Maplewood Schools' On-Site Learning Lasted Only One Week

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — A little over a week after some South Orange-Maplewood students returned to classrooms on Jan. 19, teachers in the district — which was remote for the first four months of the school year — refused to return to the buildings Wednesday due to rising coronavirus numbers. By Wednesday afternoon, Superintendent Ronald Taylor announced that the district will return to hybrid education Monday, pending a safety assessment.

"I am pleased to share that our District and SOMEA have reached a mutually beneficial agreement," Taylor announced in an email shortly after 5 p.m. "Over the next several days, we will continue to engage with and have discussions with SOMEA to address and respond to areas of concern."

Taylor also posted a joint statement on behalf of school board President Thair Joshua, the Board of Education, SOMEA, and the administration, saying all classrooms would be assessed for safety this week, and if all goes well, teachers will return to classrooms Monday.

"Employees in rooms where concerns persist will be relocated or classes will be moved to virtual learning temporarily while further room maintenance, repairs, and installations, in addition to the preparation work already undertaken, are performed," the statement reads. "These criteria will be the standard going forward as additional grades and classes resume in-person instruction. If a class is identified for temporary virtual learning, notice will be provided. Otherwise, the in-person schedule previously established will resume Monday and continue going forward."

On Monday night, the South Orange-Maplewood Education Association (SOMEA) had submitted a letter to the school board saying its members would teach only virtually on Wednesday, "given the unsafe conditions and ineffectiveness of the district's current operations." The superintendent announced Tuesday night that as the groups continued to talk, school would be remote Wednesday.

The ongoing controversy over the students' return to classrooms has boiled for so long in Maplewood that on Monday, New York Magazine covered it in a longform story, "'I Want To Meet My Teacher' A war over reopening schools has upended the progressive politics of the New Jersey suburbs."

The story noted, "... everyone had moved there for the schools. But once those schools were shut, this imagined consensus was ripped up. It seemed as if Maplewood could no longer agree on the most basic things: science, morality, the right thing to do."

Ironically, in early September, the New York Times ran a story about city dwellers moving to Maplewood and New Jersey's other popular "M" towns in hopes the schools would reopen more quickly than in Manhattan.

Mayor weighs in Tuesday

On Tuesday, Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee weighed in, saying in a newsletter, "The delaying of our schools opening has reached a boiling point of frustration and confusion for our parents and guardians with children enrolled in our school district. I have received hundreds of emails from families."

He said he hopes teachers can get vaccinated soon. Originally, they were to be in New Jersey's 1B group for vaccinations with other essential workers, but the state recently made seniors over 65, people with chronic medical conditions, and certain essential workers (such as police and firefighters) eligible ahead of teachers.

"Last week on the Essex County Mayors’ call," McGehee wrote Tuesday, "I communicated that I think that it is imperative that all teachers get vaccinated as soon as possible ... this would go a long way to getting our children and workforce back into a normalized routine, all in an effort to enhance their learning experience, close the achievement gap including the digital divide and improve our children's mental health. I also expressed this to my contacts in the Governor's Office."

He said that 10 percent of recent cases in the town were in people under 18 (see numbers below).

A long road

The students were set to return to classrooms in November, until "concerning discoveries" about the ventilation systems caused a delay.

As the January opening date approached, Superintendent Ronald Taylor said that students in pre-K through second grade, sixth and ninth graders, English Language Learners and Special Services students would start a hybrid learning schedule on Jan. 19 as promised. Others would have to wait until February as officials kept an eye on coronavirus trends.

The state is in a second wave of the virus after numbers had tapered off by early September, and the country has experienced record daily deaths. As of Wednesday, more than 427,000 people had died in America due to the coronavirus.

Tuesday night, the superintendent sent a letter that read, "As you may or may not be aware, this afternoon until this current moment, we have been conferring with leaders of SOMEA [teachers' union], along with their and our legal representation to discuss grievances shared in a SOMEA letter sent to the Superintendent's Office and the BOE. Wednesday, January 27th will once again be a District-wide Virtual (Remote) day for all students. In addition to teachers, central office staff will also be working virtually. Food service distribution and OOD transportation will resume as normal."

In December, a parents group held a rally to ensure that the buildings reopened in January, and to urge five days a week of in-person learning.

Coronavirus numbers

As of Monday, Maplewood has had 917 confirmed cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic, and a total of 29 fatalities. Mayor Frank McGehee said Tuesday that that the 917 number represented 205 new cases in 34 days and a daily average of six confirmed cases a day.

"Regarding the breakout of the age of our cases," he wrote, "we are seeing numbers all over the board. According to our Essex County COVID-19 breakout, as of last week, 9.2 percent of all positive cases were 17 or younger. Our age range from yesterday's Maplewood numbers ranged from 1 to 86. This evening was 26 to 75."

For more COVID-19 testing and vaccine information:

• Maplewood’s COVID-19 website: https://www.twp.maplewood.nj.us/covid19 has a list of testing locations.
• Go to www.essexcovid.org to register for a test.
• Go to www.essexcovid.org to schedule a vaccine appointment. Note: a confirmed vaccination appointment is contingent upon the results of the required COVID-19 Vaccine Survey.
• See this state list of vaccination locations in Essex County and the state.

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