Masks Are Optional In Middletown Schools Starting March 7

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On March 7, masks will immediately become optional in Middletown schools.

This is according to Middletown's Safe Return Plan (see page 2), which defaults to make masks optional unless there is a larger state law in effect. School board president Frank Capone and vice president Jacqueline Tobacco said the Safe Return plan was specifically written that way back in June.

"March 7 the masks come off, unless the parent or student wants to keep it," said Capone. "We always wrote our 'Road Back' plan that way. There is no further action needed. That's why I say Middletown schools have always been a mask-optional school district, unless there is a law. Which up until March 7 there is a law."

That Safe Return Plan was written by the school district administration and approved by a majority vote of the school board before school re-started in the fall. The Middletown school district had to submit a "Safe Return" plan to the state Department of Education in order to obtain $4.8 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan.

In the past two years, Capone and Tobacco have been the board members who pushed most aggressively to make masks optional for students.

"I guess we just had foresight. We knew this day would come when masks would be optional and we planned for it," said Tobacco. "We had this discussion a long time ago. We (speaking for Frank and herself) definitely believe that masks are more of a detriment than a benefit to students."

Decisions on masks in schools vary wildly across New Jersey

On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced he will be lifting the statewide K-12 mask mandate March 7, and leaving it to local school districts to decide.

It appears school districts across the state are handling mask wearing very differently: In towns like Fair Lawn, Clark and Wayne the school superintendents simply declared mask wearing is optional starting March 7. It is not clear if the superintendents in those towns consulted with the school boards, or if they just made an executive decision.

In other towns such as Chatham, their school board will begin the mask discussion starting this week.

Still other school districts, like South Brunswick and neighboring Fair Haven, said they have to poll parents and do studies on COVID rates before they can make a decision on masks. The South Brunswick superintendent just told Patch he has to do a "cause-and-effect analysis" before he can make a decision. The Montclair school district is also currently undecided.

And school districts such as Newark already announced masks will remain mandatory in schools even after March 7.

Gov. Murphy's edict Monday gave local New Jersey school districts freedom to decide on mask wearing. The next day, former Republican governor candidate Jack Ciattarelli predicted Murphy's decision will only lead to "school board battles."

"In leaving it up to locals, he's going to turn school board meetings into battlegrounds and pit communities against each other," Ciattarelli posted on Facebook Tuesday. "(There) should be no state or local mandate, with parents deciding whether their child wears a mask."

There was so much backlash to required mask wearing in Middletown that the school board moved its monthly meetings first to the VFW Hall, and then the town library, so parents who refused to wear masks would not be issued summonses or asked to leave by Middletown police.

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