The Somerset Hills School District is expected to make an announcement on the mask mandate this Friday, February 18. Governor Murphy said in his press conference on February 7th, that “given the continued drop in new cases and hospitalizations, projections indicating a continued decline over the coming weeks, and the continued growth of vaccinations for our school-aged population, we believe that we can responsibly end the universal mask mandate” for the first time in two years. Some surrounding school districts have already posted announcements of their intentions to lift the mask mandate starting March 7th.

As students and administration await a decision from the Somerset Hills School District on the mask mandate, Dr. Neigel mentioned how many factors go into a decision like this, alluding to why there hasn’t been an official statement regarding Governor Phil Murphy’s mask update on February 7th.

“When you have a decision like this that people have strong feelings about, it is important to give stakeholders time to communicate with each other.  That’s why it’s taken so long. Decisions like this don’t always move fast because it’s important to go through this process.” Dr. Neigel also mentions a quote by Thomas Jefferson that he keeps on his desk, reading “Delay is preferable to error,” as waiting to make a decision is often a better practice than jumping into any conclusions. Dr. Neigel also felt that “certain districts rushed to eliminate the decision and get it out of the way” when making a final call on the mask mandate. Adding that “[We] either want to be careful and mitigate the spread or we go the other route and we don’t see the severity of omicron and the vaccination rate is high. The middle is where it gets tricky” referring to the many conversations and rules to be discussed when making this decision.

School districts have more to navigate than just the removal of masks. Guidelines from the New Jersey Department of Health require social distancing, quaranting, and contact tracing that will all be affected by the decision to remove masks. Dr. Neigel said that “The government is saying follow the science. We follow the science and lift the mask mandate, but then why are we going to keep other protocols if we just said it was safe to lift a mask mandate? I think it’s a package deal.” 

“If we’re moving away from masks, I would like to see the Department of Health follow suit with other measures, like contact tracing. Teachers would have to report who was in 6-feet without a mask, who was wearing a mask properly, who wasn’t wearing a mask, etc. It’s just too complicated.”

Questions still remain as to when building specific changes will be sent out to students and staff. The high school would need to address topics like how the lunch room will change and if students will be permitted to eat lunch in the media center.

Dr. Neigel said that he will most likely “Wait and see. Let’s not jump to anything till the 4th quarter and see how it goes starting March 7th.”

A follow up article will be released after SHSD’s official announcement.