No Masks Required For Clark Students This Fall

CLARK, NJ — Students in Clark Public Schools will not be required to wear masks inside for the 2021-22 academic year, said Superintendent Ed Grande.

"We will be continuing with our mask optional approach that was in place at the end of this past school year. The negative impact that the masks were having on our students and staff members was eliminated while those who still wanted to wear one were provided with that level of comfort," said Grande. "In addition, we were fortunate not to see an increase in our case counts since that change was put into place."

The decision to relax the complete wearing of masks over the mouth and nose through the end of the school year for both indoor and outdoor activities was made in early June following recommendations from Clark Health Officer Nancy Raymond. Read More: Clark Schools Relax Mask Wearing Over Mouth, Nose Due To Heat

Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that students in New Jersey schools will not be required to wear masks inside unless their district mandates it for the upcoming fall.

Murphy made the announcement as the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) and New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) announced updated health and safety guidelines for the upcoming school year, in which all districts will be required to provide full-time, in-person learning with no remote option. Read More: No Mask Mandate For NJ Students This Fall, Gov. Murphy Says

"The recommendations we are releasing today will provide school districts with a roadmap to bring students and staff back to safe, enriching school environments," Murphy said. "This guidance will help districts and educators develop plans to meet their student's educational, social, emotional and mental health needs. Our students and educators have displayed amazing resiliency during the pandemic, and I am pleased that the upcoming school year will provide a sense of normalcy that students haven't had since March 2020."

In the guidance document released on Monday, the school districts are still advised to follow these recommendations :

• Maintaining physical distance between students to the extent practicable. This recommendation must not prevent a school from offering fulltime in-person learning; districts should implement physical distancing only to the extent they are equipped to do so while still providing regular in-person school operations.
• Interventions to aid with social distancing include facing desks in the same direction and avoiding group seating arrangements.
• Putting procedures in place to identify and respond to a student or staff member who becomes ill with COVID-19 symptoms.
• Maintaining close communication with local health departments to share information and resources on COVID-19 transmission, prevention, and control measures and to establish procedures for notification and response to illness. Schools should also maintain transparent and ongoing communication, as appropriate, with their staff, students, and caregivers regarding school operations and health and safety information.

However, these recommendations are not mandatory, and won't prevent school districts from reopening in the fall.

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