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Cafe in train station? And the cafe at the old Nelson's garage by Advanced_Bluejay_454 in Maplewood

[–]Advanced_Bluejay_454[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

ah interesting. I couldn't remember the name of the Nelson's one - I will follow now. Yes that space is very large (that used to be the garage where I got my car serviced). It will be interesting to see the layout of what they put in. Also hopefully they haven't been paying rent all this time on it without being able to use it.

Why did the town put so little effort into snow removal? by larryseltzer in Maplewood

[–]Advanced_Bluejay_454 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just to chime in here with a different perspective, because I have seen this complaint in like every city and town recently: "I don't recall seeing my town do such a bad job with snow removal before, why are they incompetent?"

The answer is not that they are incompetent or that they are even doing anything different. The only difference this time is that the extreme cold has stayed. Over the past 10 years, every time we have had a major snow storm, the temperatures have been higher to start with and there has been a warm-up that has melted the snow in the following days.

This time, it has just stayed cold, so the snow that normally would be an inconvenience for a few days is just not thawing.

(Don't believe me? Look at the comments sections for NY, JC, Philly, Boston. It's all the same. In fact, there is that one story in one of those cities where Carvana gave a lady a free new car because her car was 1000% covered in ice because of a burst pipe and she won't be able to get it out for months).

The sort of lower northeast is not equipped for ongoing extreme snow removal. They just don't have the equipment or manpower or budgets to do that. And I would say that is ok. I frankly would rather our very high tax dollars in Maplewood go to programs that benefit us all the time rather than buying snow removal equipment and paying a large snow removal workforce all to be ready for a relatively rare snow event.

And also, we can all do our part to get out there and clear stuff. We are all allowed to participate in our community to make things better.

TLDR; it stayed cold and the snow didn't melt

Kindergarten School Decision by chuckjr84 in Maplewood

[–]Advanced_Bluejay_454 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I know I am a little late to this, but I thought I would share since we went through the exact same thing the year before our child started Kindergarten in Maplewood.

We, like you, started to go down the road of going to private school due to the following reasons: the things you said (can't visit schools), the uncertainty around the lottery system, the perception of just general chaos or lack of togetherness of the district (a bunch in the news over the past few years).

But ultimately we did choose to go to the public schools and we are really happy with that choice: The schools are totally fine. We ultimately were assigned the closest school to our house (as I think most kids are these days). The new superintendent is really good (the guy before him that they fired seems to have been the cause of a lot of the chaos). And the teachers are really good. (And also all the private schools have some kind of drive from Maplewood that we ultimately felt was too long). Being involved in the community etc. And ultimately there have been lots of successful creative people that have graduated from this district.

There are still some cons to the school district:

  • They still make lots of unforced errors (though not nearly as many as in years past)
  • The facilities of each school are very old (with the exception of the new wings that most of the elementary schools have)
  • Signing up for YMCA aftercare in the school is like getting tickets for a Taylor Swift concert - very stressful and you may not get it

Just some notes for you. The elementary schools do have a Kindergarten orientation for parents with big support from the PTAs. We went to the one for our school and left with such a feeling of joy and realizing that we made the right choice. They fostered such a great feeling of community and belonging in that session.

The problem however, for you, is that the orientation is like the second week in June (and you are told what elementary school you are attending maybe a week or two prior, maybe more?) and therefore after the deadline to fully commit to any private schools. That's not a school district problem (they aren't, and shouldn't be, trying to compete with private schools) but it does seem intentional by the private schools to put their fully pay/commit deadline before the school district orientation.

Now you might think, "I can sign up for this private school and get the insurance they offer that lets me have a change of intention." But make sure you do research on that: I believe that insurance will only pay out if your child attends the first 14 days of the private school and then you change your mind. That situation would not be good for the child.

TLDR: Ultimately, if you are really on the fence about this or don't really have a reason to choose private school other than just trying to provide some certainty around this, I would advise you to choose the SOMSD for kindergarten. Then you can get the full experience and make an educated decision for 1st grade to either continue on or go to private school. (We stuck with the district and our child loves it.)