New Brunswick Schools Will Keep Mask Mandate After March 7

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Add New Brunswick to the list of New Jersey school districts that are keeping their mask requirement in place once the state mandate expires next Monday.

However, the plexiglass barriers currently in place in classrooms will become optional, depending on what each individual classroom teacher decides, the school district announced Tuesday. Those plexiglass barriers, plus masks and desk separation, have been used in New Brunswick public schools since the beginning of this school year.

While Gov. Phil Murphy ends his K-12 school mask mandate next Monday, March 7, some school districts in the state have decided to still require masks. They are mostly large urban districts that receive significant state and federal aid.

So far, some of the NJ school districts keeping mask requirements in place are:

• New Brunswick
• Newark
• Paterson
• East Orange
• Plainfield
• South Orange-Maplewood

"In-school wearing of masks and social distancing will continue beyond March 7 – with reassessment conducted on a consistent, ongoing basis. Masks will be optional outdoors. Also, plexiglass will remain in all common areas, at least in the short term," said the New Brunswick school district in a press release issued by a PR firm it hired, Whippany-based Success Communications Group.

The situation will likely change "significantly" by early May, said New Brunswick schools superintendent Aubrey Johnson.

"Ventilation improves significantly because warmer, spring weather will allow for classroom windows to be opened," Johnson said.

Also by that time, the winter flu season will be over, he said.

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