Paterson is the latest big “blue” New Jersey school district (joining Camden and Newark) that’s decided to continue masking its children even after Phil Murphy’s K-12 mandate ends on March 7th.
The pushback against masking is continuing to percolate outside of the deepest blue municipalities and it’s bleeding into 2022’s politics, Save Jerseyans.
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A Raritan 4th grader made national news this week by writing to Governor Murphy, imploring him to end the mask mandate immediately. Over in Hillsborough, unmasked parents argued at a BOE meeting over masking at the meeting. Even The Atlantic has turned on masking kids.
On Tuesday, the school board in my hometown (Oaklyn, a 4,000-ish resident town in Camden County) voted 5-3 to go mask-option effective March 7th. BOE Vice President Todd Schaefer – who I’ve know my entire life (we grew up on the same block) – introduced the motion.
Oaklyn is “blue,” voting for Chris Christie in 2009 and 2013 but going 966-550 for Phil Murphy in 2021. I think it’s elected two Republican council members (in ’09) over the past few decades if not longer.
The Biden Administration is holding out. That probably tells you all you need to know about how 2022 is likely to go.
