Woodbridge Schools Make Masks Optional Starting Monday

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — On Thursday, the Woodbridge school district announced that masks will be optional in all schools as of this Monday, March 7.

That's the date Gov. Murphy said his universal school mask mandate will become optional.

Superintendent Joseph Massimino said he announced that masks-optional would be the district's anticipated decision at the February Board of Education meeting, when someone asked about it.

"Moreover, the district waited to send out any notification so that we could have the most up-to-date stats as well as include any updated guidance from the NJ Department of Health," said Massimino. "With the CDC pivoting its stance and no longer requiring masks on buses, our district was able to send out one comprehensive notice to parents instead of multiple notices with different/changing information."

"Students, staff and visitors in our district will have the option of wearing a mask within our schools and on district-provided transportation," he wrote in this letter Thursday.

"We appreciate the community’s ongoing support and look forward to this new transition in our school buildings on March 7," he wrote.

While Murphy's school mask mandate is ending, some New Jersey school districts have decided they will 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

The situation will likely change "significantly" by early May, said New Brunswick schools superintendent Aubrey Johnson on Wednesday of this week.

"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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