Planning The Future

This is the first in a series of articles that examines the Board of Trustees’ thoughts on the future of South Orange

On Monday, South Orange’s Board of Trustees met on the campus of Seton Hall University to discuss their thoughts about the town and their ideas for their current administration.  Following a survey facilitated by Seton Hall faculty member and South Orange resident, Janine Buckner, the board considered a variety of topics that are affecting the town.

The Perception of South Orange

Up first for the board were their opinions of how they want South Orange to be perceived by out-of-towners.  This topic was brought up as a starting point to what the board wants to accomplish.

“The premier suburb of New York City, a desirable place to live,” said Trustee Michael Goldberg.  “A key proponent of that has got to be affordability.  We have been historically known as the tax hell of New Jersey.  We need to overcome that.”

South Orange has had historically high taxes, specifically property taxes.  The board has been working on ways to make the town more affordable to its residents. 

 “I think we need to distinguish ourselves as a place to get our tax and financial house in order,” said Trustee Janine Bauer.  “I think that will distinguish ourselves from our competitors, Montclair, Millburn, so and so.  Each of them has something that we don’t.  We have the train and a little bit shorter commute, and we have a great housing property if you can afford it.  So it comes down to affordability.”

Goldberg brought the conversation back to taxes saying that was the biggest problem with marketing South Orange to out-of-towners.  He talked about “one word” descriptions of towns and how the neighboring towns are known for arts, culture and shopping.

“For South Orange, my first word would be taxes,” said Goldberg.  “If you ask the average person on the street, that would be their perception.”

Seton Hall University

The board explored the impact that Seton Hall University has on the town and whether South Orange could be considered a “college town.”

“Every store that has tried to open up geared towards Seton Hall has been a dismal failure,” said Trustee Mark Rosner.  “Whatever kind of store that opened up, there’s not enough of a student population to support it and not a twelve month population.  We’ll never really be a college town to the extent that people want us to be.”

While Seton Hall has a reputation of being a “suitcase school,” where students typically leave campus on the weekends, Village President Alex Torpey believes that trend is changing.

“More and more people stay here on the weekend, more and more stay here in the summer,” said Torpey.  “Even though we may not be a model college town now, there are enough students.  They just stay (on campus) or they live in other towns.”

“I think the University is a great addition to the town, but it’s not the vocal point,” said Rosner.

South Orange-Maplewood School District

The perception of the school district was brought up in the discussion of why people would or wouldn’t want to stay in town.  A consensus was built that a good school district brings in more families, despite other factors in town being less favorable.

“People can handle the taxes when the school district is good,” said Trustee Nancy Gould. 

Gould, a real estate sales agent, brought up examples of towns that are more attractive because of their school’s reputations.  The South Orange-Maplewood school district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group (DFG) “I”.  The state uses the DFG to compare districts statewide.  South Orange-Maplewood is in the second highest classification.

Torpey, a graduate of Columbia High School, questioned the board about the perception of the South Orange-Maplewood district. 

“Is the problem with the way that people see our school district,” asked Torpey.  “Is the problem that they see it wrong or we really do need to also fix something?”

Gould explained that people tend to use the New Jersey Monthly rankings as a guide to which schools are best.  Columbia High School was ranked 75^th out of 322 schools in last year’s school rankings.

“Even though people get a great education (at Columbia High School), people who look at rankings are not going there because it’s not in the top ten or top twenty,” explained Gould. 

Rosner believes that the school district needs to market itself better to achieve a better ranking.

“Some school districts market themselves to the magazine,” said Rosner.  “I know Millburn actively markets themselves for what they do well and for some reason, Columbia and our Board of Education does not do that.”

Torpey brought up that he feels perception needs to be changed about the schools.

“Most people I know who went to Columbia, loved it,” said Torpey.  “Most people who move out here and they don’t know anyone that went, hate it and want to send their kids to private school.”

Trustee Deborah Davis Ford believes that perception can be changed if the district tries.  She brought up many of the successes that Columbia in specific has had in recent years and all they have to offer for students. 

“Columbia has an incredible selection of A.P. courses and options,” said Davis Ford.  “Their arts program is phenomenal and their kids go to all the top schools.”

Rosner believes that the district needs to find a specialty to market to perspective students. 

“It’s not just the school quality, but what the school specializes in,” said Rosner.  “Then you can say “ok, we’re not ranked in the top twenty percentile, but we’re by far the best theater school.”  We don’t have a reputation of being the best sports, or theater, or arts school.  We’re just a good all-rounded school system, which just doesn’t cut it anymore.”

Stay tuned for part 2.