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Sorry kids, New York City students will still not have a traditional snow day, no matter how many inches fall.
School will be in session on Monday, whether in-person or remote, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday as he provided an update on the preparations for a potentially massive winter storm heading to the area over the weekend.
The mayor said he will make the final decision by noon on Sunday whether classes will pivot to remote learning. The city is also canceling Sunday’s Public School Athletic League activities as well as any other Sunday school events.
“I have to apologize to the students that we’re hoping for a different answer for a traditional snow day,” Mamdani said during a press briefing on the storm, acknowledging that the city has no flexibility in its calendar to cancel instructional days.
New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the city was committed to swiftly sharing information about schools.
“We know that families need timely, clear information to plan their schedules,” Samuels said.
He also said that schools will be flexible in their approach to remote learning.
“No one is asking kids to be on a device for six hours and 20 minutes,” Samuels said. “Some learning will be synchronous. Some will be asynchronous. You can still have your hot chocolate, you can still go out and enjoy the snow.”
Education Department officials are encouraging students and staff to log in to remote learning platforms over the weekend to make sure they can connect and to avoid technical glitches Monday morning, according to a letter to principals obtained by Chalkbeat. School leaders were also encouraged to stagger school start times for each grade level by 15-minute increments “to ensure a smooth login experience,” the email states.
The National Weather Service is predicting up to 14 inches in the metropolitan region, and the city is gearing up. Schools across the five boroughs are reaching out to their students to ensure they have devices and understand how to log on in the event of a remote school day.
This is the first major logistical test for the mayor and his new chancellor. A big chunk of the city’s nearly 900,000 students — all high school students and those attending 6-12 schools — already had the day off for a teacher professional development day. But the day might be complicated for many parents of young children: They might be frustrated with remote learning and prefer that their kids play outside, or they might be scrambling for child care, especially if they must work in-person.
Many families also depend on schools to provide their children breakfast and lunch.
Schools last closed in-person classes because of snow two years ago, and it did not go well: A technical meltdown prevented many students and teachers from logging on, despite efforts to practice in advance. The Education Department subsequently conducted another drill, but it was optional, and many students seemed to have opted out.
“We are preparing for the possibility of remote such that we do not repeat those mistakes of the past,” Mamdani said.
Samuels recalled the 2024 remote snow day as a “day that will live in infamy” and said, “We’ve stress tested the system, both in person with students logging in and as well. We’ve had simulations so we are prepared now.”
The most recent test, Samuels said, was in December.
“We’ve increased the capacity to make sure that we can house as many students as possible on that day,” Samuels added. “So we now have the capacity of having a million students logging at the same time within 60 seconds.”
The mayor and chancellor offered conflicting messages this week about whether closing school altogether, with no remote learning, could be an option. Samuels said on Wednesday that remote learning would be required if school buildings are shuttered, though Mamdani indicated on Thursday that he was mulling a traditional snow day.
Changes to the school calendar make cancelling school difficult, if not impossible.
The city stopped having traditional snow days in 2020, deciding that schools could instead offer remote learning to help meet the mandated 180 instructional days as more holidays have been added to the calendar.
The state allows certain professional development days to count toward that number, and because of that, New York City students are only in class 176 days this year.
Mamdani emphasized the steps the city is taking to prepare for the storm.
More than 2,000 sanitation workers are going to start 12-hour shifts starting Saturday evening as the city issues a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday and Monday. He urged people to take the storm seriously and stay home.
The city’s subway and bus system is expected to be operational, said Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
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.
