Maplewood-South Orange Students And Parents To Hold Sit-In Friday

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The Maplewood Board of Education announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing from mediation with the teachers' union, a process that was meant to help both parties determine when the students would return to in-person learning.

[UPDATE: SEE photos from the Friday sit in here.]

However, the district said they hope the union will allow some grades to return to in-person learning on March 15.

"At this point, the board has decided to discontinue the mediation process, as it is being used as a tool to hide bad faith negotiations on behalf of a select few at the expense of the return of close to 1,500 students," wrote the district in a letter. "We hope that SOMEA will honor their representation from the February 15 letter. During this time, the board will focus its efforts to facilitate further reopening through our previously discussed pending legal action."

After being remote for nearly a year, certain special education and Pre-K students in the South Orange-Maplewood public schools were able to return to the buildings a week ago Monday. However, other students remain remote.

This coming Friday, some parents and students will do their remote learning outside of one elementary school in South Orange as a protest, according to NJ.com.

Meanwhile, the teachers' union issued a fact sheet on Thursday after the district withdrew from mediation. Read the fact sheet and union's response to the withdrawal here.

And a South Orange resident created this website with documents, spending information, and questions for the school district.

Timeline

The schools actually briefly opened in January for some students, but then went remote again when teachers cited unsafe conditions and a need for all teachers to get vaccines.

Teachers are now eligible to be vaccinated.

Superintendent of Schools Ronald Taylor wrote last week, "The District is continuing mediation with SOMEA in hopes of having all students and staff return to continue Phase 3 in-person instruction as soon as possible. Once again, we thank you for your patience and continued support as we seek to resolve this issue."

Last month, the teachers said they would not return, and the district said it would be remote "indefinitely." READ MORE: Maplewood Schools Are Now Remote Indefinitely

A SOMA parent group has a counter on their webpage that says that it's been nearly a year since the last in-person class for all students.

Series of setbacks

The 2020-2021 school year in Maplewood so far has been riddled with setbacks.

• The teachers' union sent a letter to the district in February saying they were concerned about conditions in the schools, and would not report to the buildings.
• The district responded later that day, "We are in receipt of SOMEA’s email indicating that they are once again refusing to report to the school buildings. As per the Community Reopening Update of only a few hours ago, the district was making progress in its Phase 3 reopening with no evidence of in-school transmission. We felt that the Sidebar Agreement with SOMEA was working as intended..."
• On-site was to begin in the district in November, but problems with the ventilation system put those plans on hold until January.
• Schools reopened for a week in January before teachers refused to come back.
• A snowy nor'easter also caused schools to go remote for several days in February.

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