Kamar Samuels, a veteran educator with over 20 years of work within New York City schools, has been appointed the new chancellor of the city’s Department of Education by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani didn’t outline a policy agenda for New York City’s schools. “Education has not been a focal point in the election,” Chalkbeat wrote this past September. “Even though the school system is the city’s largest department and commands a budget of more than $41 billion with roughly 146,000 employees.”
Mamdani had said he wanted to give families more power, give teachers more say, support homeless and immigrant students, remove mayoral control, and give communities a greater voice. Later, he changed his position on mayoral control.
Here are five key facts to know about the new head of the New York City Department of Education.
1. Background: From Kingston to New York classrooms
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Samuels has built a two-decade-long career in education since moving to New York. He began as a participant in the NYC Teaching Fellows program, teaching at PS 41 and PS/MS 194 in the Bronx. He later served as principal of the Bronx Writing Academy before moving on to district administration.
2. Championing of “NYC Reads” and instructional reform
While serving as superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, Samuels oversaw the implementation of the “NYC Reads” literacy initiative. Under his leadership, the district reported a 5% increase in literacy outcomes. Samuels’ appointment as NYC chancellor suggests that Mamdani will maintain and refine the city’s current shift toward phonics-based reading instruction.
3. Samuels believes integration and equity are choices
As Superintendent in Brooklyn’s District 13 and Manhattan’s District 3, Samuels led controversial yet successful school mergers to foster racial and socioeconomic diversity. He replaced some traditional “Gifted and Talented” programs with the International Baccalaureate (IB) model, aiming for schoolwide enrichment rather than segregated tracks. In his appointment speech, he emphasized that “Equity is not an abstract idea; it’s a set of choices we make together.”
4. Parent engagement and promises of a new era of community power
Samuels will serve as chancellor under Mayor Mamdani’s “modified” version of mayoral control. The Mamdani administration plans to ask the state for an extension of the current mayoral control of NYC schools. The administration wants to change how the Community Education Council (CEC)’s monthly public meetings are scheduled to make it easier for working parents to attend. They also want to strengthen parent coordinators’ roles so they are more than administrative coordinators and can effectively organize parents in the school community.
5. Samuels is a leader in education and finance
Before entering education, Samuels worked as a finance manager for the NBA. He has a master’s in educational leadership from Baruch College.
Stop making parents the voice of schools New York! Its a conflict of interest. Did parents complete education courses? No.
Parent voice should be as a consumer and that’s it. When you try to put parents needs above anything else, education becomes a joke.
You need parents say in like how they feel the education is going but going beyond that causes bribery. Teachers can’t grade honestly and now Johnny can’t read going into 6th grade because his mom was too involved in how the teacher held him accountable.
My son who is now 40yrs old was selected for the G&T from Kindergarten
thru 5th. He attended Phillip Schuyler G&T from 6th grade – 8th and HS at Bishop Loughlin. BS from Hofstra Un. And Masters from Brooklyn College. Currently working for NYC . He has a beautiful family, 2 twin daughters, age 6 and a 7 month old boy. I am worried that my grandkids might not get a good public school education as did their dad.
My son who is now 40yrs old was selected for the G&T from Kindergarten
thru 5th. He attended Phillip Schuyler G&T from 6th grade – 8th and HS at Bishop Loughlin. BS from Hofstra Un. And Masters from Brooklyn College. Currently working for NYC . He has a beautiful family, 2 twin daughters, age 6 and a 7 month old boy. I am worried that my grandkids might not get a good public school education as did their dad.
Here’s a good use of a School Leadership Team (if those still exist & hope they do): Our daughter, now in her 30s, attended a middle school on the east side there 100s. When the principal told us that the local school superintendent was planning to drop the school’s highlight, its wonderful band and art programs, the board got busy. We sent home notes to parents and found a Times reporter willing to cover the story. She attended a packed meeting. I saw her stunned and impressed expression as the room, mainly of black & brown parents, explained what the school meant to their children, many of them gifted, and how impossible it would be for working parents–some single parents, some with many children– to find another nearby school, as the plan would surely downgrade this one. The principal got the call the next morning dropping the scheme.