By Michael V. Cusenza
Schools Chancellor David Banks announced on Wednesday that he would be retiring effective Dec. 31, 2024.
“After nearly 40 years of dedicated service to New York City’s public schools, I have made the decision to retire at the end of this year. I want to thank Mayor Adams for giving me the opportunity to serve as chancellor, and I am immensely proud of the progress we’ve made together — ensuring every child can read, expanding special education and gifted & talented programs, and creating innovative pathways for our students to secure rewarding careers and long-term success. Additionally, I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of families who entrust us with their children and the 140,000 employees who show up every day for our students — you make our public schools possible. I grew up in our public schools and spent most of my adult life serving the students and families of our city, and I have every confidence that the work we’ve started will continue to thrive and benefit generations to come.”
Mayor Eric Adams said that he was “immensely grateful and proud of the work accomplished in New York City Public Schools under Chancellor David Banks. In less than three years, our city’s public schools have transformed — from ensuring schools were safe and open coming out of the pandemic to a space that has increased our students’ reading scores, math scores, and graduation rates. We’ve implemented critical initiatives like ‘NYC Reads,’ ‘NYC Solves,’ and universal dyslexia screenings, while also ensuring a seamless and timely coordination with partners to welcome, enroll, and support thousands of newly-arriving students and their families on a citywide scale. We’ve done all this and more on behalf of nearly 1 million public school students, and Chancellor Banks was crucial to getting that done every day. On behalf of all New Yorkers, we thank Chancellor Banks for his service, and wish him well in his retirement at the end of the calendar year.”
Additionally, on Wednesday, Adams announced the appointment of Melissa Aviles-Ramos as the next City Schools chancellor. Aviles-Ramos is the highest-ranking Latina and Spanish-speaking leader in New York City Public Schools, and currently serves as deputy chancellor for family and community engagement and external affairs. She joined the City Department of Education in 2007 as an English teacher, and then went on to serve as an assistant principal, principal (where she brought up graduation rates by 60 percent in just two years), deputy superintendent, acting superintendent, and education administrator. Her efforts have included creating advisory councils, launching community-based projects, and spearheading initiatives that address critical issues affecting students and their families, according to the Adams administration.
“Becoming the chancellor for nation’s largest school district is the ultimate job for a lifelong educator,” said incoming Chancellor Aviles-Ramos. “As a former teacher and a mom of a public-school student, I believe strongly in our work and in maintaining stability through this transition. Under my leadership, we will continue to strengthen our supports for students with disabilities and multilingual learners, improve our city’s literacy and math proficiency rates, help our older students forge pathways to a bright future, and keep our schools safe.”
