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District Offices will close at 1pm on Friday, July 1 and will be closed on Monday, July 4 for the holiday. We will reopen on Tuesday, July 5.read more ❯
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South Orange-Maplewood School District

A District That Celebrates

District News & Announcements

2022-23 SY Transportation Request Form Available (Submission Deadline: June 22)

June 9, 2022 By Communications

June 9, 2022 Filed Under: Clinton, Columbia, District News & Announcements, Jefferson, Maplewood Middle School, Marshall, Montrose, Seth Boyden, South Mountain, South Orange Middle School, Tuscan

CHS Hall of Fame Committee Announces Four New Inductees Into the 2022 Hall of Fame

June 7, 2022 By Communications

CHS Ultimate Frisbee Founders, Bernard “Buzzy” Hellring, Jr. (CHS ‘70), Joel Silver (CHS ‘70)  and Jonathan H. “Jonny” Hines (CHS ‘70); and former Vogue, Editor-in-Chief, Grace Mirabella (CHS ‘46) to Join the Hall of Fame

  • View the 2022 CHS Hall of Fame Program & Inductee Biographies

 The CHS “Hall of Fame” Committee will be hosting the 2022 Columbia High School (CHS) Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Wednesday, June 8 in the CHS Auditorium starting at 9am.  

This year the Hall of Fame Committee will induct four more alumni to their illustrious list.  The recipients of this year’s honor are the trio of students who brought Ultimate Frisbee to CHS and the world, Joel Silver (CHS ‘70), Jonathan H. “Jonny” Hines (‘70) and Bernard “Buzzy” Hellring, Jr. (CHS ‘70, passed in 1971); and Grace Mirabella (CHS ‘46), former Editor in Chief, Vogue magazine (passed in 2021).

As noted in the USA Ultimate website “In the summer of 1968, Joel Silver was introduced to a “frisbee football” type game while participating in an educational enrichment program at the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Mass. After returning to Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., that fall, he got a motion passed at the student council to introduce Frisbee into the curriculum. Together with his friends Bernard “Buzzy” Hellring and Jonathan “Jonny” Hines, they got other students to play their new game and refined the rules, producing a written “first edition” of the rules for the sport Joel dubbed “Ultimate Frisbee” and naming their group the “Columbia High School Varsity Frisbee Squad” in early 1970″ where the game was played in the CHS student parking lot.

The three classmates laid the foundation required to permit the transformation of a recreational activity into a sport over the following years. Ultimate Frisbee today is still played largely according to the rules developed by Joel, Buzzy, and Jonny and is now eligible as an Olympic sport as of the 2028 in Los Angeles, CA.   The bios of the founders of the CHS Ultimate Frisbee team:

  • Joel Silver is currently an accomplished Hollywood producer, producing dozens of films including the Lethal Weapon series, the first two Die Hard films, and The Matrix series. 
  • Jonathan “Jonny” Hines, who founded the Princeton team and played in the first college game ever — the Rutgers-Princeton match-up played before more than 1,000 spectators in 1972, is now an international attorney splitting time between New York and Moscow. 
  • Tragically, Bernard “Buzzy” Hellring, Jr. died in an automobile accident while returning to college at Princeton University in the spring of 1971. He was the son of Bernard Hellring and Sally Horner Hellring of South Orange, New Jersey, part of the South Orange-Maplewood School District. He was posthumously elected into the Ultimate Hall of Fame.

Grace Mirabella was born in Newark, NJ on June 10, 1929 to the parents of Italian immigrants.  When she was in Junior High they moved to Maplewood where she attended Maplewood Junior High School and Columbia HS, graduating in 1946.  She was editor in chief of Vogue magazine from 1971-1988.  During her time there she took the magazine from a circulation falling towards 400,000 in 1971 to rising above a million and half in 1988.  Ms. Mirabella went on to found Mirabella, a magazine for women as interested in culture and travel as in clothes and interior design. Ms. Mirabella passed away at the age of 92 on December 23, 2021.  

In the mid-1980s, the CHS “Hall of Fame” Committee was established as part of the Student Council, to recognize the vast accomplishments of its graduates.  In 1985, the Hall of Fame inducted its first two alumni – Senior U.S. Circuit Judge, Amalya Kearse, and world-renowned actor, Roy Scheider.  Since then, every year, the committee has inducted anywhere from 1-4 former students who had demonstrated academic excellence during their time at CHS and have gone on to influence the world around them in positively meaningful ways.  This yearly event is open to all CHS students, faculty, staff, and members of the Board of Education.  

June 7, 2022 Filed Under: Columbia, District News & Announcements Tagged With: CHS Hall of Fame Inductees

SOMSD & SOMA Shares Massive Outdoor Book Giveaway & Swap Event for PreK – 12 Students Taking Place Saturday, June 11 @ Two Locations

June 6, 2022 By Communications

The South Orange & Maplewood School District, ELA Department & SOMA Shares are proud to continue their partnership to present a massive book giveaway and swap event to the entire SOMSD school community. All PreK - 12 students/families are invited to join us for this one-day event at two locations where thousands of new and gently used children/teen books will be available to take home for your own home libraries! You can also feel free to drop off your new and gently-used children's books to share with others!

Locations:

  1. South Orange Middle School (SOMS) |  Time: 9 am - 1 pm  | Location: 70 N. Ridgewood Road, South Orange (school parking lot)
  2. St. Joseph's Catholic Church  |  Time: 10 am - 2 pm  |  Location: 767 Prospect St, Maplewood (church parking lot)

CLICK HERE:  DOWNLOAD EVENT FLYER

 

 

 

June 6, 2022 Filed Under: Clinton, Columbia, District News & Announcements, Jefferson, Maplewood Middle School, Marshall, Montrose, Seth Boyden, South Mountain, South Mountain Annex, South Orange Middle School, Tuscan Tagged With: Book Event

May/June District “As a Matter of Fact” Newsletter: PRIDE Month, Juneteenth, CHS Co-Curricular/Band Sign Up Open, Graduation/Moving Up Celebrations, CHS Ultimate Girls Frisbee Team Wins State Championship

June 3, 2022 By Communications

June 3, 2022 Filed Under: District News & Announcements

June 2022 Moving Up Celebrations and Graduation Ceremony

June 3, 2022 By Communications

Congrats Class of 2022

Below are dates for CHS graduation as well as moving up ceremony information for middle school 8th graders, moving up celebrations for elementary school 5th graders (any Kindergarten activities will be communicated to families directly from their child's teacher and/or school) and PreK moving up celebrations.  All additional graduation and/or moving-up celebration details and end-of-the-year activities have been or will be communicated with families directly from your school building administrators and/or classroom teachers.

Columbia High School

  • Friday, June 24 @ 6pm | J. Cody Arena, West Orange, NJ (Ticket admission only)

Middle Schools (8th Grade Moving Up Ceremony):

  • Maplewood Middle School (MMS) | Friday, June 24 @ 9am MMS Gymnasium (Ticket admission only)
  • South Orange Middle School (SOMS) | Friday, June 24 @ 9am SOMS Gymnasium

Elementary Schools (5th Grade Moving Up Celebrations/Activities):

  • Clinton Elementary School | Thursday, June 23 @ 11:30am
  • Jefferson Elementary School |Thursday, June 23
  • Marshall Elementary School | Thursday, June 23 (Clap out for 2nd graders)
  • Seth Boyden Elementary School | Thursday, June 16 @ 10am
  • South Mountain Elementary School | Thursday, June 23 @ 9am
  • Tuscan Elementary School | Thursday, June 23

Preschool Sites:

  • Applecore Learning Center | Thursday, June 23 @ 10am
  • *Iris Family Center for Early Childhood Education | Wednesday, June 22 @ 10:30am & Thursday, June 23 @ 10:30am
  • *Kindergan | Thursday, June 16 | 10:20am & 1:20pm
  • La Petit Academy | Wednesday, June 22 @ 1pm
  • Montrose Early Childhood Center | Thursday, June 16 @ 10am
  • Zadie’s of the Oranges | Thursday, June 16 @ 10am

June 3, 2022 Filed Under: District News & Announcements Tagged With: June 2022 moving up ceremony and graduation dates

2022-23 CHS Fall Co-Curricular Sports Sign Up for Rising 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Grade Students Now Open

June 3, 2022 By Communications

Columbia High School Wants You to Become a Cougar !!!

CO-CURRICULAR SPORTS / MARCHING BAND SIGN UP NOTICE FOR 2022-23 SY

For all rising 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders |  For full details and sign-up information visit: https://bit.ly/3NiEymo

Hello SOMSD Families,

My name is Ken Mullen and I am the Interim Athletic Director / Supervisor of Student Activities for Columbia High School (CHS).  I first want to say that I hope  all of you and your families are doing well in these trying times.  At CHS, we are already looking to the future and are presently getting ready for the 2022-23 school year.   

We want to inform families of incoming CHS students (rising 9th graders) as well as rising 10th, 11th and 12th grade students that registration for CHS athletic programs and marching band is now open.  The information shared below outlines registration information for all fall, winter and spring sports offered at CHS. In addition, registration information on the CHS Marching Band for prospective participants is included.   

If your child is interested in participating in a co-curricular activity for the upcoming 2002-23 SY we encourage you and them to review the information shared in the link: https://bit.ly/3NiEymo and sign up before the July 15 deadline.  

Best of luck to everyone as we wrap-up the end of the school year and I hope you have a happy and safe summer!  For full details and sign-up information visit: https://bit.ly/3NiEymo

Ken Mullen, CHS Interim Athletic Director & Supervisor of Student Activities 

 

June 3, 2022 Filed Under: Columbia, District News & Announcements, Maplewood Middle School, South Orange Middle School

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South Orange-Maplewood School District

South Orange-Maplewood School District

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525 Academy Street
Maplewood, NJ 07040

Main Office: (973) 762-5600

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Dr. Kevin Gilbert
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District Title IX Coordinator
525 Academy Street
Maplewood, NJ 07040
e: kgilbert@somsd.k12.nj.us
p: (973) 762 - 5600 ext. 1859

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Asst., Supt., Access & Equity
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e: kgilbert@somsd.k12.nj.us
p: (973) 762 - 5600 ext. 1859

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