Only two school districts, Amagansett and Springs, will see challengers to school board incumbents running for re-election on May 20. Elsewhere, incumbents are running unopposed, and where they are not seeking re-election, new faces are also unopposed.
In Amagansett, where two seats are open, Joe Karpinski is running against Wayne Gauger, president of the school board, and Kristen Peterson, a former board president. Mr. Karpinski has been an outspoken critic of the current board, both at its meetings and in letters to the editor of The Star.
Two school board seats are also open in Springs. Erik Fredrickson, president of the board, and Emma Field are seeking re-election after serving three-year terms. Hoping to win one of the open seats is Gerard Picco, seeking a first term. Mr. Picco has two children, one of them a 2023 Springs School graduate and the other a current middle school student.
In Montauk, Diane Hausman, school board president, has served on the board for 30 years and is not seeking re-election. Her seat is the only one that will be vacant, and Leigh-Ann Hess, the school’s current PTA president, is alone in filing to run for it.
Three seats will be open on the East Hampton School Board, with three candidates on the ballot, one of whom has not yet said anything about her qualifications. J.P. Foster and Sandra Vorpahl are seeking re-election to the board; Justine O’Mara Limonius is not. Mr. Foster has been the board’s president since 2017; he was first elected in 2013. Ms. Vorpahl was first elected in 2004 and served two three-year terms; she ran again in 2019 and was again elected.
Ms. O’Mara Limonius was chosen to fill a vacant seat in 2021 and elected to her own full term in 2022.
Running unopposed to fill her seat is a candidate named Belinda Bellas. Nothing more than her name could be learned as of press time.
In Sag Harbor, two incumbents are running unopposed. Grainne Coen and Ronald Reed both seek a second term on the board. Ms. Coen was elected in 2022, as was Mr. Reed, then a write-in candidate.
William Babinski is running for re-election to the Wainscott board unopposed. In Sagaponack, Cathy Hatgistavrou, vice president of the board, is not seeking re-election. Elizabeth Barton is running unopposed for a first term there.
All school board elections will take place on May 20, a Tuesday, along with balloting for school budgets and various propositions .