Mask Mandates: Livingston Schools Become Mask-Optional Monday – Livingston, NJ Patch

Many area schools, such as Millburn, are also going mask-optional Monday. South Orange-Maplewood will continue masking for now, something a parent group there has protested.

Sara Potler LaHayne, the founder of the preK-12 social emotional learning curriculum Move This World, said this week that as mask mandates change in New Jersey and New York, educators and families should “practice empathy to build an understanding of the experiences of others. We’ve all experienced different realities during the pandemic.”

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….”

The mask mandate has been dropped for school buses.