Mayor Adams names new schools chancellor in wake of David Banks' retirement

A deputy chancellor who led the city’s effort to integrate tens of thousands of migrant children into public schools will take over New York City's Department of Education when Chancellor David Banks retires from his post, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.

In remarks at a press conference announcing her appointment, Deputy Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos sought to assure parents and educators she would be a steady hand at the helm of the nation’s largest school system. Banks’ announcement he’d retire at the end of the year came weeks after the FBI seized his phones as part of a series of investigations that have rocked the Adams administration.

“People start to worry about continuity and stability. ‘What’s going to happen? We started amazing things and now we don’t get to see them through.’ I want you to see me as a symbol of stability, of commitment,” said Aviles-Ramos, who currently oversees family and community engagement for the school system.

Earlier this month, the FBI searched the Harlem home Banks shares with his partner, Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. Agents also searched the Queens home of his brother, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks.

The investigation reportedly involves a government relations firm started by a third Banks brother, Terence Banks.

The Banks brothers have denied wrongdoing. David Banks has said his lawyer told him he is not the “target” of the investigation.

Adams and David Banks have been close for years, and the schools chancellor was one of Adams’ earliest appointees. At the press conference, Adams recounted that history.

“The Banks family are my family,” Adams said. “These are not only good public servants. They're good human beings.”

Both Adams and David Banks said Banks' retirement had been in the works for months and that Aviles-Ramos had long been their choice to succeed him as chancellor.

“Everybody is going to think I’m leaving because of this stuff,” David Banks said, alluding to the federal investigation. “It has nothing to do with that.”

In a resignation letter to Adams, the chancellor said he was “incredibly proud” of his tenure, including efforts to overhaul literacy instruction by requiring a stronger foundation in phonics in the early years and a shift in curriculum.

He also talked about how schools have welcomed migrant families, contributing to an increase in enrollment for the first time in years, and expansion of special education and career training, among other programs.

There are at least four federal investigations involving Adams' administration and campaign. David Banks is the third senior Adams administration official to announce his resignation this month. NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, whose phone was also seized by federal officials, resigned earlier this month. Ashwin Vasan, the city's health commissioner, said on Monday that he would step down by early next year.