Point Pleasant School District to Take Day-By-Day Approach to Mask Wearing

By: Kaitlyn Kudriavetz, Follow South Jersey Child Welfare Intern

POINT PLEASANT, N.J. — Point Pleasant Schools have decided to take mask requirements day-by-day, as detailed in a letter sent to the district on Monday, following New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s recent decision to allow individual schools to choose their own masking policies.

With masking exceptions including extreme heat, Gov. Murphy has granted schools the discretion to decide if masks are necessary for their school, prompted by the extreme heat wave seen in New Jersey over the past week.

“The decision for students and staff to not have to wear a mask under these circumstances will be made each morning on a daily basis by the Superintendent of Schools in conjunction with the building Principal,” Superintendent of Schools Vincent Smith said in the letter to community members. “If a future forecast shows consecutive days of extreme heat, a decision could be made in advance.”

For parents who want their child to remain masked up, students will still have an option to wear a mask on days when masking isn’t mandated.

Though the heat exemption has been in place since September 2020, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said “we need to trust that [schools] will do the right thing” when it comes to deciding what constitutes excessive heat.

“Should a parent still choose to have their child wear a mas on days we determine masking isn’t mandatory, they will still have the option to wear one,” Superintendent Smith’s letter continued.

You can read Superintendent Smith’s full letter to the community here:

This article was produced by a Follow South Jersey news intern thanks to a grant provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the New Jersey Health Initiatives program to create hyper-local news to meet the informational and health needs of the City of Bridgeton, N.J.

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