New Jersey fourth-grader begs Gov. Murphy to end school mask mandate
Fourth-grader Maci Young and her mom Chelsea Young on the need to end the school mask mandate for all schools in New Jersey
Maci Young, a fourth-grade student in New Jersey, sent a powerful message to Governor Phil Murphy calling for an end to mask mandates in schools. Maci told the governor that she isn’t learning because of the masks, and she hopes school can go back to being fun.
"I am only a kid once," she wrote in her letter to the governor.
On "Fox & Friends First" Friday, Maci and her mom, Chelsea, explained why they decided to speak out.
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"I wanted to share what happened and to tell him that these masks aren’t really working well," Maci told host Carley Shimkus. She said Gov. Murphy has not yet responded to her letter.
Maci decided in January that she no longer wanted to wear a mask at school. Her mother said she was sent to the principal’s office to get a mask, but she refused to wear it because it hurt her ears.
Maci Young, at right, with her younger brother, Easton. (Chelsea Young)
"From there, they put her in an isolation room, which is a room off of the nurse’s office, and left her there until I went to pick her up," Young said.
Maci said other students at her school feel the same way about wearing masks.
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"It’s been a long time. And to see these kids – it's horrible, right?" Young said. "They don’t get to see their friends’ smiling faces. They don’t get to see their teachers’ smiling faces."
"And I think that’s a big connection point in teaching and having that connection with their students."
Young responded to Dr. Fauci’s recent comment that it’s premature to lift mandates in schools, saying it was "completely unnecessary" to bring them back for the 2021 school year after Maci attended a summer school program maskless and there were no major outbreaks.
While the statewide mask mandate for schools is set to end March 7, individual school disctricts still have the option of requiring students to wear masks.
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Maci’s school has decided to make masks optional starting March 8.
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