Chancellor David Banks and Mayor Eric Adams held a State of Our Schools address at the Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn last week. They covered topics like public safety and career pathways, and briefly touched on the impact the migrant influx has had on New York City public schools.
“There’s a level of optimism I have every time I walk into a New York City public school,” said Adams to the student audience. “But we’re in tough times, and I can’t lie to you. I’m not going to search through a thesaurus and find the proper political term to tell you that these are challenging moments for us. And I’m concerned. I want to be honest with you: I’m concerned.”
Banks discussed the Bright Starts and Bold Futures program, which aims to recruit teachers of color, retain diverse teaching staff, and increase reading proficiencies among Black and brown students via the NYC Reads initiative. Bold Futures also plans to help students address climate change, offers two remote options for high schoolers, and increases Department of Education (DOE) spending on Minority and Women‑Owned Business (M/WBE) vendors. The programs were introduced last year.
“We give our kids the foundational skills that they need—literacy, safety and emotional wellness—for Bright Starts,” said Banks. “And we prepare them and empower them to build bold futures—futures that give them meaning, sustain them financially, and propel them to be leaders in our communities.”
This past spring and summer, the DOE trained thousands of educators in the science of reading, said Banks. The DOE is providing early childhood programs and elementary schools with instructional materials that support reading and writing, while half of school districts are adopting one of three NYC Reads curricula. Simultaneously, schools are universally screening students who may be at risk for dyslexia and implementing algebraic courses to improve math scores, said Banks.
Banks gave a quick update on the city’s 18,000-plus migrant students and 26,000-plus students in temporary housing. “Many of them are migrant students who have arrived in our city over the past year and a half, so in partnership with our mayor, who has led and advocated in all of these areas, we are going to care for each and every one of our babies and give them that bright start,” said Banks.
He said the DOE has opened 77 new bilingual programs and 36 gifted and talented programs since last fall.
He added the plan is to give every graduating student a “rewarding life path” by 2030, with paid work experience, early college credit, career credentials, financial and digital literacy, and significant mentorship and guidance. The programs to accomplish these goals include the FutureReady program and Modern Youth apprenticeships in career fields such as cybersecurity, software development, diagnostic medicine, and business management.
“The purpose of school, first, [is that] our children will become confident readers by the third grade—[that is] a commitment,” said Banks. “Secondly, that our children will be engaged and challenged in new and exciting ways. And thirdly, that our children will graduate [from] high school with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to be financially literate and prepared to go to college or enter the workforce. Those are the commitments that we are making as an administration. On some of these promises, we know we have a long way to go, but I know that the best is yet to come.”
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
