Education

Melanie Freyre was bursting at the seams with news she couldn’t share for months: The Bonnettes, a group of East Hampton Middle School singers under her direction, had been chosen to sing in the “Sounds of Christmas” performance series at Radio City Music Hall. They’d be an opening act for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which features, of course, the iconic Rockettes.     

On light of the difficulty in making and receiving calls, the Springs School Board weighed updating policy to allow students and staff to use the school's Wi-Fi network for personal reasons during lunchtime and other breaks, specifically because cellphone data connections are unreliable in the hamlet.

On Sunday at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, the award-winning film “Green Book” will be screened for teens and adults as part of the “Tough Topics” film series.

Families will learn how to decorate a holiday cottage that doubles as a craft box in a holiday workshop on Friday, Dec. 20, at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill.

Mold was discovered in several places at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in late August, and the East Hampton School District is almost done remediating the problem, a senior school official said this week.

Almost three years after the death of Robert Schneider, who was principal at Pierson Middle and High School for seven years in the 1990s, a plaque commemorating a major building expansion in 2003 will be replaced with one that acknowledges his contributions to the project.

Sensory Friendly

Children with sensory processing disorders or who are on the autism spectrum will find an especially welcoming space at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Saturday morning. From 8 to 10, light and sound will be reduced in the exhibits, the space will be less crowded, and there will be quiet rooms for kids who fare better with less stimulation. Admission will be free.

The argument over cellphones as either distractions or useful educational tools for students has divided some at the Bridgehampton School.

A possible increase in high school tuition the East Hampton School District will charge to feeder districts has become a source of contention in contract negotiations between the Springs and East Hampton districts, Debra Winter, the Springs superintendent, said on Tuesday.

“The Nutcracker” Is Coming

You know it’s the holiday season when tickets go on sale for the Hampton Ballet Theatre School’s annual production of “The Nutcracker” at Guild Hall. And so they have.

The school’s dancers have been hard at work all fall preparing for the production, which will be staged on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m., Dec. 7 at 1 and 7 p.m., and Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 to $45 in advance, $25 to $50 the day of the show, but be warned: Seats for this popular production have been known to sell out in advance.

Teachers of generations past may have lamented “ants in the pants” as a cause of classroom distractions by fidgety kids. Today, schools like the Springs School are taking a more holistic approach to managing those “ants.”

Several parents and others in the Amagansett School community have expressed unhappiness with a recent decision by the school board to appoint a new member to a vacant seat without widely publicizing it.

Mary McCaffrey, the Wainscott School's secretary and district clerk for 19 years, died on Monday. Services will be held on Friday and Saturday.

The Children’s Museum of the East End will host a book swap in its lobby on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Katy Graves, the Sag Harbor School District superintendent, stepped down over the weekend to have “immediate surgery” in New York City, the district announced Saturday.

Just over a month ago, the East Hampton School Board began prioritizing the building projects on the district’s to-do list.

In conversation together, Anita Boyer and Kasia Klimiuk have the sort of energy that sparks back-and-forth like a pinball machine fueled by lightning.

Wally the dog will be at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor on Saturday morning to listen patiently to kids who are just getting comfortable reading out loud.

Students in the East Hampton, Springs, Montauk, Sag Harbor, and Amagansett School Districts scored higher on state standardized tests, on average, than their peers throughout New York, data released by the state show.

Jason Warnick, who serves as the Ross School’s director of advancement and enrollment, has been appointed head of school at the Wayland Academy, an international boarding school in Beaver Dam, Wis.

What started out as a time-traveling biography concept has morphed into “A Dream for the Future,” in which three children dream that their heroes visit them and give them practical advice.

A new round of coed inline skating and girls volleyball clinics will begin on Tuesday at the Sportime Arena in Amagansett. The skating clinic, for ages 4 to 9, will happen from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The New York State Education Department has signed off on the Springs School’s construction plans earlier than anticipated, putting the project about a month ahead of schedule, the district announced Monday.

An issue affecting many school districts and municipalities across the country hit home on Monday when hackers hijacked the Sag Harbor School District’s computer system.

The Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton promises a “smashing good time” on Saturday at its first-ever pumpkin fling, in which gourds will go flying from a working catapult.

Public schools in East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, Montauk, Sagaponack, Springs, and Wainscott will be closed for students on Tuesday. Classes will be in session at the Amagansett School. Some districts will hold superintendent conferences for faculty and staff that day, and the East Hampton School Board will still hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the district office conference room.

The equipment, including pull-up bars and parallel bars, was donated by a local nonprofit in honor of Mike Semkus, a Sag Harbor native, coach, and teacher who died of an overdose in 2016, but its installation has been mired in controversy for several weeks.

Students at the Sagaponack and Wainscott Schools learned last week that when two small schoolhouses go on one field trip together, it adds up to tons of fun.

Instead of buying more plastic Halloween decorations, how about making them from recycled materials? Families can do just that at a workshop on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton. Advance registration is required.

What started as Helene Leonard’s tribute to her late father, and her family’s legacy of love of the arts, has grown into a tradition on the East End.