SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — To provide updates regarding the South Orange–Maplewood School District’s Intentional Integration Initiative, which will begin in September with the incoming kindergarten class, Superintendent of Schools Ronald Taylor sent an informational letter to the community on April 14. “For background, in the 2018-2019 school year, the Board of Education voted […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Students in kindergarten through second grade in the South Orange–Maplewood School District returned to their classrooms on March 15, even as mediation between the district administration and the South Orange–Maplewood Education Association broke down the week before. On March 9, the district released a statement saying that the Board […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The candidates running for the South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education participated in a virtual debate on Oct. 8 hosted by the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race, vying for the three open seats on the BOE this November. Kamal Zubieta, who was appointed to the BOE in February, is […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Four days after the South Orange–Maplewood School District presented its fall reopening plan, with three options to choose from as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to prevent the normal back-to-school fanfare September would usually bring, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order allowing New Jersey school districts to begin the […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — In February 2018, the Black Parents Workshop filed a federal lawsuit against the South Orange–Maplewood School District, drawing attention to the marginalization of black students in the district and the segregation seen in the district’s elementary schools. On July 13, the South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education approved a settlement […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education passed a distance-learning plan for the rest of the school year that will also be used in the event that schools are not able to reopen in the fall at its May 18 virtual meeting, with no requirement that livestreamed instruction be provided […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — As schools navigate remote learning, a departing South Orange–Maplewood School District employee wrote a scathing letter detailing what he perceives as the district’s failures and shortcomings. “Over the past two years, I have observed a district that has accomplished some important goals but has fallen well short on others. […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education unanimously passed the district’s 2020–2021 budget at its virtual meeting on May 4, moving forward with planning for the next school year. The local tax levy will be raised by 2 percent with the passage of the $152,419,950 budget. Taxes make up the […]
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange–Maplewood Board of Education dived into the waters of virtual meetings on April 20, when it held its first meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all nonessential businesses and gatherings. After Superintendent Ronald Taylor’s update about distance learning, each BOE committee chairperson gave a report, including […]
MAPLEWOOD / SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — A few months after elementary school students in the South Orange–Maplewood School District asked the Board of Education to decrease the number of code red drills held in the schools, Maplewood resident Khadijah Costley White won a $50,000 grant to make three short films that will explore the effects […]