Masks Optional At These NJ Schools This Week Due To Anticipated Heat

BRICK, NJ — When classes begin Wednesday in the Brick Township Schools, students and staff will have the option of whether to wear masks as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the school district said.

Gov. Phil Murphy issued an executive order in August requiring masks for students and staff in schools at the start of the 2021-22 school year due to increasing spread of the coronavirus in New Jersey and the rising prevalence of the delta variant. Read more: NJ K-12 Students Must Wear Masks This Fall, Gov. Murphy Says

Murphy's executive order requiring masks, however, includes several exceptions, among them an allowance for schools to make mask-wearing optional in excessive heat situations.

Brick Township school officials have chosen to exercise this option for this week.

In a notice posted on the district's website, school officials noted that wearing masks is mandatory under Executive Order 251, "which stipulates that no municipality, county, or agency can enact any contrary policy or regulation which could conflict or impede this Order."

"The Order does provide for certain exceptions to the mask mandate, such as being outdoors, health/medical issues, disability, while eating/drinking, physical activity, and excessive heat conditions," the notice said.

"That being said, upon review of the anticipated weather for this time of year, and due to the vast majority of our school buildings lacking AC and increased heat within our buildings; masks are recommended but shall remain optional for the time period 9/8-9/10," the notice said.

The AccuWeather forecast for the area is for temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s. Temperatures inside the buildings get considerably warmer, district officials have said.

The Toms River Regional Schools and the Lacey Township School District have made similar decisions.

The Brick Township school board has repeatedly urged Murphy to leave masking decisions up to the local school districts. In an Aug. 20 letter, board president Stephanie Wohlrab urged Murphy to rethink the mandate.

"To expect society, especially our children, to continue to accept mandates and restrictions indefinitely, based on suggested recommendations, is not only unrealistic, but unjust," Wohlrab wrote. "When does it end?"

In its back-to-school reminders and COVID-19 protocol updates, the district noted that the state guidance says students who are wearing masks will not be considered "close contacts" and won't be subject to quarantine if and when a classmate tests positive for the coronavirus.

Ocean County and all of the Central Jersey East region has "high" COVID-19 activity, according to the New Jersey Department of Health's latest weekly report. The region has the third-highest case rate in the state at 19.44 cases per 100,000 and a 6.31 percent positivity rate.

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