‘We haven’t had our faces out in two years.’ This is school on the first day of the end of New Jersey’s mask mandate.

Not only did music teacher Albert “Buddy” Bader get a good look at his students’ faces Monday, he heard their voices sing clearly for the first time — without masks.

Even the instruments at Haddonfield Middle School were unmuffled, usually dampened by their own cloth covering. It was music to his ears.

”It was awesome. It was really cool,” said Bader. “This is the first time I’m seeing them.”

The mandate for face coverings imposed by Gov. Phil Murphy two years ago expired Monday, leaving it to New Jersey’s more than 600 districts to decide whether they would continue masking. Like many, Haddonfield decided to make masks optional for students and staff, as a decline in omicron cases have eased indoor mask requirements across the region, and the country. Murphy on Friday held his last COVID-19 briefing, expressing a desire to move toward normalcy.

» READ MORE: New Jersey and Philadelphia end their COVID briefings, underscoring officials’ desire to ‘move forward’

Some districts, though, including Camden, Lawnside, and Newark, the largest school system in the state, have opted to keep the mask requirement, possibly until the end of the school year. They cited low vaccination rates among students and teachers.

“We’re going to keep wearing our masks for now,” said Valerie Merritt, a Camden schools spokesperson. “We just want to get through the school year.”

There were obvious and subtle signs of the shift at Haddonfield Middle, a sprawling neighborhood school that enrolls about 600 students in sixth through eighth grades. A sign on the front door advising visitors to wear a mask remained Monday, an oversight.

“It feels weird but normal,” said sixth-grader Nia Talton, 11. “We haven’t had our faces out in two years.”

Principal Tracy Ann Matozzo said the majority of those in the building decided not to wear masks. About 70% of students are vaccinated and boosted, and all of the faculty are, she said.

”Today felt surreal because of taking off the mask,” said Eloise Shields, 12, a sixth-grader. “It feels very blissful to take it off.”

Students Shields and Talton said they kept their masks handy and put them on while navigating the school’s narrow hallways or whenever they felt unsafe or uncomfortable without them.

For the first time since the pandemic, lunch was served to an entire grade level in the cafeteria, Matozzo said. Previously, the classes were divided between the cafeteria and the auditorium because of social distancing.

Because Monday was an unseasonably balmy day, gym classes were held outside, where students raced across the field. They had been attending class inside where teachers modified their activities to allow for social distancing and to give students mask breaks.

“I’m still cautious, but it’s nice not to have to say three to four times in class, ‘Put your mask on,’ ” said Bob Bickel, who plans to still wear a mask in the building.

Like the music classes, the first day without face coverings felt especially significant in theater classes where the voices of students rehearsing were clearer without the masks.

Andrew Walker, 12, a sixth-grader and saxophone player, was happy to abandon his mask and the black cover he had been required to place on his instrument. The cover required him to use more air, and he said it altered the sound, Bader said.

“I can breathe better now,” Walker said. “I just feel like it’s been too long.”

A few feet away, another saxophone player, Riley Yike, 11, kept his mask just under his chin. In between sets, he pulled the mask up. He has a leading role in an upcoming school performance of the musical “Annie.”

“I don’t want to get COVID,” said Yike.

» READ MORE: N.J. students return for new year with mask mandate in place and schools ready to enforce

It was a regular school day at Yorkship Elementary School in Camden’s Fairview neighborhood, where students are encouraged to wave, wink, or elbow bump, instead of high-five, to avoid close contact. Small group instructions are limited to two students. There are hand sanitizer dispensers stationed around the school.

”We’re making it work,” said Principal Lana Murray. “Learning is still going on.”

Murray said students were aware that Murphy had lifted the mask mandate, so one asked her why Camden students were still wearing them. She explained that local officials believed it was necessary. A sign inside the parent center reads: “Learn from the past. Live in the present. Plan for the future.”

Fifth-grader Mikayla Jackson, 10, said she supports the mask mandate, but said the masks hurt her ears and sometimes she has to repeat her question because her teachers can’t understand her.

”I just want to keep safe, but I don’t want to wear it all the time,” said Jackson, an aspiring nurse.

Merritt said there has been little pushback against the mask mandate in the district, which enrolls about 5,800 students. About 85% of teachers are vaccinated, but only about 10% of students per building are, she said.

Chayla Boyce, 9, a third-grader, agreed the masks were a good idea.

”I actually feel kind of safe wearing the mask,” said Boyce, an aspiring doctor. “It’s easier to not get COVID since it’s still around.”

Her literacy teacher, Sakeena Bentley, gently instructed a student to pull her mask up over her nose. Bentley said she was concerned about returning to the building last spring after schools were shut down for a year.

”At first I was extremely nervous about getting sick,” Bentley said. “Hopefully in the near future we’ll be able to go back to business as usual. Until then, if we have keep it on, we have to keep it on.”