Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Time to get kiddo coverage: NYC public schools calendar is released
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 21, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
NYCPS
By
Jessica Gould
Published Apr 21, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
It’s official: Parents will have to scramble for child care the first week in September, according to the 2026-27 public school calendar.
The city's education department released the calendar for the coming school year Tuesday after facing a growing chorus of grumbling from educators and parents eager to plan their schedules.
Per union contracts, the city’s schools always start the Thursday after Labor Day to provide teachers two days to prepare their classrooms. Labor Day comes late this year, pushing the first day to Sept. 10. The last day of public school will be June 28, a Monday.
The school calendar is a knotty challenge for policymakers and parents. By law, the city is required to hold 180 instructional days. But meeting the instructional requirement has become a more vexing challenge due to the recent additions of cultural holidays to the school holiday calendar. That has left little wiggle room for unexpected disruptions like snow storms, floods, extreme heat days, and wildfire smoke.
In February, Mayor Zohran Mamdani successfully lobbied state lawmakers for a waiver for the first old-fashioned snow day in years, forgoing remote learning and allowing kids to frolic in the flakes. But the city faced typical challenges with remote learning when it closed for a subsequent snow day, and then reopened as roads were still being cleared.
Other highlights (or lowlights, depending on your perspective) on the new calendar include Election Day, which will be a remote day for kids since schools are used as polling places.
Several holidays fall on weekends or during breaks on the school calendar. Diwali begins on a Sunday, while Juneteenth is on a Saturday.
June is always a Swiss-cheese school schedule, packed with holidays and days off for kids while teachers have conferences or clerical days — not to mention the crush of testing, field trips and performances. Some parents call the hectic month “June-cember.”
This coming June, all students but those at stand-alone high schools will be off June 8 for a clerical day for teachers, followed by a day back on, before all kids have the day off on June 10 for Anniversary Day/Brooklyn-Queens Day.
Parent Deborah Alexander said that the frequency of holidays, days off and remote days places a heavy burden on parents while diminishing instruction.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “Kids can’t learn if they aren’t in school.”
Tagged
education
new york city
Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .