School Mask Mandate: Maplewood Gives Update, Surveys Parents – Maplewood, NJ Patch

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — While the South Orange-Maplewood School District did not lift its school mask mandate on Monday like many other districts around New Jersey, they are surveying the school community about the policy, and released a new message with updates and statistics on Friday.

The district said that while they have lifted some precautions — like Plexiglas dividers in classrooms — they still have to be aware of COVID cases, noting that there was a recent “outbreak” at one of the elementary schools.

The district recently began other changes, such as lifting mask mandates at outdoor school facilities as of Monday.

But will mask mandates be lifted indoors as well, and when?

“We have of course heard from parents passionately advocating on both sides of this discussion, those urging SOMSD to make masks optional,” the district said in a message on Friday, “while others reached out to us expressing sincere concerns about what this could mean for vulnerable members of our schools and their families.”

Besides surveying parents, the district said Friday, they will separately survey staff and students.

The district acknowledged that the state has released more specific guidance about how to handle masks and other mitigation measures, and said that vaccination rates are increasing among students and staff.

“Currently, the 5-11 aged-population is over 70 percent fully-vaccinated and our 12 -17 and 18 and over population is over 94 percent and 95 percent fully-vaccinated,” the district said. “Please know that while our student and staff COVID infections have significantly decreased, we are still being impacted by cases (multiple cases this and last week and a recent outbreak at one of our elementary schools). For your protection and safety, we continue to strongly recommend getting vaccinated at this time.”

But cases have also risen. The SOMSD dashboard reported 16 new cases last week, as opposed to 5 each of the two previous weeks. In late December, the number was 45 in one week.

“While we understand that creating a 100% ‘COVID proof’ environment is not possible,” the district said, “we fully support our Departments of Health in their public health messages of disease prevention and continued reminders for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated (and boosted).

A parent group, the “SOMA for Safe Return to School” group — which protested a year ago when Maplewood schools stayed remote into March — have asked the district to lift mask mandates and has advocated for other changes.

They noted that the state handed down a series of new recommendations on Feb. 22 for vaccinations, masks, and more.

Among them, the state said, “Circumstances in New Jersey have improved to the point where relaxation of universal masking rules in K-12 schools can generally occur. School administrators should be prepared for the emergence of new variants or substantial waning immunity that could once again lead to greater morbidity, mortality, and disruption….”

Two weeks ago, the district said that over 90 percent of teachers and staff were vaccinated, as were 75 percent of students age 5-11, and 90 percent of kids 12-18. Kids under 5 aren’t eligible for a vaccine yet.

What Will Change

District officials did say that masks will become optional for outdoor school activities like outside recess as of March 7. READ MORE: Maplewood Schools To Continue Mask Mandate Past March 7.

Some districts near Maplewood, such as Millburn, have gone mask-optional, but nearby Newark will keep its mask mandate in place for now.

Maplewood officials initially said they’d reassess the situation over Spring Break, April 11-15.

COVID Trends

In Maplewood there have been a total of 46 deaths of residents to the virus since the pandemic started. South Orange has lost 21 residents with the virus.

Children are less likely to get seriously ill with COVID than adults. However, the CDC has called children losing a parent to COVID a “hidden pandemic.” And parents and children have experienced long COVID, as one North Jersey mom shared last year.

The state of New Jersey is urging parents to talk to their own pediatrician about the right safety measures for their child.

People can get information about Essex County testing, vaccines, and boosters here.

Cases have started to come down in North Jersey since spiking in late December and January after the holidays.