Brick Schools mask optional decision sparks criticism

[ad_1]

BRICK, NJ Schools in the Township of Brick have once again made masks optional for the second week of the 2021-22 school year, angering some parents who want to see the wearing of the mask imposed due to the pandemic of coronavirus in progress.

In a notice distributed to parents and district staff and posted on the school district’s website, school officials said masks would be optional for this week under an exception that is part of the governor’s decree. Phil Murphy making masks compulsory in school buildings.

“With the weather forecast for this time of year, and due to the lack of air conditioning in the vast majority of our school buildings and the increased heat in our buildings, for the week of 09/13 / 17 (the last full week of summer) masks are recommended and encouraged but will remain optional, ”the advisory reads.

Murphy’s Executive Order 251 allows districts to make masks optional in situations “such as when the individual is exposed to extreme heat indoors,” according to the executive order.

While there have been heated debates in many areas with parents opposing masks demanding they be optional, there have been parents who have also been angry with the Brick Schools administration ever since. the start of school.

“So we’re starting another week of school with optional masks due to the ‘heat wave’,” wrote one person who only identified himself as “J” on Patch. The writer accused District Superintendent Thomas Farrell of trying to appease parents who oppose masks at all by making them optional for the week.

“My child does not have a safe and healthy environment when he goes to school,” the commentator said.

The temperature on Monday hit 85 degrees at 11 a.m., according to Accuweather.com. Some classrooms have reached temperatures above 95 degrees, district officials said.

Of the 12 schools in the Township of The Brick, 10 do not have air conditioning.

Both high schools are partially air-conditioned, Farrell said, but the hallways at both schools are not. Also, the air conditioning is not working in one wing of Brick Memorial High School, he said.

“Some of our other school buildings have areas or spaces with windows or separate air conditioning units, or just ‘conditioned’ air,” Farrell said. “Ultimately, about 80 percent of our classrooms don’t have air conditioning.”

None of the district’s 54-passenger school buses are air-conditioned either, officials said, in response to criticism that students do not wear masks on buses.

The school district notice said students and staff will be required to wear masks when entering and exiting buildings in the district, “in an effort to begin the transition and in anticipation of cooler weather.”

The notice included a reminder that the state has changed its guidelines on quarantining students, saying that students who wear masks or are vaccinated will not be considered “close contacts” if they are exposed to a person at school who tested positive for the virus.

Click here to receive email notifications of fixes or download our app to receive late-breaking alerts right to your phone. Do you have a tip? Email [email protected] Follow Brick Patch on Facebook.

[ad_2]