For almost a million pupils attending public schools in New York City, summer break officially ended on Thursday.

Back To School.Photo byVitolda KleinonUnsplash

With 24 new school buildings opening for the fall semester, the largest school system in the country will have more than 11,000 more classroom seats in the city.

This year, the city's class sizes have to correspond with those of upstate schools; that is, classes can have a maximum of 20 students for kindergarten–3, 23 students for grades 4–8, and 25 students for years 9–12. In 40% of all city schools, those figures must be met.

School Chancellor David Banks

David Banks and Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, agreed that the additional 11,000 classroom seats are a significant step forward, but meeting state criteria would take time.

Authorities are also exploring how to handle cell phones in classrooms. Although cellphone use prohibitions are in effect at hundreds of local schools, Mayor Eric Adams has not said when a system-wide ban will be implemented.