By Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – Protests and intense school board meetings have not been enough to change Gov. Phil Murphy’s mind on requiring all students and staff to wear masks in classrooms this September amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Aug. 6, Murphy signed an executive order mandating that masks be worn by all students, educators, staff and visitors while indoors at all schools, with limited exceptions. The order took effect Aug. 9 and cited the increasing prevalence of the delta variant of COVID-19 as a major contributing factor in the decision – especially since children ages 12 and under are not eligible to receive a vaccine.
“We understand that students learn best in a classroom setting and remain committed to having our schools open for full-time, in-person instruction this fall,” said Murphy Aug. 6. “While this announcement gives us no pleasure, I know that by taking this precaution we can keep our schools open while also keeping our children safe. We will continue to closely monitor the science and data and will lift this mandate when we can do so safely. I urge those who are eligible for vaccination but have yet to be vaccinated to act and help move our state in the right direction.”
Some Middletown residents did not take the news well. A group of an estimated 100-plus parents and children, with signs in hand and faces unmasked, protested near Murphy’s home Aug. 7 demanding that children be unmasked in the classroom.
“Follow The Science NOT Political Science,” one sign read.
“My Child My Choice, Not Murphy’s,” another said.
Parents also took their concerns to the school board and officials agreed to draft a policy allowing parents or individuals with evidence from a medical professional to be exempt from Murphy’s mask mandate. But before the final vote could be taken at the board’s Aug. 24 meeting, Murphy threatened to sue the school district if it followed through with that policy.
According to Bruce Padula, school board attorney, he received communication from the governor’s office Aug. 23 stating that if the district moved forward with the policy, “the state of New Jersey would immediately sue the district seeking an injunction.”
That communication was sent Aug. 23 – the same day Murphy also signed an executive order mandating that all preschool through 12th-grade personnel be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 18 or be subject to weekly testing for the virus. The order clarifies that anyone looking to receive medical exemption must have “written documentation from a medical professional to support that exemption.” Any self-attestations or parental attestations “are not sufficient,” according to the governor’s office. The same requirements stand for state employees in select health care and correctional facilities as well as employees with any state agencies, authorities or higher education institutions.
But some Middletown parents were not shy about expressing their intense frustrations and anger over the mandate at the Aug. 24 board meeting. One mom called Murphy a “dictator” who acted like “a coward” when he signed the executive order Aug. 23. “This is ridiculous,” she said.
Another mother called Murphy’s latest mask mandate “the height of selfishness.”
“Forcing others to do things against their will and stripping parents of being able to choose what is best for their children is the height of arrogance, intolerance and entitlement,” she said, adding that she was “doubling down” on comments she made previously that forcing a child to wear a mask for eight hours a day, five days a week, “is child abuse.”
Even some children stepped up to the microphone to express their frustrations. A Nut Swamp Elementary School student said while people believe wearing masks will save them, “the honest truth is that the masks don’t work.”
“I get a lot of headaches from wearing my mask and it gives me anxiety because I feel like I can’t breathe,” said the soon-to-be fifth-grader. “Masks do not work… we should not be forced to wear it. The governor is destroying this beautiful state. The flu kills more people. My body, my voice, and please hear my voice.”
On the other hand, a father of two children in the district said he wants his children to be in school full time, he wants them to be able to do so without having to quarantine. “And the best way to accomplish that,” he said, is to follow Murphy’s orders and have students and staff wear masks.
“All students made it through last year… and the same with my two children. Both children came in close contact with educators and students that were COVID-positive and thankfully, because of masks, they made it through negative,” he said. After announcing that he is vaccinated, many meeting attendees shouted and booed him – to which he responded, “You know what the disease is? Natural selection.”
His views in favor of masks do not stand alone. A “Middletown Masks!!” petition has been circulating online in favor of keeping the mask mandate in schools. It has garnered at least 1,825 signatures.
Started by Middletown resident Linda Erickson, the petition says the removal of masks paired with the rising delta variant of COVID-19 “could be a recipe for a disaster.”
“Just one infected child could spread the virus to an entire class, especially in elementary schools where no children are yet vaccinated. This is why both the CDC and the Academy of American Pediatrics strongly recommend masks for unvaccinated children in schools at this point in the pandemic,” the petition states. “If we move toward a maskless or mask-optional environment, especially among children under 12, we risk losing that safety measure that so many of us desire and deserve for our children. Again, all it takes is one maskless, infected individual to spread the virus to many.”
The article originally appeared in the September 2 – 8, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
