1 More Day off Added to All Public New York State Schools

New York State Public High Schools have another holiday added to the calendar, which means that teachers and students will be off a couple of days in October

Districts like Williamsville in Western New York have implemented the holiday and will give students and staff a day off. In addition, it is mandatory that schools give the day off in areas like New York City. It is very important to double-check your school district's calendar to double-check if you, in fact, have these 2 holidays on your calendar. According to the Schools.nyc.gov website:

Thursday, October 2, 2025: Yom Kippur, schools closed
Monday, October 20, 2025: Diwali, schools closed

These two are in addition to the Columbus Day holiday.

Parents have voiced their frustration with having extra days off because a lot of parents work during the day and have a problem finding day care and child care when the day off is not a federally mandated day, and workplaces have off as well. There is no doubt that it can be a problem, especially with the rising cost of child care in New York State. The average daycare in New York State costs about $22,000 annually per kid in New York State. In addition, more days off during the school year (especially in New York State, because we have so many snow days) means that the end of the school year only gets pushed closer to July.