SOMSD

The yearly accolade by the New Jersey School Counselor Association celebrates professionals who serve as advocates and lifelines for students throughout New Jersey.

The district will be holding a Residency Confirmation Town Hall on Wednesday, March 26 to provide more information and answer questions.

“We’re gonna have to be lean moving forward,” said Supt. Jason Bing. “We cannot predict what’s going to happen with federal funding. We can take a guesstimate that we’ll receive flat state funding for the remainder of the run of this formula. … there’s a lot of different factors out there, but we have to be prudent.”

School district staff have been working to close a $4M budget gap for the 2025-26 FY — despite a 6% increase in state aid over last year’s allocation.

Regarding the $4 million gap, Business Admin. Imani Moody said, “We have a conviction across all of the constituencies here to have this budget process be a success, and to get to a place where we’re providing a balanced budget and avoiding reductions in force and things of that nature by really being strategic about how we’re deploying resources.”

The WebEx meeting announcement comes amid concerns from students, parents and teachers that some courses will be offered every other year or cut.

Superintendent Jason Bing: “Our work has been less around reducing and more around alternating years, combining and streamlining those courses that have had consistently low enrollment over a three-year period.”

A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain covered the area in overnight, leading districts to close schools for the day. The SOMSD Community Conversation with Supt. Jason Bing scheduled for tonight (Feb.6) is also canceled.

Former Maplewood Mayor Fred Profeta to the Board: “We want to make sure that the solution fits the problem. We don’t want to over regulate, we don’t want to under regulate. We like to get it just right to the extent possible.”

After the teacher’s union and the District signed a memorandum of agreement on Thursday, BOE President Nubia DuVall Wilson said, “We look forward to finalizing the SOMEA contract this school year for our hard-working teachers.”