ERMA – To some, it felt like the first day of school. After two years, masks are no longer mandatory inside schools.
The change came March 7, as Gov. Phil Murphy ended the public health emergency in New Jersey, which he had originally imposed by executive order in March 2020. Students and teachers got to fully see each other for the first time all year.
At Lower Cape May Regional High School, they held picture day, making it feel even more like a new school year. Many wore their best clothes for the occasion, giving it a different vibe than a normal March Monday.
Alexis Plata, one student there, said that the first day back without masks was thrilling.
“It’s like coming to school after summer and seeing how much everyone has changed. It’s like the first day of school,” she said.
Karlee Wiltshire said that it “feels very weird” to be maskless, but that the change is almost entirely positive.
“It’s exciting to see everyone’s faces again,” she said. “They all look so different than they did two years ago.”
At Ocean City High School, Interim Principal Mark Napoleon had never seen his students without a mask, since the mandate was in place when he took over the school.
“I came in with wearing masks, so when people took their masks off today, it’s totally different. I never knew what people looked like to a certain extent, so it’s kind of neat just walking around seeing people for the first time,” he said.
He set up a panel of three students, two teachers, and himself to sit down with the Herald at dismissal March 7 to discuss how things went.
Catherine Georges, a biology teacher at Ocean City High School, said she thought about 10% of students exercised the option to continue masking.
Isabella Pero was among that 10% and said things just felt normal to her.
“I didn’t feel out of place or anything,” Pero said. “Personally, I wasn’t really affected by it. It was just like any other day.”
Both students and teachers said they didn’t witness incidents of direct teasing, but one student said they heard some comments made among friends, pointing out which teachers and students were still wearing masks.
“You don’t like being teased. That’s plain and simple. If that were to arise, I’d try to reason with the person. I’d try to explain. I really try not to let that stuff get to me, so I would definitely just try to be professional about it because we are in a professional environment,” Pero said.
Jacob Wilson is an Ocean City student who did not wear a mask, but he said he understands why other people choose to mask and would stick up for them if he saw them being teased.
“They would be devastated if they were the reason that their elders were to get sick. You don’t really know what’s going on in someone’s life. You don’t know the reason they’re wearing the mask, so I would feel an overwhelming sense of obligation to stick up for them.”
To Brian Wang, another maskless Ocean City student, understanding and accepting people who continue to mask comes down to a fundamental human right.
“I just feel like everyone naturally has a right to be respected,” Wang said. “It just seems pretty ridiculous, and in the situation where there is someone doing it, I would tell them to knock it off.”
Zack Fox, a history teacher at Ocean City High School, said he frequently uses current events to make history lessons more relatable to students, and the mask mandate has provided him with a good opportunity for that.
“It’s particularly interesting talking about government control, like the founding fathers when they talked about how much should the government be involved in people’s private lives,” Fox said. “At the end of the day, it’s a directive from the governor, so we have to follow it. It doesn’t matter what you believe. We’re in New Jersey.”
Two of the assembled students praised Georges for teaching about the reasons the mask mandate was in place and the science behind it in her biology class. She said she thinks educating people about why something is being done is an important step toward compliance.
“That’s much more important than simply saying there’s a mandate if there’s a reasoning. I think that our student population is smart enough that if you give them a reason why it’s happening, they’ll understand,” Georges said.
It seems it resonated with her students.
“It’s fascinating, honestly, because it’s going on in real life and it correlated to the class that I was taking. I loved every moment of it, and it still sits with me today,” said Wilson.
Troy Genaro and Naada Moustafa, both part of Lower Cape May Regional High School’s fourth-level biomedical program, said that the timing feels appropriate for the mandate’s end.
Genaro said that he has “seen a lot more students wearing masks than I thought I would.”
Both he and Moustafa said that the school’s culture is such that nobody will be shamed or bullied for continuing to mask.
Moustafa said that those who might be nervous to remain masked are “nervous for nothing.”
“Masks are really normal here now, and we have a really accepting culture,” she added.
Some students expressed legitimate awe seeing their teachers without masks for the first time. One of Georges’ students said it was like getting a new teacher mid-year.
“I didn’t think you looked like that under the mask,” Georges recalled the student telling her.
However, it also presented an opportunity for the class clowns.
“One of the seniors, who I had sophomore year, told me, ‘Wow, Mr. Fox! You got uglier.’ I thought that was hilarious,” the Ocean City teacher said.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.
ED. NOTE: Collin Hall contributed to this report.
