South Orange and Maplewood are towns where families look to raise their children in a community rich with diversity of people and thought. Where schools highlight achievements of all types and children grow supported by all stakeholders. Things are not perfect, but the expectation is that together, the community, educators and administrators can work together to keep striving for continued improvements for all learners.
Our family moved to Maplewood in the middle of the 2020-2021 school year and chose to homeschool our daughter with the anticipation of enrolling her for the 2021-2022 school year. As I’ve observed over the past few months, the faith of the community in the schools has been eroded. Parents no longer trust the information from any source, and that does not bode well for the future support of the community for initiatives supported by SOMEA or SOMSD.
Please help find a way to clearly communicate what are SOMEA’s final conditions for re-opening schools in our district for students who would like hybrid learning. Until trust has been re-established, more parents will continue to be extremely skeptical and continue to search for alternative education opportunities.
Sincerely,
Courtney Schoenborn
Maplewood, NJ
