn’t have any children of his own, but at the Montauk School, where he has worked since February 1973 and been superintendent and principal since 1995, he has helped guide thousands of students through their formative years.

Catch Pierson High School students' photos on display through the end of February. Plus: Valentine's Day crafts galore, STEM activities, art workshops, and more for kids and teens.

Project Most’s effort to build its new, state-of-the-art community learning center at 92 Three Mile Harbor Road is in full swing, with a $10 million fund-raising campaign and discussions with the East Hampton Town Planning Board formally underway.

The 2023-24 school budget cycle is in full swing, and at least one local school district — Sag Harbor — has proposed a preliminary budget with a tax-levy increase that doesn’t rise to the maximum allowed by New York State. This is unusual because most school districts tend to go right up to their allowable increases, but it’s not unusual for Sag Harbor, which has been a few percentage points under the maximum almost every year since the tax-cap legislation took effect in 2012.

The office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Friday released an audit report indicating Sag Harbor let some minor claims errors slip by between July 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022. The report states that “although all claims were appropriate, audited, and approved before payment, the claims auditor did not ensure claims were supported.”

An exhibition of Pierson High School students' street photography — meaning compelling, candid scenes from around Sag Harbor — is on display at Bay Street Theater through the end of February.

For almost an hour on Tuesday, Ina Garten imparted lessons on cooking, baking, business, the business of cooking and baking — plus life, love, and the pursuit of happiness — to students in East Hampton High School's culinary arts program. Her messages immediately resonated with the students, who later said they are feeling lots of pressure to choose a college, a major, and a career.

Ahh, slime — kids still can’t seem to get enough of it, so Hamptons Community Outreach is throwing a slime-party fund-raiser this weekend. Plus: lots more on the agenda for kids and teens.

In November, residents in the Sag Harbor School District voted 638 to 521 in favor of spending district money to buy land on Marsden Street to create athletic fields across the street from Pierson Middle and High School, but the nature of those fields remains a raging debate, as seen last week when the school district held its second public forum on the proposal. “We decided, as it pertains to the Marsden lot fields, to take 100-percent synthetic turf off the table,” said Jeff Nichols, the district superintendent.

Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island will receive $600,000 from Suffolk County over the next three years for opioid abuse prevention work among young people, the group announced Friday.

A seemingly routine aspect of public-school finance is tripping up local school districts that find themselves having to borrow money during the months before tax revenue starts to flow in. “The interest rates have gone through the roof and are continuing to increase,” Jennifer Buscemi, business administrator for the Sag Harbor School District, told the Sag school board on Monday.

With a goal of helping young students get set up for success in school, Chelsea Petrozzo-Wilson recently launched The Wonderers, a tutoring and small-group educational program.

On Saturday, the Guild Hall Teen Arts Council will hold another open mike night and dance party, this time at the Clubhouse on Daniel’s Hole Road, for artists and performers of all ages to share their talents with the community. Plus: sensory jars, lacrosse sign-up, family-friendly movies, and lots more for kids and teens.

The Sag Harbor Historical Museum has approached the Sag Harbor School Board with a proposal that would see the museum benefit from a public tax levy that the school district would collect on its behalf, similar to the way the school collects tax money for the John Jermain Memorial Library.

The curtain rises tonight on the annual Springs School opera, this year titled “The Magical Doors,” an original show written and performed by the 67 Time Traveler Opera Company — also known as the entire fourth grade.

The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton has several programs coming up to capture the attention of children who love all things nature. Plus: art workshops, chess lessons, movies, and more for kids and teens.

The Sag Harbor School District announced this week that it has scheduled another Marsden Street community forum. It will take place on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Pierson library and virtually via Zoom.

Project Most, the East Hampton nonprofit organization dedicated to providing after-school, weekend, and vacation programs for children, will hold two healthy-cooking gatherings at the Bridgehampton School for children and families in that district.

What happens if you do away with homework and grades in schools? Is the traditional "raise your hand" mentality a best practice in classrooms? What happens if you do away with competition and instead encourage collaboration? These are the kinds of questions on the minds of progressive educators and writers like Alfie Kohn, who will be the speaker at Friday's "Child-Centered Conversation" cosponsored by the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, the Hayground School, and the Bridgehampton School District.

On these winter days, there's a lot to keep kids and teens busy.

When clients of Phoenix House visit East Hampton High School, it’s usually on invitation from Jim Stewart, the school’s longtime health teacher, who wants his students to understand how substance abuse, treatment, and recovery look and feel.

“I have been told by students it’s one of the best classes of the semester,” Mr. Stewart said this week.

Southampton Town is willing to make good on its offer of $6 million from the community preservation fund toward the joint purchase with the Sag Harbor School District of land on Marsden Street, but on at least three conditions.

From new classes at Projects Most in East Hampton to community service projects for teens to winter craft programs there's a lot for kids and teens to do, even in these quiet times.

Debra Winter, who was hired as Springs School superintendent in the spring of 2017 and started her post in July that year, confirmed Monday that she is planning to retire in June 2024 after completing what will have been her seventh year with the district.

State Senator Anthony Palumbo has recognized the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton with the Empire State Award, the highest honor that can be given by a New York State legislator, for its service to the community over the last 50 years.

According to an extensive report published in November by the New York State Board of Regents, survey respondents by and large said they felt the exams “were no longer an adequate measure of student understanding.” Instead, they favored the creation of a new system of high school graduation requirements that give students more options for demonstrating their mastery of “21st-century” skills and knowledge.

Registration is open now for an afternoon of virtual reality activities for kids 10 and up at The Church, the arts center in Sag Harbor. The Jan. 12 program will be offered through a partnership with the Long Island Science Center.