Are these extra school holidays too much of a good thing?
For many NYC parents of public school students, the answer is a resounding yes. With Big Apple students now only in school for 176 days each year — with an especially long break for spring recess, currently in effect from April 2 to 10 — some parents are throwing up their hands in frustration at their children’s extra time off, being forced to meet the demands of work and finding additional childcare at the same time.
Young Gothamites are set to log 130 fewer hours in the classroom than the national average, which adds up to 20 lost school days altogether.
Though New York state law mandates that students are in school for a minimum of 180 days, Big Apple students lose teachers to four “professional development days” — which the state treats as an exception to this rule — along with two half-days for parent-teacher conferences.
This year, city students also lost a day to the February blizzard — which will not be made up, as Mayor Mamdani got a waiver from the state to void the 180-day rule this time around.
Now, disheartened parents are sounding off on the issue.
Jill Di Donato, a Brooklyn freelance writer/brand consultant and single mom of 7-year-old second grader Estela, shared that while she supports that New York City schools are inclusive of religious holidays and provide children with ample time off in general, it can put her in a difficult position as a mother and member of the workforce.
“If I’m not observing a holiday with my child, I have two options — I can either take the day off from work and spend time with her, which is a gift in and of itself, or I have to pay out-of-pocket for extra care specialty camps designed for these holidays that cater to families,” she said. “They can be quite expensive — $100 to $300 a day per child.”
Others are desperately venting on Reddit, including one titled DOE/School Breaks, where a user asked, “There are so many weeks in the calendar when the kids are off from school. What are parents doing?”
“Just work from your Berkshires/Hamptons house while the nanny takes care of it,” one user posted sarcastically, racking up 76 upvotes. “Wait, did you say public school? No, I don’t have any solutions. It’s insane out here.”
“Yeah, it’s tough,” another user commented. “I get 21 days off, and my wife doesn’t work, so that’s how we stretch them. I don’t know how working parents do this. Don’t get me started on how summer break is 10 weeks, but most camps I’ve seen are either 6 or 8 weeks. Like what in the hell?”
Di Donato feels that the problem is not exclusively NYC schools, either — it’s a system “that is not set up to support working families, whatever that may look like.”
“I’m always working in pockets where I can after (normal workday) hours,” said Di Donato. “The system is not designed to accommodate my lifestyle, but I make it work for me.”
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