Despite a claim of diversity, New York City schools have statistically been one of the most racially segregated systems in the nation. With that information, Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels laid out his vision to make educational institutions “truly integrated” going into the new school year.
“I have three main priorities for New York City public schools. I want to make sure schools are safe. I want to make sure they’re academically rigorous, and I want to make sure they’re truly integrated,” said Samuels at the New York Law School’s 204th City Law Breakfast in Manhattan on Sept. 2. “Those priorities, I didn’t arrive by just my personal experience. It’s really taking a look at and listening to so many families around the city.”
The Jamaican-born Samuels is a veteran educator with over 20 years of experience. He started as a teacher in the Bronx and was previously a superintendent in Brooklyn’s District 13 and Manhattan’s District 3. As superintendent, Samuels led a controversial yet successful school merger to foster racial and socioeconomic diversity. He also replaced some traditional “Gifted and Talented” programs with the International Baccalaureate (IB) model, aiming for schoolwide enrichment rather than segregated tracks.
As chancellor, he said he is proud to lay out a plan that speaks directly to the issue of race and class segregation in city schools, not to mention the persisting language barriers in some cases. He’s intentional about using the word “integration” to incorporate structural impediments, like housing and affordability, that disproportionately impact the city’s Black and Brown families.
“We’ve seen…the number of Black families who moved out of the city, who don’t necessarily feel that they have a place in terms of affordability, and that has impacts on our schools,” said Samuels, “and having the conversation about that, I think, is really important.”
There are about 30,000 kids in schools that are “underenrolled” and “pretty segregated,” which are a priority to address, Samuels said.
“The reason it’s important is because we live in a polarized society. If the first time our kids are connecting with someone across differences is when they end up in a dorm room or when they end up in a job, we would have failed our students,” said Samuels. “They need to be able to — especially in an environment where current events often lead to bias in schools and in our city — they need to be able to connect across differences every day.”
The first step was to launch five school district working groups in Districts 3, 7, 13, 16, and 25 to garner feedback, said Samuels. The goal is to open a working group in each of the city’s 32 school districts over the next three years. The city will be implementing Central Collaborative Reviews with all 45 Superintendents. And, the education department has a goal of hiring 6,600 new teachers.
On the classroom side, Samuels is expanding the NYC Reads and Solves programs as well as making sure learning is “culturally responsive” by strengthening the Black Studies and Hidden Voices curricula. Samuels added that there are 44 new bilingual programs, aiming to achieve the New York State Seal of Biliteracy (NYSSB) award for high school students.
According to 2025 state test data, there was a 7.2-point increase in English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency and a 3.5-point increase in math scores for public school children overall for students in grades 3 through 8 last year. Despite the significant improvement, Black and Hispanic students continued to score lower than white and Asian students in both categories.
“We have seen fluctuations in our test scores. Last year we went up seven points. This year we came down to six points in ELA. We’re continuing to study that. But what’s important is that especially in grades three to five for this year, we want to make sure our young people are fluent readers, that they’re engaged in the knowledge building necessary for a high-quality reading experience and becoming great readers,” said Samuels, who opted to ban AI use for one year in public schools for grades 2-K through 8th grade.
The feedback so far
Attendees to the law school’s breakfast had a wide variety of opinions on Samuels’ diversity and integration plan.
Marie Winfield, executive director at Fair Housing Justice Center, said that it was wonderful just to hear “a top city official” talk about the importance of integrated spaces in education. She thinks he has the experience from working in District 3 and 13 on how to implement successful diversity plans. She is also excited to hear that the intersection with housing and equitable education is being taken seriously.
“We’re very interested in the intersection between the affordability piece, discrimination, and the housing market, and how that impacts integrated spaces across the city, and specifically in schools, but in our communities as well,” said Winfield at the event. “It’s great to hear the chancellor talk about mitigating different impacts in the school space, including culturally responsive education, and we look forward to working with the chancellor in the future.”
Jae Edman, of Johnson Edman Advertising, is more eager to see a focus on culturally responsive education.
“I am of Jamaican heritage as well. So, through that, I understand what that means and what he’s going to be pushing for. But also I think for the city at large, I think it’s a great opportunity to have this new initiative come into place and take the city as a whole in his hand and move that initiative forward,” said Edman. “I think he’s gonna do a great job over time.”
Samuels’ plan is not without its critics, though. Michael Meyers, the president and executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition (NYCRC), felt that the integration plan left a lot to be desired. He believes that public charter schools do a much better job at serving minority students.
“He’s not doing a damn thing about those segregated schools. He cited some of the schools that are already segregated. He didn’t tell me how you’re going to get rid of them. Nobody addressed that question,” said Meyers. “I am really upset about it.”
