Some Maplewood Students Return To School Buildings Tuesday

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Students in the South Orange-Maplewood School District have been learning remotely since last March, but despite parents' eagerness for their students to return to the buildings Tuesday, some students will have to wait until February to return.

The district is still scheduled to kick off its hybrid learning schedule this coming Tuesday (Jan. 19) for students in PreK through second grade, 6th and 9th graders, English Language Learners, and Special Services Students.

Students in other grades, originally set to return on Jan. 25, will have to wait until February, when the situation will be reassessed, said Superintendent Dr. Ronald Taylor on Tuesday night.

He said this "Will allow for a smaller population of students/staff to be in our schools" and will allow the staff to monitor how the current plan is going, to make a new determination in February.

Read more of his letter here.

Parents wait

In December, a parents' group held a rally to ensure that the buildings reopen this coming Tuesday, and to urge five days a week of in-person learning.

"I have a kindergartener, second grader and a fifth grader with an IEP," said Kevin Hartzell of South Orange at the time. "The time that our children are losing, in terms of academic and, more importantly, social development, is time that they will never get back."

The district recently shared the upcoming hybrid schedules. See that message here.

Find out more about the reopening on-site on Jan. 19, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Union walkout

South Orange Maplewood Education Association President Rocio Lopez said Wednesday that teachers are concerned about the second wave of coronavirus, and have urged the district to wait longer for them to return.

Last year, the district was set to reopen in late fall when coronavirus numbers were declining, but a problem with ventilation in the schools scuttled that plan. Now, numbers are on the rise.

Teachers were invited back into the buildings Wednesday to prepare for next week. But Lopez said they would use their lunch period to walk out.

“While we may be pleased to see our colleagues again after months away and look forward to engaging our students through in-person instruction," he said, "we do so with a great amount of trepidation. Indeed, we cannot help but feel that we are entering into a situation of very real danger, to ourselves and colleagues, and to our students and their families.”

He noted that Essex County confirmed several thousand coronavirus cases just after the holidays. Most recently, more than 2,500 new cases were confirmed in the county from New Year's Day through Jan. 8.

The most recent cumulative numbers since the beginning of the pandemic:

• Maplewood – 707 cases, 30 deaths (population: 25,380)
• South Orange – 419 cases, 9 deaths (population: 16,691)

"According to the New Jersey Department of Health, educators are due to receive vaccinations in the 1B phase of the administration plan, soon to occur in a matter of weeks," Lopez said. “Following our walkout, we will be sending a letter to Dr. Taylor, urging him to consider postponing our return until the vaccines are amply available, for the safety of all."

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