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New York City’s holiday gift to public school families and educators: Monday, Dec. 23 will now be a day off.
Mayor Eric Adams and schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos were set to announce the move Wednesday afternoon at the headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, according to two sources familiar with the decision.
The calendar change comes after mounting pressure from school communities warning that a one-day week before winter break would be sparsely attended. Brooklyn eighth grader Isaac Regnier last year petitioned the city to strike the day from the calendar, garnering nearly 23,000 signatures.
New York City officials should have been aware of the calendar quirk — and the conflict that it would cause.
In fact, the same thing happened five years ago.
When schools were slated to be in session on Monday, Dec. 23, 2019, a group of teachers petitioned to get it canceled, and ultimately were successful. The teachers behind that effort found old school calendars showing that schools were closed on at least four other occasions when Dec. 23 fell on a Monday.
Perhaps they had more flexibility to aid their fight, since the calendar at that time had snow days built into it. Now the city turns to remote learning during inclement weather.
Last school year, the Education Department added four days after the calendar had been published in response to complaints about missing certain religious holidays.
Under state law, New York City schools must be in session for at least 180 days or risk losing state funding. Those calculations are taken into account when the Education Department sets the calendar with the United Federation of Teachers. The city has added several holidays, including Eid, Lunar New Year, and Diwali, which is Friday.
Isaac, the student who led the petition to cancel school on Dec. 23, previously told Chalkbeat that he suspected many students would simply not show up.
“I thought it was dumb that we had a one-day week of school,” he said. “People are so excited for Christmas.”
Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.
Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.
