South Orange-Maplewood School District


The South Orange-Maplewood School District is a regional public school district, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from the suburban communities of South Orange and Maplewood, two municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, United States.
As of the 2017-18 school year, the district's nine schools had an enrollment of 7,234 students and 565.3 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1.
The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "I", the second-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.

History

The school district has operated as a unified organization for the area since 1867 and under the current name since 1894. James Ricalton, a teacher, photographer and world traveker born in New York of Scottish parents who became the school district's first permanent teacher, helped set the high standard of education that persists in the school district to this day.
In October 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint against the South Orange-Maplewood School District in relation to its academic leveling and disciplinary systems, stating that the overuse of discipline and "zero-tolerance" policy, and implicit racial bias within the level selection system violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Awards and recognition

For the 1992–93 school year, Columbia High School received the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.
NAMM named the district in its 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide.

Schools

Schools in the district are:
;Preschool
;Elementary schools
;Middle schools
;High school
Members of the district administration are: