South Orange-Maplewood District Asks for Families’ Preferences for Nov. 12 Return to School

The South Orange-Maplewood School District announced today that it continues to be on track to welcome students back to school in some form by November 12. The district has reported that details will be forthcoming at the Board of Education meeting on October 19. Read about teachers’ return to classrooms beginning October 19 here. The district also sent a letter to families on October 16 asking for the submission of preference forms for students’ return to school:

Dear SOMSD Families,

I hope this correspondence finds you well. Allow me to start by thanking every member of our District Family and acknowledging the efforts put forward to move us successfully through the first 6 weeks or so of our school year. Our start has not been perfect but it has been unequivocally a success.

As we announced this summer in concert with Governor Murphy’s Executive Order 175, our current plan remains in place to offer in-person educational opportunities beginning on November 12th.  The health and safety of our students and staff is our #1 priority; to that end, we have invested significantly in preparing our buildings for our reopening.

To gauge where our District families currently stand, we are sending a revised version of the “Return to School Preference Form” sent in August 2020. We understand that some families may still be apprehensive about sending their children back to school during this pandemic. Knowing this, the District would like to provide parents/guardians with flexibility, but also needs to plan in advance for scheduling purposes and ensure we are abiding by social distancing requirements.  Please note, for this round, PreK – 8 and CHS will have two separate preference forms – final responses will be due by Wednesday, October 28th @ 6 pm.

• PreK – 8 “Return to School Preference” Form: https://bit.ly/3lRg2dU  (the form link will also be sent to families via email/SMS on Monday, October 19).
• CHS “Return to School Preference” Form:  An email will be sent to CHS families/students on Monday, October 19th with the link to the preference form as well as additional sign-in information for the CHS Town Hall event.

To help families make a more informed decision on whether your child will attend school in-person (hybrid instruction) or continue with all-virtual instruction we are inviting the community to join us for a few upcoming virtual events. We encourage families to attend these events.  If you are unable to attend, all presentations will be sent to families via email and WebEx recordings will be posted to the District website.  Upcoming events are listed below, please visit the website for more details and for travel advisories to consider as you begin planning for your child’s potential return to in-person learning.

Click here for more information:  https://bit.ly/37fTxLM (or) to download a PDF version of the full letter.