Concerns raised over RCSD’s calendar for Lunar New Year

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Questions are being raised over the Rochester City School District’s calendar for the 2024-2025 school year.

This year, the Lunar New Year falls on January 29, 2025 — which is a Wednesday. The district’s calendar on its website currently lists that as a day off for kids, but it’s scheduled as a Superintendent’s Conference Day.

Last year, Governor Hochul signed a bill that declared the Lunar New Year as a public school holiday. According to the New York State Department of Education , school districts are prohibited from holding sessions on that day — they also cannot hold a superintendent’s conference day:

That law took effect on July 1, 2023, but the last Lunar New Year fell on a Saturday when students would already have the day off. 2025’s holiday will be the first on a weekday since the law was passed.

News 8 has reached out to the Rochester City School District several times for a response and have not heard back.

According to Adam Urbanski, the president of Rochester Teachers Association, RCSD is unwilling to change the calendar.

“The RCSD has a different interpretation of the law,” he explained. “They did offer to allow affected teachers to use a personal day for being absent on that day. I plan to address this with the Interim Superintendent Demario Strickland at the next opportunity (by middle of next week or sooner).”

RCSD’s 2024-2025 Calendar

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