Face Masks Optional For All Students, Staff In Hazlet Schools

HAZLET, NJ - Amid rising temperatures and relaxed guidance from the state, district officials from Hazlet Township Public Schools have issued their own updated guidance on the masking rules in school buildings.

Per a June 8 announcement, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Scott Ridley stated that, starting June 9, face mask wearing will be optional for all students and staff over the last eleven days of school to “address potential health concerns and to ensure the safety of all students and staff during these final hot summer days of school.”

Exceptions to the policy include that Hazlet Middle School and Raritan High School students will still be required to wear masks when they change classes. At all other times, wearing a mask will be optional, Ridley said.

Hazlet is among the latest Monmouth County school districts to implement new masking policies following Gov. Phil Murphy’s latest remarks on wearing face masks in unfavorable conditions.

"School officials are empowered to relax masking among students and staff in their buildings given extreme weather conditions," Murphy said at a press conference this week, adding that the provision was one of the exceptions included in the executive order on masking in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Schools recently announced relaxed masking policies, with face masks optional for all students and vaccinated staff. Howell Township Public Schools announced a more conservative approach, making masking optional only outdoors and on buses.

Neighboring Holmdel Township Public Schools has not yet issued definitive guidance. Per a June 8 letter from the district’s interim superintendent Dr. Lee Seitz, the district will be writing to Murphy “to ask him to relieve Holmdel from the mask mandate in light of all the investments made in our District to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases.”

The interim superintendent will also present the issue to the board of education and teacher’s union at upcoming meetings to obtain feedback, the letter reads.

In Hazlet, safety measures such as plexiglass, sanitization, social distancing and temperature taking will remain in place, as well as a “committed disinfecting of all equipment overnight” by custodians.

The options of continuing to wear a mask or opting for virtual instruction will also remain in place.

“Our schools are air-conditioned and we continue to support the wearing of masks by all staff and students who are comfortable doing so though we also want to provide an option for students who may have challenges keeping their faces covered the entire time in school,” Ridley said.

Previously, a coalition of Monmouth County superintendents sent this letter to Murphy earlier this month, politely requesting an end to "wildly inconsistent expectations" over mask wearing and coronavirus policies when school fully resumes in person in the 2021-22 academic year.

The letter, also signed by superintendents in Middletown, Howell, Colts Neck, Red Bank and elsewhere, said that throughout the duration of the pandemic, directions and executive orders from Murphy and the state Department of Health have been "confusing," "contradictory" and "inconsistent." Related: Hazlet Supt. To Gov. Murphy: Nix Mask Requirement In Schools

“A significant number of our staff has been vaccinated and the option remains for those who have not received a vaccination to make an appointment for that purpose," Ridley said in his case for the June 8 masking announcement. "Additionally, the District has not recorded a new case of Covid since May 18 so we are certainly approaching a return to normalcy. As a result, and consistent with the Governor’s comments, our schools will follow the ... modifications to the mask mandate for the remainder of this school year.”