Nikole Hannah-Jones grills city NYC schools chancellor on long-awaited desegregation plan

A month after publishing her viral essay on her own daughter’s struggle in majority Black New York City public schools, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones grilled New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels about his plans to integrate the school system. Judging by widespread sighs, eye rolls and grimaces amongst the audience, Samuels failed the test miserably.

“While they said it’s a conversation, it’s really about to be an interrogation,” Hannah-Jones said upon taking her seat at the New York City School Integration Town Hall Tuesday night Washington Irving Campus High School. And her comment set the tone for what followed at the program organized by school integration nonprofit New York Appleseed and student journalism organization The Bell.

“Community” and “conversations” (often combined) were Samuels’ go-to words of the evening, to the frustration of many listeners hoping to hear more tangible action items. “We will come to you with more robust conversation, but right now there are things we are already doing” about integration, Samuels said. 

Hannah-Jones started off with a bang, citing a 2019 report from then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration that made desegregation policy recommendations that never came to fruition. “Here we are, nearly a decade later, and virtually none of the recommendations have been enforced, and the most critical ones have not been adopted,” Hannah-Jones said. 

Hannah-Jones was clear about her viewpoint. She wants a more racially integrated public school system that actually benefits students of color, and most importantly, one that creates an equal playing field for students of all backgrounds, so that parents don’t even have to face the hard decision that she did. “Instead of ameliorating the disadvantage of low income Black and Latino students, this school system optimizes those disadvantages. 
But at the same time, it concentrates and monopolizes advantage for the children in the city, who already have the most privilege,” she said. 

Hannah-Jones made waves last month with her personal essay in the New York Times Magazine titled “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” It was a follow-up to her 2016 piece, on Hannah-Jones and her husband opting to send their child to a lower-performing Brooklyn public school with a majority Black and brown and lower-income student population, as opposed to more well-resourced public, private or charter schools. The first essay reignited the conversation around school segregation, particularly in New York City. And the second one did too. But in 2026, the Big Apple remains home to one of the most segregated public school systems in the nation under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Asked for his plans to create a system-wide school integration plan, Samuels instead spoke of his record, and the de Blasio administration’s School Diversity Advisory Group policy recommendations, which, although still unimplemented, he said he’s used as a “guide” in his work. He said the number of schools requiring screening for admissions dropped from 196 to 80 post-pandemic, and touted the breadth of school options parents have to choose from, which Samuels says is “part of the reason we remain segregated.”

An unsatisfied Hannah-Jones cut in.“You keep talking about what you did, and I'm asking, what are you going to do?” she asked.

Samuels lauded the administration’s June launch of working groups to brainstorm policy solutions to resolve “structural and instructional inequities. Five out of 32 local school districts have launched these groups, and the city plans to launch all of them by 2028. The working groups recall a similar system from the de Blasio administration. Mamdani previously said he would implement some of the de Blasio era recommendations, but hasn’t yet done so. 

Hannah-Jones continued her attempts to zero-in, asking Samuels plainly about the purpose of school screening, and why he isn’t implementing the previous advisory group’s recommendations. These recommendations include completely eliminating screening, a process that evaluates students’ academic records to determine admissions; as well as eliminating “gifted & talented” programs, which place higher-performing students on more advanced tracks. Both practices more often privilege white and/or wealthier families. Samuels stumbled and stuttered through his answers, eliciting a chorus of boos and shouts from the audience.

“What’s your timeline?” an audience member shouted.

“Again, this is something that we’re working on,” the chancellor replied. 

“We’re ten months in. This is not a surprising conversation, this is not a new issue.” Hannah-Jones said. 

Hannah-Jones also mentioned the debate over mayoral control of New York City public schools, and Samuels was candid about opposing calls for the mayor to relinquish power  – including calls from the crowd Tuesday night. On the campaign trail, Mamdani pledged to end mayoral control and allow more decisions at the community level – before reversing his position and successfully lobbying for the extension of mayoral control. In another campaign trail reversal, he promised to maintain the Specialized High School Admissions Test, but also discussed wanting to phase out gifted & talented programs for early elementary students.  

It wasn’t the first time Hannah-Jones pressed the Mamdani administration on its inaction in tackling school desegregation thus far. Following the publication of her viral essay in September, Hannah-Jones called for Mamdani’s response, asking for a plan. While he responded to Hannah-Jones with empathy and concern, promising to combat the issue, nothing tangible has followed.  

Samuels also faced tough questions from the audience Q&A Tuesday. One Bard High School Early College senior asked the chancellor how he would convince a parent seeking to enroll their child in private school to change their mind. 

“I am also speaking as a sibling, who wants to set the example for my 13 year old sister, who is in eighth grade right now. So she wants to go to the same high school that I am in right now, so how can I trust that my little sister will have a different experience than I have and that she will be safe?” the student asked. 

The chancellor’s response? To “stay tuned.”

“Will it be before or after she graduates?” the dissatisfied student wondered.