A retiring superintendent in Monmouth County will speak at his districts’ graduation after voluntarily being put on administrative leave for not lifting the schools’ mask mandate.

John Marciante will give a speech next week to Manalapan eighth graders.

Once Marciante was put on leave, the school board unanimously voted to make masks optional inside school buildings.

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With less than 30 days left in his career, Marciante asked to be suspended rather than put kids and staff in the middle of what he says are parents wanting to defy state mask mandates.

During a heated board meeting, Marciante wanted to strictly follow CDC and state mandates, which means masks on inside the mostly air-conditioned schools. Parents objected, and due to concerns of staff and students getting caught in the middle, Marciante told the board to put him on leave, transferring power to the board to side with the parents.