Mask Mandates Will Upset Many Hopatcong Families: School District

HOPATCONG, NJ — Hopatcong Borough’s Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent had written a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy in early June suggesting he leave it to each school district’s discretion to mandate masks or make them optional for the fall.

However, even with a brief hiatus from masks in schools like Hopatcong at the end of the school year, which Murphy allowed because of excessive heat, he decided on Friday masks would be mandatory again for the start of the 2021 school year, because of the Delta variant numbers.

“The information released by the Governor is still very new to us but, while we know the mask mandate will upset many of our families, we have no other comment at this time other than that we will comply with whatever regulations are handed down to us by Gov. Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Education,” Joseph Piccirillo, Hopatcong’s Assistant Superintendent told Patch on Friday.

Murphy made his announcement on Friday in East Brunswick while at the Memorial Elementary School, saying it didn’t give him pleasure to make the decision, but he did so to “keep our schools open while also keeping our children safe.” He intends to lift the mandate, when "we can do so safely," Murphy said.

“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,” Murphy added.

Murphy is allowing some exceptions to the mandate, such as in cases of extreme heat, when a staff member or child has a health emergency that requires mask removal, when a student can’t stay masked because of a medical condition, when they are under the age of two, when they’re eating or drinking, while playing a musical instrument that a face covering would impede it, during high-intensity activities, during high-intensity physical education activities in a well-ventilated location and when wearing a mask creates unsafe conditions.

In their June 1 letter, Superintendent Art DiBenedetto and Piccirillo said it was frustrating to learn at the end of the school year students would need to wear masks - until Murphy waived them because of the excessive heat - the school noting “excellent air filtration and students under constant supervision to ensure appropriate distancing measures,” as two reasons suggesting mask-wearing to remain optional in September, especially when it has been in other settings outside of schools.

Sen. Steve Oroho and Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths, all R-24th Dist., where the Hopatcong Schools are located, sympathized with all families in their district who could be upset with Murphy’s decision, calling it “unnecessary and disappointing.”

“This mandate is a clear overreaction,” Oroho said in a news release on Friday. “It feels like we’re rolling back the clock to more than a year ago, but situations are much different.”

Oroho said it should be up to parents and called Murphy’s decision a unilateral one without public or legislature input.

Wirths said parents and students have been addressing school boards for months about making masks optional and were “tossed aside in the decision-making.”

Space said the bill that was passed to end the public health emergency had loopholes in it to allow Murphy “to do whatever he wanted to do,” with the mask decision.

RELATED: NJ K-12 Students Must Wear Masks This Fall, Gov. Murphy Says

Anthony Bellano contributed reporting to this story.

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