Brooklyn Student Leads Petition Drive Against One-Day School Week Before Christmas Break.
A 12-year-old Brooklyn student, Isaac Regnier, has started an online petition drive that has garnered over 6,400 signatures calling on the city Department of Education (DOE) to cancel class on Monday, December 23 – the day before winter break begins – and make it up by extending the academic year by one day, to Friday, June 27. The petition is directed at Chancellor David Banks with the hope that he will “fix the NYC schools calendar.” Isaac’s interest in calendars led him to be surprised by the DOE scheduling a one-day school week just before winter break. He predicts attendance will be low on December 23, as many families may pull their kids out of class to begin vacation earlier. Additionally, he is concerned that there will be little learning occurring that day and no annual winter holiday parties due to lack of students and teachers attending class.
Isaac first tried appealing directly to Mayor Eric Adams and Chancellor David Banks but was ignored by both. He then enlisted the help of his father, Michael Regnier, and 10-year-old sister, Susanna, to draft the online petition. Isaac proposes adding an extra day at the end of the school year since NYC schools must operate for at least 180 days under New York law or risk losing state funding. In 2019, a similar scheduling issue existed and a group of city school teachers successfully petitioned to keep schools closed on December 23. The same solution was used in other academic years where public schools were closed when December 23 fell on a Monday.
Bronx high school teacher Carl Abend plans to sign the petition, hoping that the DOE will change its mind and avoid a messy situation where many teachers would use their banked vacation days to take off on December 23. Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), a former DOE director of intergovernmental affairs who represents Bay Ridge, also hopes his former agency listens to young Isaac’s proposal. City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield expressed pride in students like Isaac for practicing their civic engagement skills and encouraged “all students and families to ensure their child’s attendance on Dec. 23.
