Dear JKHA/RKYHS Families,
Soon after Governor Murphy’s announcement rescinding the mandatory mask mandate for New Jersey public and private schools as of March 7th, the Health Committee met several times to determine mask policy for JKHA/RKYHS.
Looking carefully at the available and encouraging data about Covid, weighing the benefits of masking against the impact of masking on our students, and recognizing that students are mostly unmasked when socializing outside of school, the Health Committee, in conjunction with the school administration, has decided that beginning March 7th masking in school and on buses will be optional. As we continue to balance the social, emotional and learning needs of our students while managing the impact of Covid, we believe that unless there is a dramatic change in the Covid dynamic our community will be best served by a mask optional policy. Pivoting to a mask optional policy will provide significant social and emotional benefit to our children as well as our staff, who have been devoted to the protection of our community throughout this pandemic.
This plan is subject to change based on legal, legislative, or medical developments, or if the local context of Covid transmission changes significantly.
We anticipate many staff members and students will continue to mask, and they will be fully encouraged by our community to do so. Please support our messaging to respect and value the choices each family makes regarding masking.
JKHA/RKYHS will continue to limit quarantine whenever possible by implementing a test-to-stay protocol and using our population surveillance screening as an ongoing mitigation tool.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.
Sincerely,
Eliezer E. Rubin
