STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The year may be coming to an end, but students in New York City schools will continue the 2025-2026 school year when they return to class in January.<\/p>\n
Winter recess ends when students return to campus on Monday, Jan. 5. <\/a>Students in public schools could expect some changes as they enter 2026, with a new mayor, an ongoing cellphone ban, curricula expansions, and new school seats to meet class size caps. <\/p>\n Here are four key topics impacting students in the upcoming year.<\/p>\n New mayor could lead to changes<\/p>\n A new mayor will take the helm of New York City in the new year \u2014 Zohran Mamdani. This could lead to a plethora of changes for New York City public schools. It\u2019s currently unclear if Mamdani will keep Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos as the leader of public schools under his administration. <\/p>\n Mamdani also made headlines during the election season for his beliefs on education. He said he would keep the test requirement for specialized high schools, but would end the gifted and talented programs in public schools.<\/a><\/p>\n That could spell trouble for schools with gifted programs already in place. It could also impact the gifted and talented school planned at the educational complex under construction at the former St. John Villa campus in Arrochar.<\/a> The K-8 standalone school is slated to open in 2029. <\/p>\n Cellphone ban<\/p>\n Students across New York state started the 2025-2026 school year with new cellphone bans in place<\/a>, among other personal internet-enabled devices. That\u2019s due to a new state law that prohibits personal device use on campus throughout the school day. <\/p>\n While there have been no other changes to this law, students can expect to continue to follow their individual school\u2019s policy on personal devices as they head into 2026.<\/p>\n Literacy and math programming<\/p>\n New York City continues to implement new literacy and math curricula into schools, expanding its NYC Reads and NYC Solves programs.<\/a> <\/p>\n NYC Solves expanded across many middle schools, including in District 31, this school year. <\/p>\n Additionally this school year, NYC Reads was expanded for the first time to middle schools in eight school districts. That did not include Staten Island\u2019s District 31, which encompasses all general education schools in the borough. This means that Staten Island schools can prepare to possibly integrate NYC Reads into middle schools next fall or the year after.<\/p>\n According to the city, NYC Reads and NYC Solves will be fully implemented in middle schools across all school districts by the 2027-2028 school year.<\/p>\n New school seats and class sizes<\/p>\n