Sag Harbor School Board Schedules Special Meeting on Marsden Street Plan

Just a day after holding its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, March 6, the Sag Harbor School Board scheduled a special board meeting for Thursday, March 9, with plans to provide the community with an update related to the Marsden Street properties.

School officials declined on Tuesday afternoon to provide any additional information about what would be discussed at the meeting.

The status of the district’s plans to purchase four adjoining lots on Marsden Street, located across from the Pierson Middle-High School, with a $6 million contribution from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund to eventually develop into an athletic field has been in flux for months.

During a public hearing on the proposed acquisition at a Southampton Town Board meeting on February 28, a strong contingent of community members who have been opposed to the project from the start, many of whom live on or near Marsden Street, showed up in force, speaking out about their opposition to the project.

Members of the Southampton Town Board, including Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, adjourned the hearing to March 14 rather than taking a vote on whether to disperse the funds, saying they did not feel they had sufficient information about the plans for the field, such as more details on a stormwater management plan, to feel comfortable taking a vote.

The adjournment meant that the district would not have sufficient time to put a bond proposition for development of the lots on the May budget vote, which had been its original intent, leaving the status of the purchase up in the air.

The delay in taking a vote raised the ire of one Sag Harbor School Board member in particular. During Monday night’s meeting, Alex Kriegsman came to the lectern and strongly admonished the Town Board, calling out Schneiderman and board member Tommy John Schiavoni in particular, for what he viewed as hypocrisy related to another recent expenditure by the CPF on the John Steinbeck property in Sag Harbor Village.

“It’s a sad day in Sag Harbor when the Southampton Town Board has $11 million for a group of academics from Texas to come up and bloviate about John Steinbeck, but they have nothing for our kids,” he said.

Referring to a photo from The Sag Harbor Express from a party, attended by town officials, to mark Steinbeck’s birthday and to celebrate the preservation of his Sag Harbor home, he continued, with even harsher words for the local politicians. “Tommy John and Jay are hobnobbing with artists and celebrities, congratulating themselves about the Steinbeck purchase, but they don’t even have the courage to vote on Marsden.

“This is something they repeatedly committed to,” he added. “They’ve dragged it out month after month, and won’t even vote on it.”

He called the board’s delay on voting on the project “disgraceful,” and laid the blame at the feet of what he called “selfish and dishonest neighbors.”

“It’s time for a vote on this project,” he said. “And if they don’t want it, they should have the courage to say no.”

At Monday night’s meeting, the board approved the hiring of new Middle School Assistant Principal Stacy Van Duzer. Van Duzer comes to the Pierson Middle School from the Greenport School District. She has a background in both elementary and middle school education, and also experience in instructional coaching.

“I think she will be a great addition to the administrative staff,” Superintendent Jeff Nichols said.

The board also approved the adoption of the calendar for the 2023-24 school year, after discussion at a previous meeting. Of the three options that were presented, the board settled on what was considered a compromise option. There will be a few extra days off built in around the Christmas holiday break, to give families some flexibility when it comes to traveling plans, but the board stopped short of approving a calendar option that would have provided a full two weeks off for Christmas break, which would have sacrificed extra time off in the spring around the Easter holiday.

Nominating petitions for three open board seat positions will be available starting on March 16. The board seats of President Sandi Kruel, Vice President Brian DeSesa, and board member Alex Kriegsman will all be open. The deadline for submitting nominating petitions is April 17 at 5 p.m.