Board Member Hired as Nurse
Wendy Geehreng has resigned from her school board seat in the East Hampton School District and has been hired by the district as a nurse specializing in Covid-19 health logistics. "We want to make sure we're being really careful. There are so many nuances," Richard Burns, the district superintendent, said Monday. "This is a home run. She's great."
She had previously been a nurse practitioner for Stony Brook Medicine, and has been appointed to one of two positions the school district created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The other is an "assistant to the assistant superintendent" role that has been filled by Timothy Fromm, who is now on leave from his previous position of high school assistant principal.
Ms. Geehreng was first elected to the school board in 2013, and was re-elected in 2016 and 2019, meaning there are a little under two years left in her latest term. Her resignation was effective Aug. 5, and her new appointment, at a salary of $104,969, will be effective next Thursday. Both resolutions were approved by the school board on Aug. 18.
The move of a school board member to staff member is not unprecedented in East Hampton, where at least two such moves have occurred. Debbie Mansir, the high school's program coordinator, was hired in 2003 after serving on the school board. In the 1990s, Eugene Lester served on the board before transitioning into a business role.
J.P. Foster, the board's president, said Monday the board has already decided it will not hold a special election to fill Ms. Geehreng's seat. He said there will be "a deeper discussion about it" at the meeting on Tuesday. The board could choose to leave the seat unfilled, as East Hampton did after the death of Richard Wilson in 2018, or appoint a new member who would serve until the next school board election.
New Space for Sagaponack School
After exploring "numerous scenarios," the Sagaponack School District is finalizing an agreement to use a classroom at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton for its overflowing student population. "Our second and third graders will attend school at this site," Alan Van Cott, Sagaponack's superintendent, said in an email to The Star on Monday.
For many years Most Holy Trinity hosted the Springs School's prekindergarten program, and still has several classrooms already outfitted with the basics for learning. The Sagaponack School is anticipating having 29 students this year in kindergarten through the third grade, up from 15 the year before, Mr. Van Cott said.