Education

Sag Harbor Village police this week investigated a threat of violence that was said to have been made by a Pierson Middle and High School student, ultimately finding it to be without credibility

The students who created Breathe In Change at East Hampton High School, a group opposed to vaping, have also brought change there in the form of fewer student suspensions, more honest conversations, and a heightened awareness of the negative effects of vaping.     

A Sensory Friendly Morning at the Children's Museum of the East End, a primer on creating a family tree, printmaking, and a new session of Mandarin language classes in Sag Harbor are among the happenings of interest for kids this week.

The Bridgehampton School has announced that Madeline Grabb is the valedictorian of this year’s graduating class, and Jaden Campbell is the salutatorian.

The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor is offering Mandarin lessons for children ages 5 to 8 beginning on Saturday.

Educators, parents, students, employers, and community members have been invited to a series of regional meetings hosted by the New York State Board of Regents, which oversees public education, as part of the board’s new review of high school graduation requirements.  

East Hampton School District administrators and board members continued poring over their proposed 2020-21 spending plan on Tuesday, deciding to add some new, one-time expenses for the middle school.     

“It’s important, because black people don’t see black people in books,” said Carol Spencer, the owner of a traveling bookstore, “and in the history books they are always slaves.”     

Lily Mongan, a graduate of the Amagansett School, has spent most of her high school career abroad, learning languages and dreaming of one day being accepted at Oxford University in England. Her dream has come true.       

Tomorrow at 4 p.m. for Black History Month, the library will show “A Ballerina’s Tale,” a documentary about Misty Copeland, the first African-American to be named principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre.

The show opens on Friday, Feb. 28, with other performances on Saturday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, March 1, at 2 p.m.

Guild Hall has named the high school competition winners of its annual student art show, which this year had a theme — “made by water” — for the first time.

The New York State Education Department has postponed making a final call on new rules that would give public schools more oversight into the educational offerings of private and parochial schools after thousands of people across the state criticized the proposal.     

The pediatric flu season this year is shaping up to be an intense one, with local schools reporting dozens of confirmed cases of sick children being kept at home.

Schools may be closed next week, but that doesn’t mean parents get the week off. With that in mind, East Hampton Town, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, Project Most, and Bay Street Theater each have school break offerings to keep kids busy for at least part of the workday.     

East Hampton School Board members agreed this week that a number of badly needed renovations should be included in the 2020-21 school budget, which the board officially began discussing on Tuesday night.     

Too many financial factors were up in the air for the Springs School District to be able to present a draft during a 2020-21 budget workshop on Monday, school officials said.

In East Hampton, educators are getting ready to expand a pilot kindergarten program in which half the school day is taught in English and half in Spanish, citing success better than they could have projected.

Milton Creagh, a motivational speaker and the author of the book “Nobody Wants Your Child,” has some life lessons to share.

The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton is about to celebrate a milestone, and to help tell its story the center is searching for people who were involved in its very early days.

The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will introduce children to some of their interesting insect neighbors during an arts and crafts program on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Brandon Broderick, a geologist and the president of a company that tested soil at the Sag Harbor Learning Center, put to rest school board members’ worries over arsenic contamination during a Jan. 27 meeting of the board.

Samantha Prince has been named the East Hampton High School class of 2020 valedictorian, and Wells Woolcott has been named the class salutatorian.

The Amagansett School is building its 2020-2021 budget around the possibility that 30 new students will arrive — 15 in the school itself and 15 older children in the East Hampton School District — once the Gansett Meadow affordable housing complex just down the road is completed.     

Katy Graves, whose last official day as the Sag Harbor School District superintendent was Jan. 6, has been named as the new executive director of the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton.

Project Most, the nonprofit that has partnered with the East Hampton Neighborhood House to expand its after-school activities for children, will have open house hours at the Neighborhood House today and Sunday to familiarize parents and kids with its programs.

Project Most runs after-school programs at the Springs School and John M. Marshall Elementary School and this month began offering Saturday programming at the Neighborhood House for children in prekindergarten through fifth grade.

From curious third graders taking their first steps into science to seasoned seventh and eighth graders winning ribbons with sophisticated experiments, the Montauk School’s annual science fair on Friday was a journey into the minds of children.

A first draft of the Bridgehampton School District’s proposed 2020-21 budget is about $700,000 over what New York State’s cap on tax levy increases would allow, according to information released during a Jan. 22 school board meeting.

The Hampton Music Educators Association’s annual high school music concert will be held Saturday night, bringing together hundreds of talented students at the Eastport-South Manor High School. More information is online at hamptonmea.org.

The Wait Until 8th effort is banking on parents signing on and spreading the word. “By banding together, this will decrease the pressure felt by kids and parents alike over the kids having a smartphone,” it says.