Archives for April 2021
Columbia High School Named as One of the Most Influential Public High School’s In the United States
Columbia High School Named as One of the Most Influential Public High School’s In the United States by Academic Influence
Columbia High School was ranked #21 among 50 of the most influential public high schools in the United States by Academic Influence. CHS was identified as a top 50 US public high school based on the accumulative influence of its alumni.
Academic Influence ranks schools based on the influencers associated with them, with both faculty and alumni considered. They use machine learning to track influence and map the relevant connections between people and institutions. Based on their analysis, ranked schools display higher concentrations of influential people associated with them. Influence is based on web traffic analysis and citations of alumni associated with these high schools.
CHS Principal, Frank Sanchez says, “After learning so much about Columbia's rich history, I am not surprised that CHS was selected as one of the most influential public high schools in the country. This is why our Alumni Hall of Fame is always one of the highlight events of the year.” He continued, “Of course, we're not going to take it easy; our faculty just can't wait to see what our current students will do in the future to keep Columbia on top of this ranking!”
As part of the group of top 50 public high school schools in America, CHS as mentioned by Academic Influence is distinctive and has developed programs tailored to the needs of their students, but it also shares a few common factors with the other high schools, among them: highly-trained faculty members, a thoughtfully selected curriculum, advanced course offerings designed to prepare students for college and careers, and an atmosphere that promotes achievement and innovation
AcademicInfluence.com is a team of academics and data scientists working to provide an objective, non-gameable influence-based ranking for the people, schools, and disciplinary programs that make up higher education. To that end, they have engineered an innovative and unbiased ranking technology that employs machine learning to measure the impact of work produced by the world’s top academic influencers. Their InfluenceRanking™ engine brings to light the achievements of top institutions and top academics across the world. The full list of high schools can be found here: https://academicinfluence.com/rankings/schools/influential-public-high-schools-us
South Orange Middle School Presents: Alice in Wonderland Musical Streaming Performances from April 30 – May 2
Tickets for South Orange Middle School’s production of Alice in Wonderland are on sale now!
South Orange Middle School proudly presents Alice in Wonderland
Streaming performances:
Friday, April 30 at 7:00 pm
Saturday, May 1 at 7:00 pm
Sunday, May 2 at 2:00 pm
Book, Music, & Lyrics by: Janet Yates Vogt & Mark Friedman
Based on: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass By Lewis
PRICES INCLUDE FOR STREAMING A PERFORMANCE:
One person watching pass- $10, Two people watching pass- $20, Household pass- $35,
**DONATIONS**
Three are three types of viewing passes: One person watching, two people watching, and a household | Passes can be purchased online at: https://soms.booktix.com/ .
Each patron will get a unique link to watch the stream. That link will be on the ticket in your email.
We ask that you uphold the number of people viewing. Donations are welcomed this year, and all proceeds go to future performances!
Questions regarding streaming tickets, email: musical.soms@nullgmail.com
ALICE IN WONDERLAND is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized
performance materials are supplied by Theatrical Rights Worldwide 1180 Avenue of the Americas,
Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.theatricalrights.com
Special Edition Newsletter: Phase 4 & 5 Reopening Video Update & Presentation
Phase 4 & 5 Reopening Video Updates & Information (April 23, 2021)
SUPERINTENDENT'S MESSAGE
Dear South Orange & Maplewood School District Community,
Phase 4 of our phased-in reopening plan will continue as scheduled beginning on Monday, April 26. We will be welcoming back to schools our 8th and 12th-grade hybrid students and our PreK - 2 students (as well as our Special Services self-contained, ELL) will begin attending school in combined/consolidated cohorts, five days a week. In addition, earlier this week, Principal Sanchez shared with the CHS community that they were able to consolidate three cohorts into two, so starting on Monday, April 26, the high school will be operating a new cohort schedule guaranteeing each cohort will be in each week!
During our Monday, BOE meeting we shared additional updates regarding Phase 4 & 5 reopening. I am sharing a video update and providing additional information regarding details of our families’ hybrid selection; reopening phase-in; ventilation upgrades; partition usage to assist with social distancing; YMCA childcare; and a breakdown of the demographics of those families who selected hybrid vs. virtual selection.
Some key highlights of the presentation include:
- Close to 70% of families have selected Hybrid, with elementary choosing hybrid at a higher percentage: PreK 74%; Elementary 75%; Middle Schools 66%; CHS - 59%
- We have come to an agreement with SOMEA regarding mechanical ventilation and have purchased more than 200 air purification units that are being disseminated and will result in many more classrooms and instructional spaces being available for our Phased Reopening.
- In accordance with the recent CDC and NJDOH guidance*, we have purchased individual partitions for each of our hybrid elementary students. This does not mean that each student will utilize a desk partition daily, but it is a fail-safe to assist our teachers in efficiently organizing our classrooms in the safest and most age-appropriate way (as well as to accommodate for instances for larger class sizes where 3-feet social distancing may not be possible).
Hybrid Instruction Waitlist Consideration Form:
Finally, throughout our reopening process, as a District, we have had to remain nimble as we receive guidelines from the federal, state, and local levels. With the changes to our Phase 4 & 5 reopening plans, we understand that some families who had chosen to remain virtual or missed the final March 25 change request deadline may still desire the opportunity to have their child complete their school year in person. While we can't promise that we will be able to accommodate additional change requests, we want to provide a final opportunity to families/students to be placed on a hybrid instruction waitlist for consideration. Click here for the form and details: bit.ly/SOMSDWaitlist
As we move into Phase 4, we look forward to welcoming our 8th and 12th-grade students back to their school buildings on Monday.
More information is shared in the Phase 4 & 5 resources section above, regarding links to the Hybrid Waitlist, Summer Programs Interest Survey for K-12 students as well as access to the Phase 4&5 Reopening presentation.
Dr. Ronald G. Taylor
Superintendent of Schools