Middletown Students And Parents Flood BOE Meeting, Fighting Masks

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Students and parents flooded the Wednesday night Middletown BOE meeting, protesting Gov. Phil Murphy's mask mandate.

That would be Executive Order 251, issued by Murphy Aug. 6, which mandates all K-12 public and private students in New Jersey wear masks when the school year begins in just a few weeks.

This comes the same night that, down in Toms River, Republican governor candidate Jack Ciattarelli urged the Toms River BOE not to follow the executive order and to make masks optional.

No New Jersey school district is at liberty to not follow the executive order.

But Middletown schools may have found a workaround the mask mandate: At their next meeting Tuesday night, the BOE will vote on a proposal that will allow students to opt out of wearing a mask, if they provide a note from their parent or doctor saying wearing a mask inhibits their health. The letter has to be specific, said the district; "general statistics or assertions about mask wearing are not acceptable."

Here is the proposal the board will be voting on next Tuesday: https://www.middletownk12.org/...

Board member Tom Giaimo criticized it, saying the policy is de facto non-mask wearing.

It remains unclear how the board will vote on that next week.

Students speak:

Middletown students themselves spoke both inside and outside the meeting.

"This school year I will not put a mask on my face," said one Middletown eighth grade girl on a megaphone. "Multiple other people tell me that they will not be putting one on, either. So I said that we should all just walk out ... I say if we all stand together, they won't be able to fight us back. I am not going to be a sheep and put one on."

Her statements were met with cheers from parents in the crowd.

Later at that meeting, that same girl said she "almost passed out" several times last year because she had to wear a mask. She also reported how students were made to run a mile in gym class wearing masks, and that she was written up once by a teacher because her mask fell below her nose.

However, another teen, named Olivia, spoke towards the end of the meeting in favor of a mask mandate:

"I hate masks. But I would wear one the whole day if it meant I got to go to school in person and not do virtual learning," she told the Board. "If we wear masks it will allow us to be in school, play sports and join clubs in person. In middle school, there is a lot of peer pressure. If everyone in my class is not wearing a mask, I will not wear one either."

"But right now, 17 counties in New Jersey have the highest rate of transmission," she added. "My pediatrician says all children should wear masks in school. Please follow the governor's mandate and enforce masks. Your job is to help kids with their education."

Middletown BOE may send letter to Murphy, asking him to rescind mask mandate

Several members of the Middletown BOE want to send a letter/resolution to Gov. Murphy asking him to rescind the order, and make masks optional for students, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has done. The letter was introduced and written by BOE president Joan Minnuies and vice president Frank Capone.

Manasquan schools just sent the governor a similar letter: Make Masks Optional, Asks Manasquan BOE In Letter To Murphy

"The Middletown BOE is in favor of asking masks to be optional. Rescind executive order 251 and allow school districts to make individual decisions," said Capone, reading from the letter. "Middletown schools have been open fully since May. More than 90 percent of the teachers and staff have been vaccinated."

At the meeting, Capone asked for a consensus of the board "to send this out right now."

Finding himself increasingly at odds with the rest of the board, Giaimo tried to table the resolution. He said he would not sign something he was just given "five minutes" before Capone read it.

Audience members shouted at Giaimo when he asked for more time to review the letter.

Minnuies, Capone, Leonora Caminiti, Barry Heffernan, John Little, Deborah Wright and Jackie Tobacco voted not to table the letter.

Giaimo and Michael Donlon were the only board members who wanted to table the letter. They were also the only two board members who did not sign that letter.

Wright said that Middletown schools were able to safely open last spring because mask mandates and social distancing rules were in place. She wanted to take several things out of the letter, to which Capone said he strongly disagreed.

The Board has not sent the letter yet; it was discussed last night. It will be on next Tuesday night's agenda for a vote to approve.

It is worth noting Wright abstained from putting the letter up for a vote next Tuesday

Here is a copy of the letter the Board will be voting on next Tuesday:

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF EDUCATION

COUNTY OF MONMOUTH

RESOLUTION DEMANDING GOVERNOR MURPHY RESCIND EXECUTIVE ORDER 251

WHEREAS, by way of an executive order, Governor Murphy continues to mandate masks for school children in Middletown; and

WHEREAS, by letter dated May 27, 2021, members of the Middletown Board of Education requested an elimination of the mask mandate, in favor of allowing masks to be optional; and

WHEREAS, the Governor’s inconsistent policies have caused a separation and divide among members of the community and with the Board and District administration; and

WHEREAS, Middletown Township Public Schools have been open safely with in person instruction since September, 2020 and for full time, in-person instruction since May 10, 2021,

and

WHEREAS, Middletown Township Public Schools have been operating safely with masks optional, due to heat, since June 2021 and throughout our summer programs, and WHEREAS, over 90% of the teachers and staff in schools have been vaccinated according to whitehouse.gov

WHEREAS, the District undertook extraordinary measures to secure access to vaccines for all staff as soon as such vaccines were available, resulting in over 80% of Middletown Township School staff being vaccinated; and

WHEREAS, as recently as June 7, 2021, Governor Murphy stated that school officials should be empowered to make decisions based on their community, and their facilities; and

WHEREAS, on August 2, 2021, Governor Murphy stated “one size doesn’t fit all for opening up school districts’, and

WHEREAS, on August 2, 2021, Commissioner Judith Persichilli stated, “it’s up to the individual if they shall want to wear a mask indoors;” and

WHEREAS, the Middletown Board of Education, believes there is no factual basis or change in circumstances present in Middletown from August 2, 2021 to issuance of EO 251 to justify imposition of the mask madate.

NOW THEREFORE, IT BE RESOLVED by the Middletown Township Board Of Education that the Board calls upon Governor Murphy to rescind Executive Order 251 and allow school districts to make individual decisions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED a copy of this resolution be sent to the Governor’s office and to Senator O’Scanlon and Assemblypersons Scharfenberger and DiMaso, Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Coughlin, and Dr. Allen McMillan, Acting Commissioner of the Department of Education.

Teachers cannot discuss COVID vaccines with students

Tobacco, well known for being critical of masking, said she also wants to add language to a policy that Middletown schoolteachers cannot discuss vaccination with students.

"We would prefer there be no discussion of vaccination, whether pro or against," she said.

It is unknown right now if that language will be added.

Even the Middletown Board of Education itself was visibly divided over the mask issue, with six people on the Board attending last night's meeting in masks and the remaining five not wearing masks.

"I think it's a travesty that we have told these children that if they don't mask their faces, they might not be afforded the right to attend school," said one mom, Kate Farley, who said children came home from school last year with headaches, nosebleeds and depressed due to the masking. "Our kids have been made to feel like they are these vectors of disease ... I am so concerned about what it's going to do to these children."

Farley is a candidate for Middletown BOE this fall.

Watch Wednesday's meeting here:

On this topic: Ciattarelli Urges Toms River School Board To Not Mask Students (Aug. 19)

These 17 NJ Counties Are Facing 'High' COVID Spread: CDC (Aug. 16)

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