Mask-Optional Or Mask-Mandated: Parents Ask Chatham School Board

CHATHAM, NJ - The second of two letters to the School District of the Chathams’ Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa, has begun circulating among Chatham parents this week.

The “Request for Mask Optional for 21-22 School Year,” which counters the first letter to the Board of Education earlier in the week, “Open Letter to Chatham BOE,” requesting that the district mandate masks in the fall, had well over 300 signatures by Friday morning.

As of Thursday, the “Open Letter” had approximately 80 signatures.

To view the first letter Open letter to Chatham BOE, click here.

To view the second letter Request for Mask Optional for 21-22 School Year, click here.

How do these letters differ?

The first, stresses concerns that the district should stay masked up in the fall, quoting information from the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommending in-person schooling with universal masking for children over the age of two years.

“With so many students ineligible for vaccinations, we must continue masking to protect our community,” the Open Letter read. “Aside from lots of unvaccinated younger children, K-12 students have a high likelihood of transmission due to the population density in school and limitation in social distancing.”

“Collectively, while we acknowledge the challenges SDOC faced in 2020-2021 and we know that administrators and educators did their very best for the sake of our children, we believe as data constantly is updated and changed, we as parents are in the best place to make the decision on whether our child should wear a mask in school,” the Mask-Optional letter stated.

The School District of the Chathams had a mask-optional policy in place at the end of the 2020-2021 school for gym classes and for exercising in general, in response to a brief heat wave in June. At that time, LaSusa said both New Jersey’s Department of Education and Department of Health still mandated masking in classrooms.

On Thursday, LaSusa told Patch the masking issue was “fluid and we will make adjustments as the Department of Health and Department of Education provides us with more direction.”

LaSusa, however confirmed to Patch that during the week of July 12, he directed the district’s personnel that in the upcoming school year they could be mask-optional, as long as they turned in a copy of their COVID vaccination documentation to the Human Resources Office.

Staff members that choose not to do so, he said, would likely remain under a mask mandate and weekly COVID test requirement.

A group of parents approached the Board of Education at the last meeting on July 12 about having a mask-optional school year, expressing concerns that students who were masked up could face segregation, discrimination and bullying. Others spoke about health impacts they knew of, including children not having proper oxygen levels maintained when they’re regularly masked.

"All of our children deserve 100 percent oxygen in the air they breathe, regardless of their age, their vaccination status, their religious beliefs or their medical disabilities," one of the parents said.

The Board of Education is scheduled to meet next on Monday, Aug. 23, though LaSusa - who said the district is discussing the masking question with local health officials, the district’s physician and board’s attorney - said he hopes to have more information for parents in the very near future.

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Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.