NYC public school kids received a very early holiday present Wednesday: an extra day off in December just before Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
City officials announced on Oct. 30 that public school students will get the day off on Dec. 23, which was previously listed as a school day on the 2024-2025 school year calendar. It was the only day during the week students were scheduled to have class before the start of the holiday break on Dec. 24.
Young New Yorkers have one fellow student to thank for this extra-special holiday gift. Isaac Regnier, a 12-year-old, seventh-grade student at I.S. 96 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, started a Change.org petition over the summer to get the day off because going to school for just one day that week “doesn’t make sense,” he wrote in the petition.
“Attendance will be very low that day,” the young activist wrote. “Kids whose families have travel plans will have to change their plans or be marked absent. Kids and teachers will feel annoyed, and kids won’t get to learn anything or have a party with all of their friends (because of the low attendance).”
In addition to getting 20,000 supporters on the petition, Regnier also scribed several emails and made multiple calls to city officials, including Mayor Eric Adams and former Schools Chancellor David Banks, to advocate for his cause.
According to Adams, the calendar change was a collaborative decision between schools, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), parents, and, of course, young Isaac.
Adams praised the middle schooler and said students’ and other education stakeholders’ voices matter.
“I think what Isaac did is going to be a symbol for the entire school community that their voices matter,” the mayor said.
Officials said New York State’s 180-day school year requirement will still be met even with the additional day off.
New Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos described Isaac as a shining example of what the city’s public school system is all about.
“If Isaac hasn’t conveyed what NYC Public Schools is about, I don’t know what would,” she said. “This administration under Mayor Adams, we’re so grateful for the fact that we are able to really honor the voices of every single person across the city, and Isaac is no different.”
Isaac shared a few thoughts of his own, too, and even managed to slip in a slight dig toward then-Chancellor, Banks.
“I feel so proud of myself for all that hard work I did, even with the advocating and those emails,” the motivated youngster said. “Even though I didn’t get written back by David Banks I still made it successful. It was a successful outcome. This was an important topic about Christmas break, and thank you everybody.”
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said the extra day off will give students and teachers more time to rest, recharge and spend more time with their families.
“It helps everyone come back from winter recess refreshed and ready for the rest of the school year,” he said.
Christmas and Hanukkah fall on the same day this year, Dec. 25, while Kwanzaa begins the next day, Dec. 26.
