The city's Department of Education says schools will now be closed on December 23 of this year.

 

Originally, the DOE said schools would be open on December 23, which falls on a Monday this year. That meant that schools would have opened for just one weekday before departing for winter break, a decision that was met with criticism.

But the DOE announced on Tuesday that schools will now be closed on that day, extending winter break by one day.

No school day will be added back to the calendar, the DOE says, which means there will now be 180 scheduled days in the 2019-20 school year instead of 181.

Students and staff will return on January 2, 2020.