The Board and Association met for several hours yesterday regarding the readiness of the facilities for in-person learning. After hearing the Association’s concerns, the Board agreed upon a set of criteria whereby individual worksites would be assessed beginning on Wednesday. Employees in rooms where concerns persist will be relocated or classes will be moved to virtual learning temporarily while further room maintenance, repairs, and installations, in addition to the preparation work already undertaken, are performed. These criteria will be the standard going forward as additional grades and classes resume in-person instruction. As the assessment will occur throughout the day Wednesday and Thursday, those days will be virtual days. If a class is identified for temporary virtual learning, notice will be provided. Otherwise, the in-person schedule previously established will resume Monday and continue going forward. Additionally, the Board and the Association will continue to dialogue in order to address critical issues related to the health and safety of our employees and members.
Archives for January 2021
Due to Pending Inclement Weather: District-Wide All-Virtual (Remote) Instruction for Tuesday, January 26
SOMSD Community,
Due to the pending inclement weather and as a precautionary measure for our staff and students, the District will implement virtual (remote) instruction for all students tomorrow, Tuesday, January 26 (teachers will work from home). We will resume with a return to in-person instruction on Wednesday, January 27. Central office staff will also be working virtually and all school activities are canceled. In addition, there will be no transportation for OOD (out of District) students and food services will not be distributing meals.
Please note, the PSAT scheduled for Columbia High School is canceled. Principal Sanchez will follow-up with additional updates to impacted students and staff.
South Orange & Maplewood School District
Español:
Debido a las inclemencias del tiempo pendientes y como medida de precaución para nuestro personal y estudiantes, el Distrito implementará instrucción virtual (remota) para todos los estudiantes mañana, martes 26 de enero (los maestros trabajarán desde casa). Reanudaremos con un regreso a la instrucción en persona el miércoles 27 de enero.
Distrito escolar de South Orange y Maplewood
January 22 – District Newsletter: Return to School Week in Review & Launch of Covid-19 Dashboard
January Financials, Facilities & Technology (FFT) Committee Meeting, Thursday, January 21 @ 5:30pm (Open to Public)
SOMSD Architect (3rd Party Inspection) School Facilities UV Assessment Full Report Available
Download Report: SOMSD Architect School Facilities UV Assessment Full Report
The District commissioned architect firm, Spiezle, as a third-party vendor to inspect units in all of our schools and also invited staff on these building visits to ensure everyone is aware of the work that was completed and the remaining areas that work still need to be completed.
The District communication shared with the SOMSD community on Mon. 1/18 [https://bit.ly/35Qhgk5], slides 20 – 21 provided high-level data from our 3rd party architect inspector regarding the facilities upgrades work performed at our District schools. As a follow-up and as shared with the public, a full detailed assessment report would follow, please click here to access the report:
The CDC guidelines for operating schools during COVID-19 state that schools should consider several strategies to encourage behaviors to reduce the spread of COVID-19 such as hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, masks, social distancing, signs, cleaning and disinfection as well as ventilation scenarios.
- Signage is placed throughout the buildings reminding everyone to wear PPE, wash hands, and social distance.
- Hand sanitizing stations were installed in classrooms and hallways.
- PPE was purchased for staff and students.
- Plexi-glass barriers are installed in offices and some classrooms (i.e. science labs).
- The district directed an HVAC vendor to service and order filters all units and district staff was charged to clean and install the filters.
- The district’s architect was commissioned to inspect the systems and provide a report showing the status of the work. The last inspection was conducted the week of January 11th. Since the inspection, the district continued to perform maintenance on all HVAC units; therefore the status of work reported in the attached report does not reflect the work that was completed from the time of inspection.
- Schools were notified that spaces that do not have functioning mechanical units should have windows open when the room is occupied.
South Orange & Maplewood School District