A Brooklyn eighth grader has convinced Mayor Adams and the city’s public school system to cancel classes on the Monday before winter break, officials announced Wednesday.
Because Christmas Eve falls on a Tuesday this year, students were scheduled to attend school on Dec. 23 before a week-long recess.
But Isaac Regnier, who attends I.S. 96 Seth Low in Bensonhurst, launched a petition to fix the school calendar, saying few of his classmates will show up for school that day. By the time of the announcement, his appeal that he crafted with his dad and sister had gathered about 23,000 signatures.
“I feel so proud of myself for all that hard work I did,” said Regnier, 13, at a press conference at United Federation of Teachers headquarters.
A child prodigy in calendars and numbers, Regnier not only recognized the flaw in the school calendar, but can guess the day of the week of a birthday if given the date and the year. After the event, he guessed UFT president Michael Mulgrew’s: it was a Thursday.
“These young people are bubbling with ideas because they view life at a different set of lens than we do,” said Adams, “and if we’re not willing to listen to them, we’re going to miss many opportunities.”
The city has increasingly felt pressure on its school calendar. State law requires school must be in session for 180 days, but with the addition of new holidays in recent years — including Diwali this Friday — education officials have less flexibility during the school year.
The administration and union officials insisted they will not have to add an extra day onto the school year to take Dec. 23 off, using non-instructional days to count toward the statutory requirement.
As for Regnier, he plans on making the most of his extra time off from school.
“Maybe we’ll travel,” he said. “I’m planning on having our friends over for New Year’s, if possible. And yeah, we’re gonna stay up past midnight on New Year’s. Jan. 1 is a Wednesday next year.”
