Berkeley Supt. Asks Gov. Murphy To Let Schools Decide Mask Rules

BERKELEY, NJ — Berkeley became the latest school district to send a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday urging him to reevaluate the face mask requirement in schools.

Superintendent James D. Roselli and board of education president Jennifer Bacchione believe that individual school districts should be allowed to determine whether to mandate masks based on local COVID data.

“In light of positive statistical trends and scientific data regarding the efficacy of vaccination, we support a policy of deference to local districts to determine whether to mandate masks. We believe we could safely take the next big step in getting back to normal. We urge you to allow districts to decide if masks are a necessity based on local data,” Roselli and Bacchione wrote in the letter.

They added that the increased number of vaccinated individuals alongside the declining number of COVID-19 cases in Berkeley and Ocean County show that the state is continuing to move in the right direction.

Students in Berkeley schools started the school year in a hybrid program, which expanded to five days a week in early March.

“We believe we are at a point where the state policy regarding students and staff wearing masks at school – both indoors and outdoors – could be responsibly re-evaluated. Our community survey indicates the District’s stakeholders overwhelmingly support repeal of Executive Order 175,” said Roselli and Bacchione.

Though masks are not required in restaurants, retail stores or sporting arenas as of May 28, executive order 175 requires students and staff in schools to continue wearing masks.

A week after saying he expects some students and staff will be wearing masks in schools this fall, Murphy acknowledged that "there is a chance" students may go maskless in September as the state continues to move beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Read more: NJ May Allow Kids To Go Maskless At School, Gov. Murphy Says

Superintendents of Central Regional and Ocean Gate schools also wrote letters to Murphy recently asking him to lift the mask requirement in schools. Read more: Ocean Gate School Urges Murphy To End In-School Mask Rule

Central Regional’s superintendent urged Murphy to end the mask requirement, but he would like to see it gone for the rest of this school year "so that students can breathe and that at graduation, parents can see their child's face."

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