New York City public schools will have a snow day on Feb 23

NEW YORK – The announcement was most likely met with jubilation among children and trepidation among parents: There will be no school on Feb 23 for New York City public school students, who will instead enjoy the city’s first snow day in nearly seven years.

With a winter storm expected to bring heavy snow and wind from the night of Feb 22 into Feb 23, city officials had been mulling over whether to close school buildings and have students learn remotely.

But because of the severe forecast – and because students had been off for the past week for the regular mid-winter recess – the city decided to cancel class entirely.

“We do not believe providing remote instruction tomorrow would be effective,” Mr Kamar Samuels, the schools’ chancellor, said at a news conference on Feb 22.

Mr Samuels noted that many schools have not had time to send devices home with students for remote instruction. He said cancelling school “will also help us ensure that our staff and families who spent their break travelling are able to return home safely”.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani also announced on Feb 22 that nonessential travel would be banned on city streets until noon on Feb 23.

Deciding when to call for a snow day can be a tricky proposition for city officials.

State law requires New York City to have 180 instructional days, meaning that typically every unplanned day off must be made up later.

When a winter storm hit the city in late January, Mr Mamdani disappointed some students by announcing a day of remote learning instead of a full snow day, citing the state requirement.

He said one enterprising student had even found an e-mail address for his wife, Ms Rama Duwaji, and sent her a message making the case for a snow day, to no avail. Some children nonetheless skipped their online classes in favour of sledding and snowball fights.

Remote instruction, which became common during the coronavirus pandemic, can be hard for some parents who have to balance their own work with helping children log on to online classrooms.

During one winter storm in February 2024, for example, there were widespread technical problems during a remote learning day, prompting frustration.

Mr Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said having a snow day on Feb 23 was the “right decision”.

Mr Mamdani revealed the snow day news in a post on social media, in which he can be seen video calling an ecstatic Victoria Mompoint, an eighth grader at Meyer Levin School in Brooklyn, telling her school will be cancelled.

Victoria, 14, is a politician herself. She was recently elected student body mayor at her school, and said she ran because other students felt “unheard”.

She said she had hoped to talk to the mayor sometime, but was surprised when Mr Mamdani called.

“Having a snow day means to go have fun, watch your movies, sip on your hot cocoa, and be with your family and go play in the snow,” she said. NYTIMES