SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — On Feb. 7, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that the school mask mandate will no longer be in effect statewide as of March 7. In that same announcement, the governor also noted that local school districts can make determinations as to whether they should continue with mask mandates. On Feb. 22, the South Orange–Maplewood School District announced a phased timeline to roll back mitigation mandates.
“The good news is that Essex County is currently at a moderate COVID Activity Level Index score and there has been a dramatic decline in COVID-19 transmission in New Jersey and in our local community,” the district said. “In addition, we are proud of the vaccination rates in our school community. There is a high vaccination rate among our teachers and staff population — over 90 percent — as well as our student population overall” with more than 75 percent of students ages 5 through 11 having received their first shots and more than 90 percent of students ages 12 through 18 being fully vaccinated.
“However, even in light of the trend we are seeing, in discussion with our local health departments and school nurses, our district is making the very thoughtful decision to continue with our ‘indoor school mask’ mandate,” the district continued. “One of the key factors in our determination is that we are still awaiting guidance from state health and education officials concerning how to prevent disease transmission and implement contact tracing and quarantining if the indoor mask mandate is lifted.
“We understand that this may be disappointing to some, however, we are instead choosing to implement a cautious roll-back of our masking mandate as well as some mitigation strategies.” For Phase 1, which began Monday, Feb. 28, outdoor masking became optional, including pickup and drop-off, recess, and outdoor physical education.
For Phase 2, which begins Monday, March 7, classroom Plexiglass barriers at student desks will be removed, though barriers in cafeterias will remain in place.
For Phase 3, during spring break from April 11 through 15, the district will reassess the situation taking into account all factors, including transmission rates, and CDC and NJDOH guidelines, and will provide updates accordingly.
“We believe instituting an ‘indoor mask option’ for our district at this time without ensuring a comprehensive process for monitoring how this decision may impact the larger community is premature and irresponsible,” the district said. “We understand some families may not agree with the District’s decision; however, we have done all we can to apply a thoughtful lens that reflects our district/community context, this includes staffing, nurses, class sizes, CALI status, etc. Our response is measured and considerate of all these factors and we ask for the community’s patience and understanding as we slowly roll out, assess and monitor how each phase affects the COVID infection rates in both our schools and the community at large. We will only move to a ‘mask optional’ phase if and when we feel there will be a safe learning environment for our staff and students.”
The district also stated that should the district need to reinstate a mandatory outdoor mask policy due to rising COVID-19 numbers, it will.
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