Education

School budgets for the 2020-21 school year passed with overwhelming support in East Hampton, Springs, Montauk, Amagansett, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, Sagaponack, and Wainscott on Tuesday.

A group of alumni and current students of Southampton High School has launched a petition on the website Change.org urging the Southampton School District administration, school board, faculty, and staff to make changes to the curriculum and policies in light of what they believe are "overt and covert forms of racism" in the district.

The petition, which garnered more than 700 signatures as of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, says that "it is simply not enough to decry racism."

"Did You Know?" is Project Most's first-ever television show, with lessons, activities, entertainment, and children sharing their knowledge. 

Rather than be forced to operate on a contingency budget if their spending plans fail to pass a first vote next week, school districts in New York will now have a second chance to put their budgets before voters.

Students at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton surpassed a milestone last week. Collectively, all students have spent more than one million minutes reading books during this school year so far.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has signed executive orders allowing schools to resume providing special education services in person over the summer and waiving the annual statewide teacher performance evaluations.

By executive order of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, in-person high school graduations of up to 150 people will be allowed outdoors starting June 26, “subject to any outbreaks or significant changes in the metrics.”

Amid widespread worries over absentee ballots making their way in time to school districts for budget votes and board elections this year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday signed an executive order extending the deadline for districts to receive them by mail from June 9 to June 16.

Social media posts by East Hampton High School students and others containing racist content and offensive language are under investigation by school officials.

Before her summer plans were upended by Covid-19, Becca Kuperschmid was going to do a marketing internship, but now, those are few and far between because businesses are struggling. So she decided to launch her own business.

Voters who did not receive an absentee ballot for the school budget vote and board member elections, but believe they were supposed to receive one, should contact their respective school districts by phone or email as soon as possible. Completed ballots are due with all districts by Tuesday.

Avenues: the World School, a for-profit independent school, is enrolling 5th through 11th-grade students for the school year beginning in fall 2020 for a new location in the East Hampton area.

Common applications. Art school portfolios. The Naviance college-match system. The Ross School administration knows there are so many nuances and questions about the college application process that it decided to open up its counseling program to the students from outside Ross as well.

“We have never done that before,” said Andi O’Hearn, director of advancement and operations at the Ross School, who suggested that the rising juniors and seniors in general may not have easy access to their guidance counselors, who are probably extremely busy, right now.

To avoid student fatigue, as well as to avoid pushing teachers' obligations past their original teaching contracts, many local school districts are ending school earlier than planned.

Deemed "high achieving" under the New York State Every Student Succeeds Act Plan, the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton has been named a Recognition School for the 2018-19 school year.

Voting for school budgets and board members will be by absentee ballot this year, and ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9. Here's what you need to know.

District officials in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, Montauk, Springs, and Sagaponack have all fielded inquiries from new families who are considering placing their children in schools here due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are five candidates running for the Sag Harbor School Board in the June 9 election — two incumbents, Alex Kriegsman and Brian DeSesa; a former school board member, Sandi Kruel, and two newcomers, Helen Roussel and Ronald Reed.

Residents will cast votes by absentee ballot this year to weigh in on the East Hampton School District’s proposed $71.98 million budget, plus a separate measure to move forward with building a culinary arts education facility at the high school.

The Wainscott and Sagaponack school budgets are two of the tiniest spending plans across Long Island’s 124 school districts, with proposals of $3.7 million and $1.7 million, respectively, for the school year to come.

An online public hearing on the budget, followed by a virtual meet-and-greet session with candidates for the school board, is planned for Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Google Meet.

With an eye on school enrollment, which is likely to increase, the Amagansett School District has proposed a budget of $11.37 million for the 2020-21 school year.

Students in Melanie Freyre’s East Hampton Middle School chorus took part in an online songwriting workshop last week with Jim Papoulis, an acclaimed composer.

The East Hampton School District has reached a tuition agreement with at least three of the five schools that send their seventh-through-twelfth-grade students to East Hampton Middle and High Schools.

Priscila Ortega of Amagansett, who graduated in December from the State University at Old Westbury, has received the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence from SUNY.

The Montauk School District’s $20.87 million proposed budget for the 2020-21 academic year takes into account increases in tuition for high school students, expanded special education programs, and improvements to the facilities.

There are approximately 230 seniors in East Hampton High School's class of 2020, and community members are lining up by the dozen — virtually, of course — to make sure every one of them feels special during these challenging times.

The East Hampton Star’s annual print supplement dedicated to high school graduation, always a keepsake for years to come, will be published on June 25. In these strange -- and historic -- times, what better way to send your senior off than with a custom congratulatory message in The Star?

Now is the time to reserve space in print for a special message of your design. The deadline for placing graduation advertisements is June 12. Those wishing to inquire about this service can call 631-324-0002 or email [email protected].

The Springs School Board voted Monday to put a budget of just over $30 million before taxpayers for the annual school vote, along with two ballot propositions.

The Sag Harbor School District on Tuesday released a corrected version of its budget impact statement. If the school budget is approved on June 9 there would be an increase in school taxes, not a decrease