The New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks has announced that he is retiring from his position effective Dec. 31, 2024.
Banks had officially revealed his decision to NYC Mayor Eric Adams in his letter.
He wrote, “I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished during my tenure and the opportunity to work alongside such dedicated professionals to shape the future of education in our great city is one that I will always cherish.”
Banks has been involved in NYC education for almost 40 years. He began teaching at P.S. 167 and became an assistant principal at P.S. 191. He later became a founding principal at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice and at the Eagle Academy for Young Men. He finally became the Chancellor of NYC Public Schools on Jan. 1, 2022.
He has initiated multiple programs, such as NYC Solves, which focused on improving mathematics teaching, and Modern Youth Apprenticeship, which gave students opportunities to gain career experience through paid internships.
Banks has chosen his successor to be Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who has worked with the DOE for over 14 years.
Aviles-Ramos is already planning the improvements that she will implement once she is the school chancellor. She is focused on assisting students with disabilities and students that are multilingual to make learning swiffer for them as well as trying to improve the safety measures in schools. She will also have to tackle the problem of whether to ban phones in school and how to limit the number of students in a class with such few teachers available.
Aviles-Ramos first began her career as an English Teacher at Truman High School. She later rose up to be the principal of Schuylerville Preparatory High School. She became a senior executive director of program implementation in the Office of the First Deputy Chancellor, the chief of staff to Chancellor Banks, and is presently deputy chancellor of family and community engagement and external affairs.
In an interview with Chalkbeat, she briefly explained why she wanted to be chancellor in the first place. “Who doesn’t want to teach kids to read, do math, and have access to amazing careers after they graduate?”
“I see my role as making sure we get all of those things over the finish line,” she said.
