This message was just received from the South Orange-Maplewood School District:

At the December 2011 and January 2012 Board of Education meetings, Superintendent Osborne presented proposals for changes to academic placement at Columbia High School and for Middle School Transformation in SOMSD. The Superintendent's memos to the Board of Education outlining the proposals as well as a summary of the changes are attached to this message.

The Board of Education will hold a public forum on the proposal on February 8, 2012, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Columbia High School Auditorium. No action will be taken at this session.

The forum is one of a series of activities and events that the Board of Education is undertaking to ensure that the public is informed about the secondary school proposals and has the opportunity to ask questions and share viewpoints as the Board deliberates over the future of secondary education in SOMSD.

The Board would appreciate questions related to the proposals submitted to MSandCHSproposals@somsd.k12.nj.us by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 2. These questions will help preparations for the February 8 forum.

Additionally, from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. on February 8, the Board of Education will discuss recently passed state legislation granting districts the discretion to move Board of Education elections from April to November.  Action may be taken on this item.

A similar question and answer session was held on Jan. 11 with Barbara Heisler, the former director of the Community Coalition on Race, as moderator.

A crowd of about 200 gathered to hear prepared answers to the 11 questions that had been culled from submissions made online by interested residents. The questions ranged from "Why IB?" to queries about funding, curriculum, and professional development. Parents wanted to know if the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme could be incorporated faster and/or expanded to the high school. Other questions focused on particulars such as the impact of pulling 6th graders out of arts instruction for interventions. Still other questions were related to rigor.

Heisler combined and paraphrased a number of questions, eliciting some complaints from a number of questioners who posted on MaplewoodOnline. The moderated Q&A session was followed by a 25-minute open session of questions and comments from the audience.