Education

Columbia High School
District Summary
The School District of South Orange and Maplewood serves more than 7,200 students in ten schools, including one early-childhood center, six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. The community and its schools are racially and economically diverse with more than 90 percent of Columbia High School graduates planning to attend college each year.
The district’s vision is to be the top-performing diverse suburban school district in the nation. Its mission is to provide an excellent education for each and every student by providing them with rigorous academic opportunities to reach their personal college and career aspirations, including providing supports for struggling students to succeed. The district will provide an equitable education that breaks the links between demographics and academic achievement. The district will educate its students to be responsible and productive members of society at large: caring, collaborative and ethical people; critical thinkers and problem solvers; effective writers and speakers; and lifelong learners.

Enrollment

Based on the 2018-2019 NJ Performance Report, there were a total of 7,108 students enrolled in Pre-K through Grade 12 as follows:

 School  # of Students  Grade
Montrose Elementary School  172 Pre-K
South Mountain Elementary School
 602 Pre-K to Grade 5
Marshall Elementary School
 523 K to Grade 2
Clinton Elementary School
 617 K to Grade 5
Seth Boyden Elementary School  493 K to Grade 5
Tuscan Elementary School  628 K to Grade 5
Jefferson Elementary School
 551 Grade 3 to Grade 5
Maplewood Middle School 805 Grade 6 to Grade 8
South Orange Middle School
 772 Grade 6 to Grade 8
Columbia High School 1,944 Grade 9 to Grade 12

Please visit the SOMSD Schools page for a listing of schools and contact information.  

Faculty and Administrative Credentials

PhD/EdD – 1% (Faculty)/3% (Administrators)
MA/MS – 59% (Faculty)/97% (Administrators)
BA/BS – 40% (Faculty)/N/A (Administrators)
15 staff members have received National Board Certification

Faculty/Student Ratio

There is approximately one faculty member for each 12 students. The state average is 1/11.1. This includes faculty specializing in art, music, health, physical education, enrichment, media, reading, guidance, resource room, special education and those making up the child study teams.  

Seton Hall University (Private University)

One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall University has been developing students in mind, heart and spirit since 1856. Home to 10,200 undergraduate and graduate students and offering more than 90 rigorous majors, Seton Hall’s academic excellence has been singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek. Seton Hall's 58-acre main campus is located in the quaint town of South Orange, New Jersey, only 14 miles from Manhattan.  The University’s nationally-ranked School of Law is located in nearby Newark, New Jersey. The new Interprofessional Health Sciences (IHS) campus, situated in the towns of Clifton and Nutley, N.J., opened in July 2018. The IHS campus houses Seton Hall's College of Nursing, School of Health and Medical Sciences and the new Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.
History:

Founded: 1856 by Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley

Namesake: Elizabeth Ann Seton, first American-born saint

Affiliation: Catholic, one of the oldest diocesan universities in the U.S., under the Archdiocese of Newark

University President: Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D., a nationally recognized leader in higher education, was named the 21st president of Seton Hall on August 1, 2019.

Enrollment:

Undergraduate enrollment: 6,200

  • 55% female/45% male
  • 45% diversity rate
  • 70 countries represented
  • 80% of freshmen live on campus

Graduate enrollment: 4,000