More Administrative Changes
In a year that has seen many staff changes, the Springs School District has gained one new administrator and lost another.
During the May 9 school board meeting, Jessica Rodgers, who was a teaching assistant at Springs early in her 22-year educational career, was appointed assistant principal with a start date of July 1 and a salary of $150,000. She is currently an elementary school literacy specialist and English teacher at the Bridgehampton School, where she also served as its coordinator of curriculum writing, Dignity for All Students programs, and other initiatives.
Also on May 9, the school board accepted the resignation of Kristen Turnow, who had been overseeing special education and was a chief information officer on an interim basis since November of 2021, effective May 10. Richard Burns, a former East Hampton School District superintendent, and Ann Joyce, interim school psychologist, will oversee special education until Springs hires a new director. The position has been advertised with a May 31 deadline for applications.
Free Meals at John Marshall
The East Hampton School District’s John M. Marshall Elementary School has qualified for additional money for its free breakfast and lunch program through a state-subsidized program known as the Community Eligibility Provision.
For at least three years beginning in the 2023-24 school year, all John Marshall students can receive free school meals, regardless of their families’ financial status, without additional costs to the district. The district became eligible for the program when more than 40 percent of its student population were “directly certified” as needing free or reduced-price lunches.
“Every study out there on this shows that hungry students do not learn, so this is a great program,” said Sam Schneider, East Hampton’s assistant superintendent for business. “I hope we can eventually get it into the middle and high school also.”
Other local schools participating in the program include the Bridgehampton School.
‘Title Wave’ Winners
Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater has announced the winners of its 2023 Writing The Wave: The 2023 New Works Creative Writing Competition, which was open to all students in Suffolk County. The judges were Emma Walton Hamilton, Theresa Trinder, and Susan Verde.
In first place were Jeremiah Watts and Andrew Salomon of North Babylon High School for their rap “Hate It or Love It.” Isabelle Caplin of Pierson High School, who earned an honorable mention in the 2022 competition, placed second with her short story “Pressing a Flower.” Third place went to Sophie Rambelle from Eastport South Manor for her spoken word piece “I Would Never Go Back to Being 16.”
Lily Caplin, Viola Goodale, and Tristan Sabbeth, all students at Pierson, earned honorable mentions.
Youth Film Screenings Wednesday
Through the Girls’ Gaze and Dude’s Eye View workshops, hosted by the Neo-Political Cowgirls and Hamptons Film at East Hampton High School, student-made films will be shown Wednesday at LTV Studios in Wainscott at 7 p.m.
Admission to the event is free. There will be a question-and-answer session after the screenings with the student filmmakers: Taylor Atwell, Maeve Cleary, Ava Pollute, Nicky Seitz, Davianna Trowbridge, Cynthia Gang, Jaime Martinez, and Grey Guzman.
The programs “focus on creating welcoming spaces for youth to be in conversation about issues and matters important to them,” according to an announcement.
Also Wednesday, winners of the inaugural anti-litter video competition hosted by the East Hampton Town Litter Committee will be announced from among nine entrants. All nine films — made by students at East Hampton High School, Springs School, Montauk School, and Bridgehampton School — will be shown and added to LTV’s lineup of public-access programming.