We, the undersigned, ask the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education to delay approving the Strategic Plan and associated Action Plans until more detailed information, including projected costs, are provided to the public.  We appreciate the work of those who participated in this process, and we believe it would be irresponsible to move forward immediately, particularly in light of the projected multi-million dollar budget deficit facing our district. We should not approve sweeping changes to our school system without providing the public with basic and important information such as the projected costs for each action plan. We need to know what programs and resources, such as teachers, classes, and support programs, will need to be eliminated in order to fund these plans.  

The public has been promised repeatedly that the action plans and their supporting documents would be presented in detail at the end of the nine month process, for the public to assess and vote on.  Unfortunately, the plans do not contain any details as to projected costs, how to implement them, or how to pay for them. Many of the urgent needs that parents and district employees have been concerned with are not addressed by the Strategic Plan or the Action Plans.  How does one prioritize these disconnected action plans without taking into account our foundational needs, our resources, and our limited budget? We have been told by Dr. Ramos numerous times not to worry about implementation and money; that these things will be addressed later in the process. Well, our history shows that we are not particularly good at implementing even one idea (IB, for example). Implementing over 40 ideas is essentially absurd, an almost impossible task for even the most well-functioning and funded district.

The public has also not had the proper time to provide feedback on these plans. The Education Summit 2 on December 6th was supposed to reveal greater detail to the public and allow the public to provide informed, meaningful feedback to the district. The design of that forum did not even allow the public to access all of the plans in full detail (each attendee could only attend three presentations out of nine, and the presentations did not present the full detailed versions of the action plans).  The full versions of the plans have yet to be released to the public, no cost information has been released to the public, and administration has been silent regarding how public feedback from any the forums will be incorporated into the plans before anyone votes on them.

We ask that the South Orange- Maplewood Board of Education delay accepting these plans until the administration provides more detailed information for every piece of the plan, including cost estimates, implementation strategies, and feedback from the public.

Sincerely yours,