The de-leveling — or "leveling up" — of 7th grade Level 3 students into Level  4 for English Language Arts, Science and Social Studies has been a very hot topic in Maplewood and South Orange for at least two years.

The Board of Education made the decision to level up 7th grade in June 2010. The practice went into place for the 2010-2011 school year, and the South Orange-Maplewood School District presented preliminary results related to de-leveling at its October 2011 meeting.

Despite the school district's positive interpretation of the numbers and teachers' and administrators' testimony as to the beneficial effects of support and training for leveling up, a number of parents in the district have questioned the interpretation of the data and the efficacy of de-leveling. Others, though supportive of leveling up and encouraged by the data, are interested in further discussion.

All will have that opportunity on Monday, December 5, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the South Orange Middle School Little Theater, 70 Ridgewood Road, South Orange, NJ when the Board of Eduction holds a Special Meeting to engage the public in a discussion about their concerns and interests regarding the results of middle school restructuring as they relate to future academic placement recommendations. A panel of administrators and teachers will join Board members to answer questions from the public. No action will be taken. (Note: This meeting was originally scheduled for December 7.) This will be the first of three meetings scheduled to discuss academic placement.

The agenda is as follows:

• Introduction
• Presentation - First year results of the 7th grade level-up and 6th grade reorganization
• Q&A - 2 minute time limit per person.

Additional academic placement meetings will take place on January 11, 2012 (time and location to be announced) and in February 2012 (date, time and location to be announced).