Manchester Schools Want Murphy To Drop Mask Order

Photo by Karen Prosniewski

  MANCHESTER – Like several other New Jersey school districts, the township school board wants to see Governor Phil Murphy reverse his stance on mandatory mask wearing in schools.

  In a letter to the governor, School Board President James. K Pate wrote on behalf of the board that the Board voted on August 18 requesting a reversal on his decision to require masks at the start of the school year.

  “On behalf of our parents and students to respectfully ask that you rescind Executive Order 251 in time for the start of the 2021-22 school year,” Pate said in his letter.

  The letter adds that the Board wants to see the governor “allow each school district to make a determination on whether students, staff, and visitors should be required to wear masks at school. The Board of Education understands that Executive Order 251 has the force and effect of law and our district will abide by the current mandate as required if not rescinded.”

  “The Manchester Township Board of Education fully understands the need for students and staff to have a safe and healthy environment for learning. We take this responsibility seriously and have collaborated with stakeholders in the district to develop a safe reopening plan suitable for our community. We will continue to implement many of the safeguards that have been in place since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year to maintain that safe environment,” the letter adds.

  “However, many of our students and staff have experienced difficulties with mask wearing including loss of meaningful interactions between staff and students which had a negative effect on students particularly in the elementary schools. Parents have also complained about health issues related to their child wearing a mask for extended periods of time. Last year, for a brief time when the mask mandate was relaxed due to excessive heat, there was a positive effect on our students, staff and parents while having no significant change or increased transmission of COVID-19,” the letter adds.

  Pate also wrote that, “we are confident that the safety protocols that remained in place and the rising number of vaccinated individuals in the community allowed for transmission to continue to diminish, even after the mask mandate was relaxed. Our district worked cooperatively with the Ocean County Board of Health to provide a community site to offer the vaccine for our staff and the response was a significant increase in staff vaccinations.”

  The letter states that while the Manchester Board of Education fully understands “the responsibility you have as a governor and our district also has for maintaining a safe environment for everyone. Although outbreaks in schools can occur, multiple studies have shown that transmission within school settings is typically lower than – or at least similar to – levels of community transmission, when prevention strategies are in place in schools. We will continue to monitor our district and community health issues and work with our county board of health and would not hesitate to take additional health measures to respond to any negative situation.”

  The Board’s letter concludes noting that as a result of Executive Order 251, local authority has been diminished; the local officials have less control over how best to serve their communities.

  Manchester joined several local school districts who have been sending these letters together as a show of solidarity, including Central Regional, Jackson, Lacey and Brick.