As students and staff continue to struggle with facilities issues at Maplewood Middle School — including the inability to use the gym, library and media center due to needed repairs — the school’s Home & School Association has created a working group to advocate for facilities improvements with the South Orange-Maplewood School District administration.
Calling the ongoing issues a “debacle,” MMS HSA member Fabiana Glasby told Village Green. “The MMS HSA has now created a Working Group specifically to advocate for the improvement of the state of MMS facilities. This group includes both the President and Co-President of the MMS HSA.”
Glasby shared a letter that was sent to the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ronald Taylor on February 22, 2023. See the full letter below.
Glasby and other parents have been actively complaining of conditions at the school since last fall. At the January Board of Education meeting, South Orange-Maplewood School District Eric Burnside said issues were being addressed but would take time to complete.
The MMS HSA working group’s letter asks numerous questions including if the LRFP project for MMS takes into consideration the “additional five years of wear and tear on the building” since the approval of the LRFP in 2018. The group overall asks for more communication from the district on facilities issues and the LRFP.
February 22, 2023
Dear Maplewood Board of Education,
INTRODUCTION
We, the Maplewood Middle School HSA Community, want to work in partnership with the district to address the problematic building infrastructure of our school. We are concerned by the number of building failures recently, as the building has deteriorated and impacted the day-to-day school experience of our students and staff. The plans for repairs at Maplewood Middle School were laid out in a 2018 slide show for the Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP) and have not been updated to include the additional five years of wear and tear on the building. As such, we want reassurance that there are enough district resources to address the issues at the MMS facility.
To this end, we respectfully request better communication and clearer timelines of the work to be done. We also want to know how we can be helpful. Our goal is to see results, and to know where, as concerned parents, we can step in to lend a helping hand. We all want to maximize student potential and this starts with a school building that functions properly every day of the school year. The core of our concern is not aesthetics. We are deeply concerned about the students who are being affected by these deteriorating facilities.
IMMEDIATE FACILITIES CONCERNS
The Gym
As you know there are 728 students currently enrolled at MMS. All 728 students take physical education, yet the lower gym has been deemed unusable for the remainder of the school year. The upper gym has had several issues as well, at some points causing students to meet in the auditorium and write essays about a sport, rather than actually playing sports. Physical activity is important for our middle-schoolers. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, exercise helps prevent obesity, heart disease, and diabetes and helps students focus in school. Almost 1 in 5 children in the United States have obesity, so limiting our students’ ability to exercise is in direct conflict with our district’s physical education goals to help our students “maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.”
The Library
All 728 students are unable to access the school library media center at this time and the public library across the street is also inaccessible. In addition to giving our students access to books, our school library space is a hub of activity. With its closure students no longer have access to the technology contained therein, including the 3D printers, sound booths, and workspaces. School clubs that used to meet in the media center have also been displaced and the students have lost access to many of the interesting parts of being an MMS student, including the opportunity to make things, create recordings, and work in groups. Social/emotional connections and technology are important for middle school students. Studies show that social-emotional skills—such as problem-solving, self-regulation, impulse control, and empathy—help improve academics, reduce negative social behaviors like bullying, and create positive classroom climates. Social-emotional skills also help children successfully manage everyday life.
There is a special education classroom that was meeting in the library due to the proximity to resources, and that class has had to move its location. Students with learning differences and in need of support thrive in consistent settings and with access to resources. The absence of the library removes both of these important supports.
Our media specialist/librarian is not only displaced from the library, but the classes he teaches are also displaced. 131 students (or just under 18% of the student population) are without a permanent classroom space for the MMS Investigates class. This important class helps teach our middle schoolers how to be savvy about the Internet, how to understand digital copyright issues, and helps teach them that not all information sources are created equal.
In addition, the library is used for standardized testing, and there is not enough space in our MMS building to hold testing without modifying the school schedule or causing a delayed opening to a school day, without the use of the library. A delayed opening to a school day not only creates hardships for families, but removes valuable instructional time from our students’ school day.
There are also approximately 60 students (or 8% of the student population) that require a unique testing setting, that is typically provided in the library. Removing the space that these students need to be able to test to the best of their ability hinders their potential, and can create unnecessary anxiety.
Room 19
At this time 104 students (just over 14% of the student population) are attending a Geometry class that has been moved around the building several times this school year since its classroom was deemed uninhabitable in mid-October. It was first moved to the library, but when the library was damaged, it was moved to the cafeteria. While the teacher has been flexible and has continued to teach the class to the best of his ability given the current situation, he and other displaced teachers are without the technology present in their own classrooms as well as other resources they have developed, such as
geometry models and tools, due to the mobile nature of their current instructional spaces. We have been told the repairs to the Geometry classroom will not be completed this school year, but we don’t understand why. Is it an asbestos remediation issue? Is there a way to speed this repair?
What We Know
We very much appreciate that the district has a process for carrying out all of its operations and we appreciate the communication that has come out thus far. We have the following information at this time:
1. A letter was sent to the MMS community on October 7, 2022, regarding leaks in the building due to torrential rains (incident discovered October 4, 2022).
2. The leaks were patched by October 5, 2022.
3. District personnel have discussed why the leaks occurred and next steps.
4. The district has engaged in building-wide roof reviews with a roofing vendor who has been assessing current roof conditions and providing repairs that are determined to be needed.
5. MMS is scheduled to have a new roof installed in 2024 as part of the ongoing District Construction Bond.
6. Leaks over the holiday break made the library and lower gym unusable when students/staff returned to school on January 3, 2023.
7. Ongoing repair work to the library will happen as materials and products are available.
8. The district is working with its insurance company and vendors to have the repairs completed as
quickly as possible. It has been 7 weeks so far.
After Dr. Taylor’s visit to MMS on January 26 when there was no heat in the gym, he remarked that he was “happy to share that during his visit the staff and students appeared to be having a normal, calm day of school, which is what we all want.” People will adjust and make do, but actually what we all want is to maximize student potential, which simply cannot be accomplished when the media center is closed, one of the gyms in inaccessible, a math teacher is displaced and working in various locations around the building, and programs are in jeopardy of being canceled due to insufficient space. While we
appreciate the district is taking steps to remediate these conditions, we want to impress upon this group the hardships these incidents have created.
LONG RANGE FACILITIES PLAN
In communication received from Dr. Taylor on October 11, 2022, it was stated that the district would reintroduce projects to schools that have yet to go out to bid with lots of information and communication. We are asking for better communication regarding the district’s intentions.
1. We would like to have access to clear timelines that accurately depict what work is taking place
and when.
2. We would like a better system to accurately track the work being done from the LRFP as well as
outstanding repairs.
3. Is it acceptable for parents to contact Mr. Giglio and Mr. Diaz directly?
4. It seems as though some of the priorities in the plan should take less precedence than others.
For example, should the district be making any interior repairs to the building, while the roof is not in good condition?
We understand that many of the people who are currently working in the district now were not in place in 2018, when the LRFP was developed. But we hope those currently at the helm can fill us in on why certain choices are being made.
Summer Programming and the III
The LRFP is to be in support of the Intentional Integration Initiative (III), and we are concerned that there has not been enough planning to ensure that this necessary construction work will not create undue hardships for MMS families. Where will Summer programming take place while construction is happening? This affects approximately 90-100 students (or 12-13% of the student population) who attend the MMS Summer Intervention program and 60-70 incoming 6th graders who attend the MMS Summer Bridge Program. The Hub/Family Connections also runs a month-long Summer program.
Approximately 90% of the children who participate in the school’s Summer Intervention program are Black and qualify for free and reduced lunch. According to the district’s website, the Long Range Facilities Plan “supports work and decisions concerning III.” It makes no sense to our HSA for the district to spend money and time to move students around the district, from potentially the closest school to their home, if we are not going to provide the equity that the SOMSD Intentional Integration Initiative is intended to furnish.
Here are some facts we know about the LRFP, based on what you have shared:
1. The SOMSD presented the Long-Range Facilities Plan to the community on November 19, 2018.
2. The recent LRFP with the planned scope of work and updates are posted on the district’s website under the Business department.
3. Engineers are still working on the final specifications for the bid for MMS, so there is no definitive time frame for when construction will begin.
4. The request for bids for asbestos abatement was posted on February 13, 2023.
5. We do not have updates on the scope of work other than what Mr. Burnside has shared in meetings with the President’s Council. (While we work together with the district and school administration, it is not the responsibility of the HSA to communicate or represent the district’s plans, and as such, this scope of work has not been made publicly available to our MMS community).
6. The district is currently about $5 million over budget, mostly due to supply chain issues and expenses.
7. The bid schedule was posted on November 3, 2022 and updated on February 1, 2023, thereby changing the bid due date from February 1, 2023 to March 15, 2023.
These are some of the questions we still have:
1. What is the anticipated timeline to complete the areas of work laid out in the LRFP?
2. Has the survey work done in 2018 been updated to reflect the new areas of disrepair from the past 5 years?
3. Will work be happening during the school year (after school, on weekends) in order to get the work done?
4. Does the district have sufficient funds to cover the 20-30% construction industry rise in costs that we’ve seen in the last several years?
5. What is the rationale for not starting the roof work this summer?
6. What is the rationale for the work choices the district has made for the immediate future?
7. Has the air quality in the building been tested, since these leaks, roof issues, and falling ceiling tiles issues have been occurring for a decade?
8. Aside from the LRFP, is there money available to address current facilities issues?
CONCLUSION
We come to this group with curiosity and humility. We want to find a way forward that supports ALL of our students and staff in a way that maximizes their potential. We want to eliminate lost instructional time due to facilities issues AND still be fiscally responsible. Prior to the start of the first phase of work, we want to be sure that the scope of work fully addresses the considerable needs of our building.
Construction takes time and is inherently an inconvenience. How can we work together to clearly communicate the schedule, scope and timeline; plan for interruptions to day-to-day operations in a thoughtful way; and anticipate potential issues?
We would welcome a written response to our questions or a meeting with you wherein our questions are answered in detail. We look forward to your reply, and to the dialogue that this letter will hopefully initiate.
Thank you for your time and attention,
MMS HSA Facilities Advocacy Working Group
Vanessa Llana, Jennifer Melone, Myani Lawson, Jennifer Roszell, Laura Booker, Fabiana Glasby