Mamdani to name Kamar Samuels as schools chancellor

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will announce Wednesday he’s chosen Kamar Samuels to be his schools chancellor. Three sources with knowledge of the plan confirmed the coming announcement to City & State. 

Samuels already works for the city’s Department of Education as superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3, which includes more than 18,000 students on the Upper West Side and Harlem. 

He is known for leading school mergers with a goal of racial integration, Chalkbeat reported, after overseeing a de Blasio administration effort to increase racial diversity in certain Brooklyn middle schools. 

Samuels started his career in education as an elementary school teacher in the Bronx. He was previously a school superintendent in Brooklyn before taking the helm of District 3 in 2022.

Manhattan elected officials were quick to praise him. “It's a politically challenging assignment to run District 3, really, and he ran it at a very challenging time,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, citing a change to middle school admissions and school mergers. “He consistently just showed incredible sensitivity and nuance and stuck to his principles.”

“He is an absolutely superb educator and leader — incredibly thoughtful about how to make schools work for all our kids, and effective in implementing his vision,” Assembly Member Micah Lasher said on X. 

Mamdani’s transition committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Samuels’ name has frequently been reported as one on the mayor-elect’s shortlist for chancellor. He will succeed Melissa Aviles-Ramos, who reportedly sought to stay in the role, though it’s unclear exactly when Samuels will take the helm. Public school students return from their winter break on Monday.

With influence over a vast public school system that educates more than 900,000 students, schools chancellor is one of the most highly anticipated posts an incoming mayor fills. In a notoriously complex system with over 135,000 employees and more students than any other school district in the country, strong leadership will be key. 

Mamdani has indicated that he will approach education differently from his predecessors. He’s said he wants to end the current system of mayoral control, which gives the New York City mayor almost complete power over the public school system – a potentially major shift in school governance should Albany sign off on it. Teacher recruitment and complying with a state law passed in 2022 mandating smaller class sizes will be big challenges that Samuels will confront. The fate of one of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ major education initiatives, an overhaul of how city schools approach reading instruction known as NYC Reads, will also be of great interest in the coming year.