What's up with December 23rd?
What's up with December 23rd?
When it comes to December 23rd the members of Unity Caucus are ready to work with families and students to get this done!
UNITY Caucus supports parent and student efforts to make Monday, December 23rd 2024 a part of winter break and close schools on this day. Chancellor Banks and NYC Public Schools should make this change which would mean the winter break would begin on Saturday December 21st and be 12 days rather than starting on Tuesday, December 24th and be a 9 day winter break.
There is longstanding practice of closing schools when December 23rd falls on a Monday. Want to get involved and find out more?
NYC Public Schools closed on these dates when 12/23 fell on a Monday. There is a practice to do so this year.
Monday, December 23, 2019 - No School
Monday, December 23, 2013 - No School
Monday, December 23, 2002 - No School
Monday, December 23, 1996 - No School
Monday, December 23, 1991 - No School
In our 2023 contract our union did a masterful job at getting three years of calendars released, which was a first and a huge benefit to families, students, educators and the system as a whole. When it comes to December 23rd the members of Unity Caucus are ready to work with families and students to get this done!
Sign the Petition
In-Person School on 12/23 Just Doesn’t Make Sense for schools, families, students and staff
See below why it makes sense for 12/23 to either be a day the school system should close or become a remote day of instruction. If you are supporting this idea already like, share and spread the word about 12/23 through these social media channels
Chancellor Banks and the NYC Public Schools should make this change which would mean the winter break would begin on Saturday December 21st and be 12 days rather than starting on Tuesday, December 24th and be a 9 day winter break.
Making this change would mean the winter break would begin on Tuesday December 24th, as presently scheduled, and will not not result in the loss of a state aidable day if schools were closed.
There is longstanding practice of closing schools when December 23rd falls on a Monday. Want to get involved and find out more?
If schools were to remain open there would be a definite drop in attendance, potentially impacting state funding to NYCPS which is partially based on attendance numbers.
Instructionally we all know that when there is low attendance instructional delivery suffers.
There is a cost in dollars to the system itself to open schools for only one day in a week. Some of those costs being: food purchasing for breakfast and lunch, running yellow bus routes and utilities, and finally
There is already a call to close the schools from a student petition, found here:
What if the Chancellor says no to close schools on 12/23?
If there is not a willingness from the Chancellor to close schools a viable alternative is to have schools pivot to remote on December 23rd, 2024. Either possibility solves multiple issues for the families, parents, students and staff of NYC Public Schools:
If schools pivot to remote there would be no impact to the mandate of a minimum of 180 school days required by the state. NYC Public Schools have pivoted to remote instruction during the pandemic and weather events.
Pivoting to remote would ameliorate families having to change holiday and/or vacation plans so their children would be in attendance on Monday, December 23rd. Families are more likely not to send their children to school on this date to have an uninterrupted winter break. Pivoting to remote is a reasonable alternative to the impact to attendance if schools were to remain open on Monday, December 23rd, 2024
Making Monday, December 23rd, 2024 a pivot to remote day allows NYCPS to perform a remote city-wide stress test of the system’s remote capacity across all schools on the same day at similar times.
This date is early enough in the school year to provide the DOE with data on the system’s readiness to move to remote instruction before the onset of winter weather. Making this change would mean students and staff would attend school remotely on Monday December 23rd, 2024.