We, the citizens of Berkeley Heights, NJ petition the School District to make masking in the district’s schools entirely optional for students, staff and teachers. 

As of March 7, 2022 Governor Murphy has announced that statewide masking in schools will no longer be mandated via emergency order.  Individuals who prefer to wear a mask when they decide that it is appropriate should not be prohibited from doing so and, per the CDC report, released on February 4, 2022, Effectiveness of Face Mask or Respirator Use in Indoor Public Settings for Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Infection—California, February – December 2021, can do so in a manner more effectively than requiring healthy students, staff and teachers to wear masks which do have detrimental psychological, physiological, sociological, emotional and medical impacts on our children. 

We, therefore, demand optional masking for students, staff and teachers beginning March 7, 2022.