Sobey Named Vice President of Sag Harbor Board of Education; Board Addresses Online Rumors About Redistricting

The Sag Harbor Board of Education swore in newly elected and reelected board members, while also nominating a president and vice president, at its annual organizational meeting on Monday night.

Longtime board member Sandi Kruel will continue to serve as president of the board, while fellow member Jordana Sobey was nominated and unanimously elected as the new vice president. She replaces Brian DeSesa, who formerly served as both president and vice president, and who chose not to run for reelection this past spring.

The board also shared that an audit of the district’s security measures and protocols was completed and submitted to the board in June. Superintendent Jeff Nichols said that because the audit related to security, which, by its nature, necessitates less disclosure of details to the public, there was not much he could share about the report, but he did say that the district would be addressing staffing differently in the new school year when it comes to security.

He said that the board gave him approval to advertise for hiring several new security guards for the upcoming school year, with different salary and benefits structures, and said an ad for those positions would be in this week’s edition of The Sag Harbor Express.

“We’re hoping to get a number of applicants and be staffed and ready to go for the upcoming school year by the beginning of August,” Nichols said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Nichols and several board members had the opportunity to address rumors that have been circulating on social media related to the possibility that some form of “redistricting” could be on the table for families that live in the East Hampton Town portion of the Sag Harbor School District.

Nicole Lipp, a parent of an incoming kindergartner who said she is new to the district, and moved into Sag Harbor specifically because she wanted her child to attend school in the district, asked the board if there was any truth to the rumors circulating online.

“Things have been brought up about the East Hampton side of the village being broken off and going to East Hampton,” she said, adding that the rumors seemed to make connections between the idea of redistricting and the failure of the Wainscott School budget to pass.

Nichols acknowledged that he was aware of the social media posts and the discussion taking place around those posts, but said, “There’s been nothing that’s come to the Board of Education level regarding what you’re referencing, so from our perspective, it’s just a rumor.”

Another topic that came up during public comment was the possibility of bringing a hot lunch program to the district. That became a popular talking point at the end of the most recent school year during several community forums related to the district’s effort to acquire property on nearby Marsden Street, an effort that ultimately failed after voters rejected a proposition for a $6 million bond to partially fund the purchase of those 4.13 acres of land during the May budget vote.

Dawn Smith, who spoke during public comment, inquired about the hot lunch program, saying she believes it “would qualify as a top priority for the Board of Education and the community,” asking what work has been done in the last month-plus on the issue, and asking “when we can expect to have some movement on this,” before finishing her comments by stating that “undernourished students should be a top priority.”

Nichols and the board addressed the last part of her comment, reiterating — as they have done in several meetings in the past — that all students in the district, both those who qualify for free and reduced lunch and those who do not, have the ability to buy or receive lunch at school. What the school lacks is the appropriate space to create the kind of kitchen facilities that would make hot lunch a possibility.

“There seems to be a belief that students are going hungry or not being provided with nourishment during the school day,” Nichols said. “We have 80 students, sometimes more, who access our lunch program, which is coordinated out of [the Pierson Middle High School], and all students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch are able to access food. There have been several community members who have brought up the absence of the hot lunch program. What we said at the time was that there are logistical concerns, and those remain.

“This is an issue that’s important,” he continued. “But we want to make sure that it’s framed correctly. We’re providing food, some people just want it to be hot.”

Kruel backed up Nichols’s statements.

“We’re absolutely hitting all the nutritional spots,” she said. “Making it hot does not necessarily make it nutritious. Our grab-and-go lunches are a big hit, and they’re very well done. There’s no child in our district that has ever or will ever go hungry.”