The New York City eighth-grader who appeared in the mayor’s cutesy snow day announcement on social media Sunday hopes she’ll get another call soon.
Victoria Mompoint, who appeared in a recording of the call with Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his public snow day proclamation, is urging the mayor to reverse his decision to reopen schools on Tuesday — calling the conditions “unsafe” after the city was walloped with up to two feet of snow, according to a Gothamist report.
“A lot of people are telling me, texting me on Instagram, ‘like, can you call the mayor back?” the 14-year-old told the outlet.
“The conditions are unsafe, she added. “It’s not even like kids don’t want to go to school — kids don’t want to wait for a bus that’s going to take probably 30 minutes plus and climb over mountains of snow, and it’s probably not possible that all the snow is going to be cleaned off by the time that kids have to go to school tomorrow morning.”
Mompoint, a student at Meyer Levin Junior High School in Brooklyn, noted she doesn’t think many of her peers will be able to make it to school – and not everyone has the right snow gear.
“ I personally, I don’t have snow shoes. I have a lot of Jordans, but I don’t wanna mess with my Jordans,” she told Gothamist.
Mompoint’s concerns echo similar calls from the Queens and Staten Island borough presidents, as well as several city council members, to cancel classes on Tuesday.
A Change.org petition demanding a second snow day has amassed over 88,000 signatures to date.
“Past storms have demonstrated how quickly transportation systems, neighborhood parking, and yellow bus services become overwhelmed,” the petition reads.
“These conditions create serious safety concerns for students, school staff, and families navigating hazardous roads and limited transit options.”
