SOMSD Releases New 2023-24 Schedules for Elementary Schools

From South Orange-Maplewood School District, July 10, 2023:

Dr. Ronald Taylor, Superintendent of the School District of South Orange & Maplewood, sent the following message today regarding the relocation of the new schedules for the District’s elementary schools.

Dear Families, Staff, and Board of Education Members,

In our continuing efforts to fulfill the community’s priority of providing courtesy bussing for families with Pre-K and elementary school students who live 1.25 miles or more away from school, we are releasing the school schedules for the District’s seven elementary schools for the 2023-2024 school year.

They will go into effect on September 7th, the first day students are to report to school.

As part of the process of finalizing the new schedule, the District sought feedback from parents, principals, South Orange Maplewood Education Association leaders, Board of Education members, and Parent-Teacher Association leaders. The most substantive feedback came from parents.

Through that feedback, we understand that these changes will bring some challenges to some families. We ask those families for understanding. In creating the new schedules, we also needed to consider how to efficiently dispatch the resources of our transportation providers, Belair and First Student, Inc., and responsibly use the tax dollars needed for this expansion of service.

Reducing the courtesy bussing requirement from the State’s statutory 2-mile threshold to 1.25 miles was a significant undertaking. But now, we are able to fulfill the directive that was approved by the Board of Education and the Board of School Estimate.

Everyone who worked on this endeavor has my sincere gratitude.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ronald Taylor, Superintendent

School District of South Orange & Maplewood