Power to unmask local students could soon be in the hands of public school and day care parents. In less than a month, students and teachers may not be required to wear masks in school, and instead have the option to wear face coverings, if they so desire.
Despite this long-sought flexibility, some local school districts are leery to, as yet, implement a mask-optional policy, and await further state Department of Health guidance.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Monday, Feb. 7 that the statewide school mask mandate would be lifted beginning March 7. That decision comes as Covid cases and the contagious Omicron variant have waned.
While the mask mandate will sunset as of March 7, local school officials and day care operators will still have the authority to maintain it for students, teachers and staff, if they choose. Schools will not be allowed to ban the use of masks.
Both the Warren and Long Hill grades K-8 Boards of Education met on the same day as Murphy’s Feb. 7 announcement, but came to different conclusions on lifting the mask mandate.
The grades K-8 Watchung Board of Education later released a community briefing about the governor’s decision.
The Long Hill board determined that the district will not continue the mask mandate beyond March 7. The Warren board, however, was hesitant to make any decision before getting further state guidance.
“The board has long-hoped for the ability to utilize local Covid risk data to guide its decisions, including passing resolutions to that effect last summer,” said Warren School Superintendent Matthew Mingle. “The governor’s announcement of a pending shift away from a statewide mask mandate effective March 7 is welcome news.”
With any major changes to state mandates, local school districts typically receive additional implementation details at a later time.
“Oftentimes when there are changes from the governor’s office, there is a headline and then we get documentation a couple days later that has a lot of nuance and detail,” Mingle said. “It’s important that we not draw immediate conclusions about all of the details that will go into the mask mandate being lifted.”
Watchung School Superintendent George Alexis echoed Mingle. He stated that the revised guidance will play an important role in the board’s decision and the district’s approach to masking after the state mandate expires.
“We will continue monitoring the Covid data in our region, follow the evolving state health guidance, and consult with our local health official in an effort to determine the most appropriate path forward,” Alexis wrote.
Long Hill School Superintendent Anne Mucci gave the same caveat, stating that the Department of Health will interpret next steps after the mask mandate expires, including whether districts will still face a contract tracing requirement.
Long Hill board member Melissa Ruvolo noted that health officials will simply make recommendations how to best protect students and school staff under a mask-optional policy.
“They are not going to go against what the governor said,” she said.
The Warren district will release community updates every Thursday up to March 7.
Mingle said discussion will continue by the district’s return to school committee and the board’s ad hoc return to school committee in advance of the next full board meeting on Feb. 28.
The Long Hill board was more inclined to act quickly on Murphy’s announcement than Warren and Watchung. Board members had a roundtable discussion to decide if township schools will be mask-optional starting March 7.
In a school faculty survey, 75.4 percent of staff members said they are comfortable teaching without the masks anytime after March 1. Among the respondents, 15.5 percent were in favor of keeping the mask mandate if the district’s Covid levels were in the high or very high range. Nine percent of responding staff wanted to keep the mask mandate until the end of the school year.
“We’ve all been trying to make the best decisions with real-time data and information and need the flexibility to update decisions as we learn more,” said Long Hill Board President Kim Case. “Know that we are making the decision given the circumstances and conditions that currently surround us, but these circumstances and conditions may change and we will do what we need to do at any future point, if that is the case.”
Board member Tom Grosskopf emphasized that individuals should be admonished if they criticize students and/or staff who choose to wear a face covering.
All Long Hill board members were in favor of mask-optional school days beginning March 7, except for board member Alexander D’Jamoos, who offered a different perspective.
Student vaccination rates at Long Hill’s three schools are 40 percent at Gillette School, 60 percent at Millington, and 67.2 percent at Central, Mucci reported.
D’Jamoos noted that Gillette has a significant population of students who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine, and that it experienced a surge of Covid cases during the recent Omicron wave.
“The optimist will look at that and say ‘Well, that means that there’s more of them who are now temporarily immune from getting Covid,’ “ D’Jamoos said. “But the reality also paints the picture that the reason they experienced that surge, more so than the other schools, is because you have a population that hasn’t been vaccinated.”
Because of that discrepancy, D’Jamoos said “we should honor the removal of the mandate when it comes to Millington and Central, but take a little bit more of a temperate approach when it comes to Gillette.”
He made a motion to uphold the mask requirement only at Gillette School to “see how unmasking two-thirds of our students plays out.” Then, a decision on removing masks from younger students would be made later down the road. No board member seconded D’Jamoos’ motion.
Board member Danielle Daley replied that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children under six years old should not be masked.
Watchung Hills Superintendent Elizabeth Jewett reported that mask optional considerations will be discussed at the Tuesday, Feb. 15 meeting. She will likely send out an update to the school community later this week.