WEST ORANGE, NJ — On Feb. 7, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that, as of March 7, face masks will no longer be mandated in public schools, but that each school district may still enforce its own mask policy if it so chooses. West Orange Superintendent of Schools Scott Cascone announced Feb. 28 that — after reviewing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the N.J. Department of Health and local health departments — the West Orange School District will no longer enforce a mask mandate.
“Effective Monday, March 7, masks will be optional for all students and staff preK-12 in all outdoor and indoor settings, as well as on school buses,” Cascone said. “This decision was based on the continued low in-school transmission and quarantine rates, the continued drop in new cases and hospitalizations, the growth in the vaccination rates for our school-aged population, and the current level of transmission as reflected in the weekly COVID-19 activity report, which places the northeast region in the low level of transmission and low level of risk, or green. The mask-optional policy will remain in place, until such time that the community was to elevate back into either the high or highest levels of risk.”
Cascone assured that the district would review a COVID-19 activity report on a weekly basis and will determine if any mask policy changes need to be made based on the up-to-date data. The district also plans to communicate with staff and students regarding the mask-optional policy, and to discuss “the importance of messaging assertively to our students the importance of respecting one another’s decisions with regard to mask-wearing.”
“At this time of policy change, we must come together as a community and bring understanding and empathy for the different perspectives,” Cascone said. “While we do not anticipate an issue, students found to be engaging in demeaning or derogatory behavior towards classmates with regard to their choice to mask or not will be dealt with swiftly under the school’s student codes of conduct and district anti-bullying policies. As always, our administration will continue to monitor our county and district data to ensure that changes in our protocols do not adversely affect our staff and student population.”
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