Education

Kwame Yirenkyi, left, completed the BOCES audio recording program, then celebrated his graduation from Bridgehampton High School with his father, Kwadwo Yirenkyi, last month.

Hannah Tuma, Pierson High School’s valedictorian, urged her classmates to continue taking risks. Emily Hallock, the salutatorian, called on the seniors to be passionate and set a good example for others. And Carl Bernstein, the veteran investigative journalist and keynote speaker during Saturday’s graduation ceremonies in Sag Harbor, had a lot of his own wisdom to share.

“Seek out the best information, the best obtainable version of the truth.”

“Don’t be too polite, cause some trouble if you think it’s the right kind of trouble. Courageous trouble, adventurous trouble.”

The Springs School broke ground Monday on its long-awaited, pollution-reducing, new septic system, which will take about two months to complete and is expected to improve the health of local waters.

The Mannix Studio of Art will lead family tours and action-painting workshops at the Pollock-Krasner House and Studio in Springs on Thursdays and Fridays through Sept. 6. After learning some background on the Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, participants will have a chance to paint a canvas in Pollock’s style.

East Hampton High School's class of 2019 graduated on Friday, and this group of seniors, according to Adam Fine, the high school principal, is particularly well equipped to deal with the challenges life brings them next.

Anna Bernasek, who had previously been appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Amagansett School Board, was formally elected to a full three-year term in Tuesday’s run-off vote.

Ms. Bernasek edged out William (Hank) Muchnic by one vote, 17 to 16.

The 17 members of Bridgehampton High School’s class of 2019 left “the Hive” in style on Sunday, with tears and cheers from family members, awards for all, words of encouragement and gratitude aplenty, and even, for one student, family members celebrating with posters of his face.

The John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton and the Amagansett School are the only two South Fork schools to make the New York State Education Department’s list of 562 “high achieving and high progress” schools throughout the state, the department announced last week.

Kids’ Nights Out

Teens and preteens entering 6th through 10th grades can once again enjoy fun on the beach three nights a week starting tomorrow at Long Beach in Noyac. Sponsored by the Youth Resource Center of Sag Harbor, the free program is open to young people no matter where they live and takes place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. through Aug. 14.

Fourth graders at the Springs School are sailing into the summer with their own mini-sailboats, thanks to the East End Classic Boat Society. On Monday, members of the society held an educational workshop at the school to help kids build sailboat models and get them excited about boating. The program, now in its second year, began at the Amagansett School and expanded to Springs.

The East Hampton Town Recreation Department’s multitude of summer programs for kids, from swimming to sailing to basketball and tennis, begin this week at locations across the town.

East Hampton Town’s plan to build some form of affordable housing on Route 114 in the Wainscott School District is still in its infancy, but residents of the district found a flier in their mailboxes this week posing an ominous question: “Is the end in sight for the Wainscott School?”

East Hampton School District officials have reached a compromise with the Suffolk County Board of Elections that will allow the school's fifth-grade moving-up ceremony to proceed as planned on Tuesday, by moving primary voting out of the John M. Marshall Elementary School's all-purpose room for this election only.

They took gifts for the villagers — soccer balls, Frisbees, Slinky toys, Uno — symbols of friendship and appreciation for their host families. But they got something so much greater in return.

A group of East Hampton High School students who traveled to Nepal several weeks ago to work with the organization buildOn, laying the foundation for a new school in a rural village, told the East Hampton School Board recently how the trip had changed their lives.

Strawberries will be the sweet inspiration for a story time with crafts and snacks for kids 4 to 7 on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Amagansett Library.

Michael Henery, the Springs School’s business administrator, began a presentation Monday by citing studies showing that “well-maintained facilities posit­ively impact student achievement” and “every dollar spent on maintenance will save $4 on capital spending later on.”

On Tuesday, the same day residents head to the polls to vote in the local primary contests, the Amagansett School District will hold a run-off election between two school board members who emerged in a tie in May.

East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, and Springs have all hired construction crews for capital projects meant to improve the school facilities.

For the second time this year, the New York State comptroller's office has come down hard on the Wainscott Common School District in an audit that school officials questioned as flawed.

In what may be a first for a school district in New York State, the Amagansett School Board voted on Tuesday to ban the intentional release of helium balloons on school property.

This weeks happenings for kids.

Three members of Guild Hall’s Teen Arts Council emerged as winners on Sunday at the Teeny Awards, the annual celebration of high school theater sponsored by East End Arts, based in Riverhead.

Two candidates running for the Amagansett School Board this year finished in a tie, and a runoff vote to decide which one will serve the longer term will be held on Tuesday, June 25. The date coincides with the state primary vote for local elections.

This weeks happenings for kids.

With student safety in mind — and an eye on a conflict with an annual milestone event — the East Hampton School Board on Tuesday rejected a contract with the Suffolk County Board of Elections that would have allowed the John M. Marshall Elementary School to be used as a polling site for the June 25 local primaries.

Early education gave daycare center alums a leg up.

School budget votes and board elections take place on Tuesday, with races in five of the eight school districts between Bridgehampton and Montauk. Proposed budgets in all but one, Wainscott, come in under the state-mandated tax cap.

The embattled superintendent of the East Hampton schools will take a job in Pennsylvania at the beginning of August.