School Mask Mandate Will Continue In Maplewood, Except Outdoor Locations

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Officials in the South Orange-Maplewood School District announced Tuesday that they will continue the district-wide mask mandate even after the state of New Jersey lifts its own mandate March 7.

However, district officials said, masks will become optional for outdoor school activities like outside recess on March 7.

In making the announcement, the district cited the need for more guidance about other health measures, but also announced a schedule of certain "rollbacks" like removing Plexiglas dividers from classrooms.

On Feb. 7, Gov. Phil Murphy said schools could make their own decisions about masks.

Some districts nearby, such as Millburn, will go mask-optional, but nearby Newark will keep its mask mandate in place for now.

"In discussion with our local health departments and school nurses," said a message issued Tuesday, "our district is making the very thoughtful decision to continue with our ‘indoor school mask’ mandate."

"One of the key factors in our determination is that we are still awaiting guidance from state health and education officials," says the message, "concerning how to prevent disease transmission and implement contact tracing and quarantining if the indoor mask mandate is lifted."

The message noted that there was positive news, though:

"The good news is that Essex County is currently at a moderate CALI (COVID Activity Level Index) score and there has been a dramatic decline in COVID-19 transmission in New Jersey and in our local community. In addition, we are proud of the vaccination rates in our school community."

Over 90 percent of teachers and staff are vaccinated, the message said, and 75 percent of students age 5-11 are vaccinted, as well as 90 percent of kids 12-18.

Children under 5 cannot receive the vaccine yet.

Students must still wear masks on school buses in all New Jersey districts.

"We understand that this may be disappointing to some, however, we are instead choosing to implement a cautious roll-back of our masking mandate as well as some mitigation strategies," the message said.

In Maplewood as of Wednesday, according to the county of Essex, there have been five new COVID cases confirmed since the day before. There have been a total of 46 deaths of residents to the virus since the pandemic started. South Orange had one new case confirmed and has lost 21 residents with the virus.

Timeline For Mitigation Rollbacks In The District:

Phase 1: Monday, Feb. 28

• Outdoor masking will now be ‘mask optional’ this includes: pick-up and drop-off, recess and outdoor PE. Understanding that there are some members of the SOMSD community, including staff who may prefer to keep their masks and/or parents/guardians who would prefer to have their children keep their masks on due to their specific needs and concerns, we are making masks optional for outdoors only.

Phase 2: Monday, March 7

• Classroom Plexiglas barriers at student desks will be removed. Barriers in cafeterias will remain in place.

Spring Break: April 11-15

• School Spring Break. Post spring-break the District will reassess the situation taking into account all factors (i.e. transmission rates, CDC and NJDOH guidelines) and will provide updates accordingly.

"It remains possible that the District may need to reinstate a mandatory outdoor mask policy," said officials, "if the numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in our schools, locally or in area hospitals increase, or if outbreaks occur in our education community. We will share another community update prior to spring breakillburn announced Friday that they will make masks optional starting March 7.

People can get information about Essex County testing, vaccines, and boosters here.

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 North Jersey 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. The state also says four children have died of the virus in New Jersey since Christmas.

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

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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