After completing a board evaluation of school superintendent Dr. John Gratto’s performance over the past year, the Sag Harbor School board approved a $25,000 salary increase for Dr. Gratto at the last Board of Education meeting on Monday, June 22.
As of July 1, Dr. Gratto’s salary will be raised from $185,000 to $210,000, excluding expenses [...]

by Marianna Levine
 New school board president Elizabeth Kotz swore in new board members Lillian Tyree, Doug Degroot, and Ron White during the Bridgehampton School Board’s reorganization meeting on Monday July 6. Kotz, formerly the school board vice president, also swore into office the school’s superintendent Dr. Dianne Youngblood, the school’s district clerk Joyce Crews Manigo, [...]

After a tumultuous last couple of months, current Pierson Middle School physical education teacher and former Pierson High School varsity basketball coach, Fred Marienfeld, announced his resignation on Friday, June 12. In a brief special meeting held on Friday, the school board accepted Marienfeld’s resignation. There was no comment from the audience, made up [...]

Like any household strained by the economy, the Sag Harbor School District continues to scrutinize spending to find ways of cutting costs. The imminent purchase of a school bus and van, a provision voted through by the community on May 19, is expected to save the district an additional $56,000, reported school business manager Len [...]

By Marianna Levine
The focus of the last Bridgehampton School Board meeting of the academic year was appropriately enough on summer school. After looking into sharing transportation to the closest high school summer school in Riverhead with the Sag Harbor School District, Bridgehampton superintendent Dr. Dianne Youngblood reported students would be, “transported with the McCoy Bus [...]

On the day before April vacation ended, fifth grade teachers George Kneeland and Kelly Hornung learned one of their students, Katy Stewart, was diagnosed with liver cancer. On Wednesday, the day school reopened, Hornung and Kneeland sat down with their students to explain the news.
“I had asked Katy what she wanted us to say and [...]

Over her 20 year tenure at the Sag Harbor Elementary School, principal Joan Frisicano has amassed a collection of kid-friendly items in her first floor office. Glass dishes filled with lollipops and candy lay atop her conference table. Her floor to ceiling bookcases are lined with children’s books and student artwork decorates her walls.
Last fall, [...]

By Marianna Levine
Following a Bridgehampton School Board work session last Wednesday evening, School Superintendent Dianne Youngblood confirmed that she will be retiring in August of 2010, after five years as superintendent and two years as Bridgehampton’s principal.
“Its good news because I’m retiring,” she added. Her history with the school runs deeper, as she had also [...]

By Marianna Levine

Bridgehampton’s May Citizens Advisory Committee meeting was packed with candidates for and members of the Bridgehampton School Board. Over the weekend there had been a flurry of emails among CAC members debating the merits of having school board candidates discuss their positions on the eve of the election.
It had been decided by CAC [...]

In light of recent public outcry over art at local polling places, the Sag Harbor School district has announced an alteration in plans to separate the voting area at the high school and the student art exhibition. Residents voting in the Pierson gym on May 19 for board candidates and the school budget will notice [...]