School Growth Inevitable

That the Wainscott School District could absorb more students without compromising educational quality should be obvious, but, sadly, it is not to a handful of the hamlet’s residents who are stirring up opposition to modest affordable housing for a site on Route 114. It is not a question of money; most of the houses in the geographically sprawling district are empty during the school year and it contains plenty of south-of-the-highway vacation houses worth in the tens of millions. 

Rather, the concern is that the charming shingled schoolhouse and old-fashioned tiny classes would have to grow. Then there is also the possibility that it is not the number of kids who might one day go to the school there, but the socioeconomic status of their parents that bothers the objectors, at least in part.

The fault for the imbalance among schools here goes back to the drawing of district lines long ago, and the solution will have to involve state authorities redistributing students in a way that reflects current reality. A move toward centralized districts might be ahead.

It is wrong for low-population districts like Wainscott or Amagansett to have a relative abundance of space and educational resources when a few miles away, East Hampton and Springs have perennial issues with capacity and budget. It is outrageous that property owners in the small districts benefit from the services of people who live in the more populous ones, but reject the idea of their children being educated side by side. 

There are, of course, substantial challenges as districts gain students. That does not allow Wainscott to object to growing as the need demands, nor justify the shameful opposition to helping lessen the housing crisis in East Hampton Town, of which it remains a part.