District News & Announcements
SOMSD Membership to Library Consortium, MackinVIA, Now Provides Students/Teachers Access to Hundreds of E-Books
We are now members of the Connected Library Consortium.
This membership allows us access to a collection of e-books and audiobooks for K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 that is housed in MackinVIA. We joined the CLC through a collaborative effort between the SOMSD school libraries and the District.
MackinVIA is a multi-award-winning, digital content management system that allows our students to read anytime, anywhere. MackinVIA has an assortment of features to enhance the learning experience for our students. The platform is colorful, engaging, and intuitive, designed specifically for PK-12 environments.
Our membership will increase our schools’ access to e-books and audiobooks; while also supporting our summer reading and beyond. Teachers and students across the district will have access to the platform thru their individual district Google accounts.
Key Features
- Check out and request titles
- Highlight and take notes
- Bookmark pages
- Save favorite resources
- Download titles for offline use
Access Our Digital Resources
- Go to https://somsd.mackinvia.com or download the free MackinVIA app.
- Log into Google with your email and password.
Note: This step may be skipped if you are already logged into your Google account.
Need Help?
We are thrilled to be able to offer these resources and look forward to seeing you all in person soon!
SOMSD VIRTUAL ARTS FESTIVAL
SOMSD Community,
Although we were not able to gather together this year for the many spring concerts, exhibitions and shows, the South Orange Maplewood School District’s Fine & Performing Arts Department was dedicated to providing an annual venue for the various forms of visual and performing arts programs that exist in our schools.
It was important for us to share uplifting creative works with the wonderful community we serve!
We hope that you enjoy the works provided by some of our young artists under the guidance of our very talented and committed K-12 staff of arts educators.
Please explore the various elementary, middle and high school links below!
Sincerely,
James A Manno, Supervisor of the Fine & Performing Arts
SOMSD FINE & PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT
VIRTUAL ARTS FESTIVAL 2020
- View the Festival Links: SOMSD Fine & Performing Virtual Arts Festival
SOMSD Fine & Performing Virtual Arts Festival
LETTER TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FAMILIES: RETRIEVAL OF STUDENT BELONGINGS
Dear SOMSD Families,
LETTER REGARDING RETRIEVAL OF STUDENT BELONGINGS
June 11, 2020
Dear SOMSD Families,
As we prepare for the end of the school year, District schools are coordinating efforts to retrieve and secure belongings that students may have left behind in their classrooms.
Although some families have already shared that they have nothing of value to pick-up, we want to provide an opportunity for parents/guardians whose child (ren) may have left behind meaningful or irreplaceable personal belongings in their classroom prior to our COVID closure.
If you are the latter parent and wish to have a personal item returned, immediately email your child’s classroom teacher. In addition, please copy your building principal on the email and provide a detailed description of the items you are requesting. This email must be received by the end of business on Monday, June 15th. If you do not have email access, please call your school’s front office and leave a message.
Arrangements will be made by individual schools for pick-up of your child’s property; any unclaimed items will be discarded. Student’s clothing (unless parent/guardian shares otherwise) will be placed in each school’s Lost and Found and will be available when we are physically back in the building.
Thank you for all that you continue to do in support of teaching and learning!
Sincerely,
South Orange & Maplewood School District
Montrose Messenger – April Edition
SOMSD Extends School Closure through April 17, 2020 – Letter to Community
March 25, 2020
Dear SOMSD Staff & Family,
I hope that this correspondence finds you, your families, and your loved ones (both near and far) safe and healthy. Thank you for your continued patience and support as we work together as a community to keep everyone safe. I appreciate your efforts at home in helping provide our students with a continuity of education during this closure period.
School Closure Update:
On Friday, March 13, 2020, as you know, we closed all schools in order to protect the health and wellness of our students, our staff, and their families. We wanted to do our part in the nationwide movement to exercise the practice of “Social Distancing” to limit the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The following week, Governor Murphy issued an executive order mandating that all NJ public, private, and parochial preschool programs and elementary and secondary schools, including charter and renaissance schools, would close by Wednesday, March 18, 2020, and would remain closed as long as the order stood.
With Governor Murphy’s executive order still in effect, South Orange & Maplewood School District has extended its distance learning through Friday, April 17, 2020, with students tentatively returning to school on Monday, April 20. As we share often, this is a fluid situation, and we continue to partner with the Governor’s Office, the NJ Department of Education, local health agencies, and our educational leaders to ensure that our future plans meet the needs of our greater community. We believe the extension of distance learning through April 17 is a realistic and logical adjustment that is aligned with the recent steps taken by our Governor for the protection of our citizens.
Since our distance learning period began on March 18 and was tentatively slated to last two weeks, this extension will formally begin on Wednesday, April 1 (as a reminder, the first two days of school closures, March 16 & 17, utilized the District’s unused calendar-embedded emergency school closure dates). As we continue distance learning into April, we will move into our normally scheduled Spring Break from April 10 – 20. During this break, we will provide optional high-quality supplemental instructional enrichment opportunities for our students/families to engage with if they wish.
This new arrangement will provide our administrators and staff with an opportunity to take a deep breath and prepare (we hope) to return to our normal operations. The District will be sending a more detailed communication providing additional guidance on the continuation of our distance learning platform to our families via email by end of day tomorrow, Thursday, March 26.
I would also like to remind you that we have a district “Coronavirus Updates” webpage dedicated to our communications on this matter: www.somsd.k12.nj.us/coronavirusupdates. This page includes resources that can support your student (and family’s) mental health needs during this time of uncertainty. We are keeping the needs of ‘the whole child’ at the forefront as we move forward together. Thank you again for your partnership. Be safe and well.
DOWNLOAD: SOMSD School Closure Extension, 3/25 Letter to Community
Sincerely,
Dr. Ronald G. Taylor, Superintendent of Schools