The parade, set to begin at 10 a.m. near Battery Park, will travel up Broadway through the Canyon of Heroes to City Hall. Its timing conflicts with state science Regents exams, a concern first reported by Chalkbeat.
“We have been in touch with Chancellor [Kamar] Samuels and New York City Public Schools, and there will be no changes to the Regents Examination schedule,” state Education Department spokesperson JP O’Hare said in a statement to amNewYork. “New Yorkers are rightfully excited to celebrate the Knicks, but our students have been preparing all year for this moment too.”
“Just like the Knicks, they’ve put in the work and earned their chance to shine. We’re confident schools will support students through the exam schedule while the city celebrates this historic season,” he added.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani also said Monday that students scheduled to take Regents exams should still take them.
Asked on NY1 whether there would be any opportunity to reschedule or forgive the exams because of the parade, Mamdani said there would not.
“My encouragement would be that you should still be taking the Regents,” Mamdani said. “Unlike the executive order for bedtimes, this is something I cannot repeal.”
Biology Regents exams are scheduled for Thursday morning, while algebra exams are scheduled for the afternoon, according to the state’s schedule.
Chalkbeat also reported that some families are upset about the conflict, including a parent who started a petition asking officials to move the parade and a student who started a petition calling for the school to be canceled that day.
Mamdani struck a lighter tone when asked a similar question on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show.” Lehrer asked whether the mayor’s earlier proclamation suspending bedtimes during the Knicks’ finals run would extend to skipping school on Thursday.
“I have to get back to my legal team before I answer that question,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani said Thursday was chosen in partnership with the Knicks organization after the team won its first championship in 53 years. He said the city also wanted to make sure players and their families could attend.
“I know there are some who may have wanted a quicker turnaround,” Mamdani said. “But we had to make sure that everyone could bring everyone that meant something to them from the team to the parade itself.”
The mayor has said the parade could be the largest in city history.
