Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is expected to elevate Kamar Samuels, a local uptown Manhattan superintendent, to chancellor of the New York City public schools on Wednesday, sources confirmed to the Daily News.
Samuels started his career as an elementary teacher, then middle school principal, both in the Bronx. He later led District 13 in Brooklyn — where he was best known for overseeing a districtwide middle school integration plan — before moving to District 3 in Manhattan for the last few years.
In his current position, he oversaw a contentious plan to reconfigure Harlem schools as part of a broader effort to address enrollment declines in the neighborhood. The move triggered backlash in the community, while earning the praises of top education officials for ensuring all students have access to a variety of classes and programming. The district also covers the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights.
Samuels is set to become the third chancellor in two school years, after Melissa Aviles-Ramos took the reins from David Banks, who in October. 2024 was forced to resign early amid federal corruption probes swirling City Hall.
“Hearty congratulations to Kamar Samuels on taking the helm of the nation’s largest school system, a tremendous responsibility at this moment in time that will require a practiced hand and steadfast commitment to steering the ship straight,” said state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), chairman of the New York City Education Committee.
Samuels will take over the more than $40 billion school system with some 900,000 students as it contends with political pressure from the White House, which has already pulled funding from local magnet programs, as well as an incoming state mandate to lower class sizes that will require significant spending and hiring.
He also faces an uncertain future under Mamdani, who campaigned on a promise to end the current system of mayoral control of public schools — raising questions about his future authority to appoint a schools chancellor. Meanwhile, Mamdani has yet to articulate his vision for school governance, and there appears to be little appetite in Albany for significant changes.
The Mamdani transition team did not return a request for comment Tuesday night.
One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the chancellor selection process was marred by behind-the-scenes jockeying, with several different camps on the transition at one point pushing as many as five different candidates for the top spot, including Aviles-Ramos.
That resulted in a process bogged down by indecision, the person said, with the appointment of Samuels leaving some on the transition team disillusioned.
“To pick someone who’s a superintendent over someone who’s already chancellor, when it’s this late in the process,” the source said, in reference to Aviles-Ramos, “that could have been done better.”
It was not immediately clear when his appointment will take effect. Students return from winter break Monday.
