Vote on Mashashimuet Park Improvement Plan Officially Canceled as District Takes Time to Reevaluate

At its most recent meeting on Monday night, the Sag Harbor Board of Education officially canceled a bond vote that had been set for September 29 on the approval of a proposed $13.5 million athletic facilities capital improvement project at Mashashimuet Park.

The cancellation of that vote was not a surprise, coming on the heels of a recent announcement that the district is planning to use a combination of capital reserves funds and money from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund to purchase five lots — four of which are adjoining — on Marsden Street, located across the street from the Pierson Middle School, and build a new athletic facility there.

Since making the bombshell announcement at a board meeting on September 6 that it would purchase the lots on Marsden, the district has reiterated multiple times that the purchase does not mean it will walk away from plans for a capital improvement project at the park, which has been the home of Pierson athletics for decades, but rather that the acquisition of the Marsden lots would change the scope of what the district would seek to do at the park, and thus would need more time to alter the plans and the terms of any long-term contract it would enter into with the park.

Sag Harbor Schools Superintendent Jeff Nichols spoke about that on Monday night, saying the acquisition of the Marsden lots “caused us to take a step back and reevaluate what our facility needs are,” adding that school officials met with the park’s Board of Trustees last week.

“We reviewed what our thinking is and sort of laid out some of the steps we plan to take as a district to reevaluate what we’re going to do at the park,” he said. He added that a “key piece” in doing that will be to survey the school community, including parents and student-athletes, regarding what they would like to see in terms of athletic facilities.

“That feedback will inform our plans at both Marsden and Mashashimuet Park,” Nichols said.

Three members of the Pierson staff gave a detailed presentation at the board meeting on Monday about the middle school’s PLANT program. PLANT stands for “Planning Learners for a New Tomorrow,” and is a course offered to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.

Pierson Middle High School Principal Brittany Carriero was joined by Middle School Assistant Principal Veronica Rodriguez-Moya and Middle High School librarian Jaime Mott, and they took turns speaking and presenting, sharing the different aspects of the program, which is essentially an updated and revamped version of the learning standards previously associated with traditional technology and home and careers courses.

Carriero explained that, during the 2018-19 school year, New York State changed how districts could approach those learning standards.

“The district saw that as an opportunity to reformat or rethink how we deliver those standards, which was the genesis of the PLANT program,” Carriero said.

She added that several parents in the district have expressed concerns about various software programs the school uses, including e-school and Google Classroom, about how they can often be cumbersome to navigate, and she added that the PLANT program will, to some extent, play a role in helping to address those concerns.

Rodriguez-Moya presented on the aspects of the PLANT program that relate to honing and improving executive functioning skills for students, while Mott presented on the aspects of the program that will promote teaching students to become lifelong readers.

Teaching students skills when it comes to keeping themselves organized with both their backpacks and papers as well as Google Classroom is part of the program, and making sure they are engaged in reading and have the tools they need to access the right kind of books for learning and research are all part of the equation.

The board of education is inviting members of the Sag Harbor school community to consider joining board advisory committees, if they believe they can bring a particular skill or expertise to bear. Committee charters can be reviewed by visiting sagharborschools.org/o/sag-harbor-union-free-school-district/page/board-of-education- information. Committees include the audit committee (financial background is necessary), Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Policy Committee, Educational Facilities Planning Committee, and the Wall of Honor Committee. Anyone interested should mail or email a letter of interest by Tuesday, September 27, to: Mary Adamczyk, District Clerk, Sag Harbor Union Free School District, 200 Jermain Avenue, Sag Harbor, NY 11963 or to madamczyk@sagharborschools.org.