As Springs School students gear up for the start of school next Thursday, teachers, administrators, and support staff have been busy, too — prepping classrooms, polishing floors, and reviewing policies to keep students safe, happy, and engaged in learning.
One key policy change this year will be to the school’s safety and security plan, a document that outlines its response to a real-life emergency or disaster should one arise. The school board held a public hearing on the plan on Tuesday, during which Nancy Carney, the new superintendent, explained the update.
“Drills will be done a little differently than they have been done in the past,” she said. “Drills that are conducted during the school day with students present need to be conducted in what we’re calling a trauma-informed, developmentally-and-age-appropriate manner. It won’t include props, actors, simulations, or any other tactics intended to mimic a school shooting or other act of violence.”
These “lockdown” drills will be noticed in advance, unlike fire drills, which don’t need to be announced ahead of time, Ms. Carney said.
The change was needed, she told the school board, because in the past students sometimes had trouble figuring out whether a drill was for practice or a real-life emergency.
“It sounds like a nice improvement,” said Erik Fredrickson, the school board president.
The new policy was to be published yesterday on the district website for parents and community members to review. They can share feedback and opinions by calling or emailing the school. The board is set to vote on it on Sept. 10; state education law requires schools to file these plans annually by Oct. 1.
Also on Tuesday, Sam Schneider, an East Hampton School District administrator who oversees the Springs business office via a special shared-service contract, presented a plan to withdraw money from the Springs district repair reserve account to address some urgent needs.
Specifically, he said during a separate public hearing, students’ lockers need to be replaced in the third, fourth, and fifth-grade hallways. They are “broken, rusted, and beyond repair,” Mr. Schneider said. The cost for new ones is estimated at $95,787. Initially the plan had been to repaint them — a much less expensive project — but in the process, the lockers were found to be in far worse shape than initially believed.
“We’re happy that we waited for this . . . what we found was behind them was really awful,” Mr. Fredrickson said. “That would have been a less expensive route, but a big problem.”
The district is also planning to take down or trim trees that are already dead or dying. “The building and its occupants are at risk of damage [or] injury if these trees fall,” Mr. Schneider said. “The trees will be removed or thinned as appropriate, depending on the tree.”
The tree maintenance cost is expected to be around $27,972, bringing the total repair reserve withdrawal to $123,759. The reserve account, a kind of savings account for repairs that aren’t included in the regular operating budget, now has just under $700,000 in it. Mr. Schneider said the withdrawal could be replenished later on, using money left over from the prior year’s budget.
David Buda, a community member who closely watches school and town operations, questioned the need for that replenishment. He maintained that the reserve accounts are already robust, and that surplus moneys should instead be used to offset the school tax levy imposed on taxpayers.
“I urge you to prepare to use a sizable chunk of those funds to reduce the amount of money that will need to be raised by property taxes,” Mr. Buda said.
“That is something we always will keep an eye on as stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” Mr. Fredrickson responded.
In other business, the school board voted to hire several new teachers to replace those who have recently retired or resigned, including two special-education teachers, Regan Kalahar and Stephanie Marin; two elementary classroom teachers, Diane Galan and Liana Morales, and two teaching assistants, Danielle Pizzo and Maria Duchi.
Brynn Brierley, previously a special-ed teacher, was approved for a transfer to the prekindergarten program, which is now being run by the district instead of by SCOPE, an independent provider of such services. SCOPE has donated all the materials, supplies, and furniture used during the two years it ran the program at the school. “We’re very happy to accept that donation,” said a grateful Ms. Carney.
The board also accepted a donation of 60 backpacks filled with new school supplies for children in need, provided by East Hampton Town.
Finally, enrollment numbers were presented. As of Tuesday, Springs will educate 39 prekindergarten students and 651 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and will pay tuition for 353 students to attend high school in East Hampton.
Ms. Carney said the in-house prekindergarten number is concerning: It is lower than it had been. Enrollment is largely holding steady at the elementary and middle school levels, however. High school enrollment is also slightly down, but this allows room in the budget to accommodate students who sign up late, she said.
“We are getting new registrants every day still,” Ms. Carney said.