Masks To Be Optional In Hoboken K-12 Schools As Of March 7: Superintendent

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Johnson said Friday that masks will be optional in the Hoboken public schools for grades K-12 starting March 7.

Pre-K programs will make their own determination, she said, as they must follow federal guidelines too.

Following New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's announcement on Monday that districts can decide on mask mandates as of that date, various districts debated the possibilities.

Johnson said that the majority of parents and staff members surveyed this week favored a mask-optional policy, although the district will continue to watch the data and trends.

The decision "allows for those that feel comfortable wearing a mask to do so and for those that do not feel comfortable to opt not to wear one," she wrote.

She also gave COVID case and vaccination percentages in the schools.

Johnson said in a message Friday:

I have surveyed both staff and parents ... Both groups' survey results revealed a solid majority asking for masks to be optional.

As you know, this decision is not easy and I used input from both families and staff to generate the position that the district will take right now for our kindergarten through twelfth grade staff and
students.

As we have dealt with the COVID pandemic over the past year and a half in our schools, the Hoboken Public School District has done everything possible to keep our students and staff safe and in school. During that time, we continuously added tools to our toolbox. We hosted vaccination clinics, required large scale testing, and have had rapid antigen testing on site for staff and students. Most recently, we implemented the test to stay strategy so that close contacts could stay in school if remaining asymptomatic.

Over the past two weeks, our positive staff & student COVID cases combined have been:

1. Hoboken High School: .2%
2. Hoboken Middle School: .7%
3. Wallace Elementary School: 1.4%
4. Brandt Elementary School: .2%
5. Connors Elementary School: .9%

Our staff vaccination rate district wide is 94.6 percent. Our student vaccination rate (5-18 year olds) is just over 66 percent.

Mandatory mask wearing indoors across the city was lifted last week.

Mask wearing in the Hoboken Public School District, as of March 7th for kindergarten through twelfth grade students and staff will be optional.

However, please understand that authority lies in the hands of local school districts. Therefore, COVID data and transmission rates will be continuously reviewed. If we see that the trend is changing within our schools prior to or after March 7th, we will certainly reassess our
position and let all families know.

I have received a couple of inquiries regarding categorized classrooms. We will not be creating classrooms that group children or staff members together based on mask wearing or on vaccination status.

Remember, this has been a social contract in many ways. It has been a partnership between and among all stakeholders. While this decision may not be favorable to all, it is one that comes with input and the authority to change if necessary. It allows for those that feel comfortable wearing a mask to do so and for those that do not feel comfortable to opt not to wear one.

Thank you as always for your cooperation.

Other Information

As of now, students will still have to mask up on school buses even after March 7.

During the 2020-2021 school year, the Hoboken schools were able to remain open full-time with safety measures, while most districts were all remote or used a hybrid schedule.

As of this past Monday, 99 percent of Hoboken residents 30 and over, 97 percent of residents 12 and over, and 85 percent of residents overall, had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.

See this week's Hoboken COVID case statistics here.

For a local COVID test or vaccine, go to www.hobokennj.gov/vaccine or www.hobokennj.gov/testing.

Children And COVID

Children are less likely to get seriously ill with COVID than adults. However, the CDC has called children losing a parent to COVID a "hidden pandemic." And some parents and children have experienced long COVID, as one Hoboken mom shared last year.

The state of New Jersey is urging parents to talk to their own pediatrician about the right safety measures for their child.

Children under 5 cannot yet get vaccinated for the virus.

Cases have started to come down in North Jersey since spiking in late December and January.

In New Jersey as of Thursday, the state's 71 hospitals said they were treating 1,708 patients
for COVID, 212 of those requiring breathing help from ventilators. A week ago, on Friday, Feb. 4, the state's hospitals were treating 2,409 patients who tested positive for COVID. Of those patients, 294 were on ventilators.

Those numbers were nearly half of what was reported two weeks before that. On Friday, Jan. 21, the state's 71 hospitals reported that they were treating 4,826 COVID positive patients. At the time, 511 patients were getting breathing help from a ventilator.

For comparison's sake, back in September 2021, 124 people were on ventilators in New Jersey hospitals.

In America, more than, 900,000 people have died of COVID since the start of the pandemic. The daily death rate is highest right now in these states.

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