Warren Schools To Wait Before Making Mask Decision

WARREN, NJ — After New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that there won't be a state mask mandate for schools in the fall, and each district will get to decide, Warren Superintendent said he will wait and see.

"Unfortunately, Governor Murphy's public statements and the official documents provided to school districts on masking expectations for September 2021 do not align," said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matthew Mingle.

Mingle is pointing to the New Jersey Department of Education's The Road Forward guidelines in which still recommends wearing masks.

"I think it's fair to anticipate that the Governor will follow through on what he said (and posted) yesterday, but that's not currently in the official documents issued to school officials to guide planning," said Mingle. "As soon as we have clear, confirmed expectations, we will share our plans with parents,"

The Warren Township Board of Education previously passed a resolution on June 21 expressing its desire for requirements on masking to be relaxed for the 2021-2022 school year.

"The resolution expresses the view of the district's Return to School Committee and the Board that school districts need clear common-sense expectations for the 2021-2022 school year especially in areas where schools are currently expected to maintain stricter health and safety protocols than other public places such as masking and travel quarantines," Mingle said.

Murphy's latest announcement came after 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 full-time 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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