School districts granted waivers to close Monday, state says
The New York State Education Department has granted waivers for some school districts to close on Monday, without remote instruction for students and without necessarily having to make up the day later.
Under normal conditions, schools are required to be in session 180 days each year in order to receive their full allocation of state aid. But the law allows the education department to disregard that requirement if the closure was due to "extraordinarily adverse weather conditions" during a state of emergency.
Gordon Tepper, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul, said an emergency declaration by itself is not sufficient for schools to miss days without making them up.
"Schools need to apply to [the state education department] for a waiver from the minimum instruction day requirement," Tepper told Newsday in a text message.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday afternoon that city schools had already received a waiver from the state.
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