South Orange-Maplewood School District board meeting, date not confirmed yet
6 h 59 min
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What happened
What happened at this meeting
South Orange-Maplewood board passes consent resolutions, including board goals 6:16:33
- In the student representative update, a speaker reported on the new bell schedule at Columbia High School, including lost lab time for AP STEM courses and a shorter conference period, and Deirdre Brown and a district staff member discussed AP lab time. 1:18:55
- The superintendent gave an update on paraprofessional staffing, transportation and proposed district goals, and board members asked how the goals would be funded and measured. 2:04:52
- Several speakers at public comment raised concerns about the move of paraprofessional staffing to a vendor and about a plan for artificial turf at Ritzer Field. 3:46:13
- After a separate roll call on resolution 5021-15, the board took a roll call vote on resolutions 5017 through 5026, and all of them passed. 6:40:58
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Item by item (14)
- Opening, recognition and swearing-in 0:00
- William Meyer led the Pledge of Allegiance and called a presenter forward for a special recognition. 0:52
- The board voted unanimously to enter executive session at 6:36 PM to discuss personnel, legal and confidential matters. 3:17
- A student representative took the oath of office, and William Meyer welcomed the student representatives back for their second term on the board. 1:18:11
- The board unanimously approved the executive and regular meeting minutes from the August 27, 2026 meeting. 1:16:32
- Student representative report on bell schedule 1:18:47
- In the student representative update, a speaker said the new bell schedule brought a later start time and 70-minute extended periods for all classes, while AP STEM courses lost their lab period, roughly 6 weeks of instruction time. 1:18:47
- Deirdre Brown asked what the plan was to give AP students lab time and whether AP science teachers were consulted, and a district staff member said AP teachers were part of the committee and were connected with schools including Randolph. 1:27:22
- One board member said they shared the students' concern about lunch capacity, and a district staff member said about 3 to 4 tables were empty during lunch. 1:54:29
- Superintendent's update and district goals 2:04:45
- The superintendent apologized for paraprofessional staffing gaps at the start of the year and said spots were being filled with Delta T, Precision and Horizon personnel. 2:06:39
- The superintendent said about 20 routes had to be redone, buses were added and the district had updated to a transfinder system to track routes. 2:14:50
- A district staff member described goals on a connected learning framework, learning-ready facilities and infrastructure, and student wellness. 2:26:08
- Board discussion of district goals 2:41:19
- One board member said they were very concerned the budget did not allow the goals to happen, and a district staff member said some were 2 to 3 year goals made within the budget. 2:41:31
- One board member said many objectives were not SMART and questioned a target of 80% of students in grades 3 through 8 reaching a score of 80 or higher in one year. 2:56:04
- One board member said the goals could apply to any district and asked for something relevant to this district. 3:06:00
- Business office report 3:21:20
- A staff member reported trainings on purchasing procedures, auditor fieldwork for the '25-'26 school year and early groundwork on the '27-'28 budget. 3:21:35
- Paul Stephan asked when the public would see major budget changes, and the staff member said significant progress would be shared with the full board in January. 3:23:07
- Deirdre Brown asked about the self-insured health plan, and the staff member said the first 7 months of claims seemed to be holding within budget. 3:31:05
- Board president's statement 3:33:09
- William Meyer said the board was not voting on Ritzer Field this month. 3:33:09
- One board member said the paraprofessional staffing shortfall was entirely unacceptable and that transportation had major issues. 3:33:09
- William Meyer outlined three board goals on student achievement, governance effectiveness and strategic stewardship. 3:33:32
- Public comment 3:45:20
- Several speakers at public comment raised concerns about the paraprofessional vendor, including worker classification and staffing shortfalls, and asked that paraprofessionals be brought in-house as district employees. 3:46:13
- Other speakers raised art department staffing, the school placement hardship appeal process and bus service. 3:48:25
- Several speakers asked for engineering, health, environmental, traffic and financial studies before any vote on artificial turf at Ritzer Field. 4:09:14
- Facilities, Ritzer Field and transportation committee report 4:37:28
- Malini Nayar reported that Plan A2 would cost roughly $7.7 million and Plan D2 an estimated $9.9 million, including soil management costing roughly $1.5 million. 4:44:58
- One board member said they wanted the district to keep looking into bringing transportation and paraprofessionals in-house and were willing to ask the Board of School Estimate for additional tax dollars. 5:02:48
- Deirdre Brown called for a special board meeting to discuss committee structures, question tracking and accountability. 5:09:47
- Special services committee report 5:27:17
- Elizabeth Callahan reported the committee met September 15 and reviewed risk ratio data that will now be reviewed quarterly. 5:27:24
- One board member said the paraprofessional situation was a failure and that the district is preparing a postmortem on the Delta T staffing shortfall. 5:30:31
- One board member said the district needed to break out of the third-party vendor model, and a district staff member said the district would share its data on bringing paraprofessionals in-house. 5:34:53
- Student and family affairs committee report 5:45:01
- William Meyer reported middle school tackle football costs approximately $15,000, with students paying $250 per athlete. 5:45:01
- William Meyer reported preschool capacity of 516 seats across 9 locations, with a possible 165 more seats if state aid comes through. 5:49:11
- One board member proposed a conversation offline or in EC about moving some of the transportation burden out of FFT and over to SFA. 6:02:56
- Curriculum and instruction committee report 6:03:44
- Shayna Sackett-Gable reported a request for a study trip to Taiwan at no cost to the district. 6:05:45
- One board member reported middle school language classes are now offered every other day and said the change was not shared in advance. 6:06:29
- Jeffrey Bennett asked for the rationale, and a district staff member said the decision was budget-driven. 6:08:35
- Policy and governance committee report 6:14:01
- Paul Stephan reported policies 2200, 2411, 5460 and 5561 were up for second read and the district had issued 22 additional regulations. 6:14:04
- Consent agenda and severed items 6:15:26
- William Meyer presented resolutions 5017 through 5027, including board goals and district goals, and a motion and second were made. 6:15:26
- Deirdre Brown asked to sever items, and the board separated 5021-15, a grade 8 Spanish curriculum, and 5027, the district goals. 6:27:16
- Deirdre Brown said the change to every-other-day language was implemented before the board approved it, and roll calls were taken separately on 5021-15 and 5027. 6:28:22
- Resolutions 5017 through 5026, excluding 5021-15, passed. 6:53:25
- Second public comment and adjournment 6:54:51
Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.
Who spoke
Who spoke
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Video: posted by the district as “Board of Education Meeting - Public Session - 9/24/26”