South Orange-Maplewood Schools Forced To Reconsider Hybrid Shift

MAPLEWOOD AND SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – Just three days after providing a detailed plan outlining a return to hybrid learning next month, the South Orange and Maplewood Public School District is now in a holding pattern due to ventilation issues that were discovered during a walk-through this week.

In a video message to district families on Thursday, Superintendent Ronald Taylor said that that the walk-through yielded “warranted concerns” over the ventilation work that had been completed in the district’s school buildings.

Students in the district were to have started to return to the classroom on Nov. 12, three days after teachers and staff were to have returned to begin broadcasting virtual classes from the school. Some teachers had returned this week on a voluntary basis but teachers were required to be back in classroom on Nov. 9 to prepare for the return of students.

In a nearly hour-long presentation to the board Monday night, Taylor said the district felt comfortable moving from Phase 1 of the six-step return to in-person learning after addressing a number of issues, including ventilation within the classrooms at the district's schools.

Taylor told school board members that part of the district’s plan for a safe return for students and staff included installing HEPA air filters in every classroom as well making ventilation improvements to the district’s buildings. However, in Thursday’s announcement, Taylor announced that that concerns had been raised during the walk-through and that the district’s facility team began re-auditing the work that had been completed.

Citing the safety of students and staff, Taylor said that the district’s plans to reopen on Nov. 12 is being re-assessed and that town hall meetings scheduled for next week have been postponed. Taylor said that the district will share plans to either move forward with the reopening plan or to postpone the move to the next phase of reopening early next week.