Mamdani to tap Kamar Samuels as NYC schools chancellor

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Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to tap Kamar Samuels, a Manhattan superintendent, to run New York City’s public school system, according to a transition committee member briefed by administration officials.

As the superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, Samuels supervises schools with widely varying demographic profiles across the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, and parts of Harlem. Samuels has led school integration plans and played a role in a previous effort to scale back gifted programs, initiatives that Mamdani has vowed to revive.

Samuels also has experience executing school mergers — a task that is often complex and controversial — which could be valuable as the city grapples with a growing number of tiny campuses. Those mergers, however, have tended to have an explicit integration focus in what is one of the nation’s most segregated school systems.

Before his tenure in District 3, where he oversaw several mergers, Samuels was the superintendent in Brooklyn’s District 13, which spans from Brooklyn Heights to Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant. While there, he oversaw the move of Arts & Letters, a coveted pre-K-8 school, from its home in Clinton Hill to an underenrolled school building in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

He also spearheaded that district’s move away from gifted and talented programs — amid growing concerns from parents about racial disparities — and laid the groundwork to move toward implementing International Baccalaureate programs districtwide. The International Baccalaureate is recognized globally as a rigorous program, and District 13 aimed to use it to create a more inclusive schoolwide approach to enrichment as an alternative to gifted education, serving only a select group of students.

Samuels started out as a teacher in the Bronx nearly two decades ago before becoming a principal at the Bronx Writing Academy, or P.S. 323, where he took advantage of a teachers union program allowing schools to experiment beyond the confines of the contract: he staggered start times for teachers, adjusted class lengths, and incorporated online learning through a city program known as iZone, which paid for the school’s new computers.

He will face a series of challenges as New York City’s schools chief. As enrollment in public schools has plunged, the incoming administration will have to answer difficult questions about whether to close or merge more schools. Rates of chronic absenteeism, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, remain elevated. A state class size mandate will require finding thousands of new teachers and billions of dollars. Though reading and math scores have ticked up on state assessments, the city’s performance is widely considered middling given the agency’s nearly $43 billion budget — and there are wide gaps that cleave along lines of race and class.

Perhaps the trickiest task for the incoming chancellor will be managing one of Mamdani’s most significant education promises: to end mayoral control of the nation’s largest school system and give families and educators more of a say.

Mamdani has yet to outline how he would give up some of his own power over the school system, but it’s possible those moves would dilute the schools chief’s authority.

Some education observers were quick to praise Mamdani’s decision to elevate Samuels.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist who has written extensively about inequity in New York City schools, praised the move on social media as “outstanding news for those who still care about school integration and equality.” She added: “In the face of the national attacks on civil rights and dismantling of enforcement at the U.S. DOE this pick by Mamdani sends a powerful message.”

Others who have worked directly with Samuels said he is known for navigating thorny debates about inequity in the system and incorporating feedback from parents and other community members.

“He is savvy and respected,” said David Adams, the CEO of Urban Assembly, which supports a network of New York City public schools. The decision “reflects a mayor who is looking for a chancellor who knows how to operate within the system.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.