{"id":130171,"date":"2026-02-11T16:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130171\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T16:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:34:10","slug":"here-are-5-key-takeaways-from-the-staten-island-discussion-with-the-new-chancellor-for-nyc-public-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130171\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are 5 key takeaways from the Staten Island discussion with the new chancellor for NYC Public Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels recently began a citywide community engagement tour, with his first stop at New Dorp High School Tuesday night. The event was designed to allow parents, students and staff to voice their concerns directly to senior school leadership. These are the five takeaways from the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Chancellor initiated a citywide listening tour to gather community feedback\"KamarKamar H. Samuels, the recently appointed chancellor of New York City Public Schools, visited New Dorp High School on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, to kick off his \u201cOur Schools. Our Future: Conversations with the Chancellor,\u201d series.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

The recently appointed NYC Public Schools chancellor launched his \u201cOur Schools. Our Future: Conversations with the Chancellor\u201d series to engage directly with school communities. The first event, held at New Dorp High School on Staten Island, brought together over 115 parents, staff, and students for roundtable discussions with senior school leadership. Samuels emphasized his commitment to listening and learning from community perspectives, stating that the goal is to fundamentally change how decisions are made by giving families \u201ca real seat at the table.\u201d This tour marks a key initiative early in his tenure to build partnerships and ensure policies reflect community needs.<\/p>\n

2. Four key themes dominated the discussion, with communication as a top concern\"KamarAn attendee shares what their table discussed during the \u201cOur Schools. Our Future: Conversations with the Chancellor,\u201d series kickoff at New Dorp High School on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

The chancellor framed the discussions around four major topics: safety, academic rigor, integration and family empowerment. Across these areas, a recurring issue raised by attendees was the need for enhanced communication between school officials and the community. One student highlighted the desire for student voices to be more formally heard and acknowledged by leadership. Similarly, parents expressed a wish for more direct opportunities to meet with school officials. The focus on communication underscores a community desire for greater transparency and involvement in the school system.<\/p>\n

3. The new chancellor and his outreach efforts received a positive initial reception<\/p>\n

Attendees at the Staten Island event expressed optimism about the new chancellor\u2019s approach. Amira Ammar, a parent and chief of staff for Assemblyman Michael Reilly, praised Samuels for his efforts, noting his visible presence on Staten Island shortly after his appointment. She shared that she and others she spoke with felt \u201cheard\u201d by the administration. This positive early reception suggests that the community is encouraged by the chancellor\u2019s proactive engagement and hopeful that the feedback gathered will lead to meaningful changes and move the city\u2019s school system in a \u201cpositive direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. The administration plans to create a public report and roadmap from the feedback\"KamarKamar H. Samuels, the recently appointed chancellor of New York City Public Schools, visited New Dorp High School on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, to kick off his \u201cOur Schools. Our Future: Conversations with the Chancellor,\u201d series.(Advance\/SILive.com | Luke Peteley)<\/p>\n

The community conversations are not intended to be one-off events. The article states that following the conclusion of the citywide engagement series, NYC Public Schools will release a formal report. This report will be based on the feedback gathered during the roundtable discussions at each stop. Alongside the report, the administration plans to develop a long-term roadmap for the education system, indicating that the community input will be used to shape future policies and strategic initiatives for the largest school system in the U.S.<\/p>\n

5. Chancellor Samuels brings over two decades of diverse educational experience to the role<\/p>\n

Appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani earlier this year, Chancellor Samuels is described as a \u201cveteran educator\u201d with a career in NYC Public Schools spanning over 20 years. His journey began in finance at the NBA before he transitioned to education through the NYC Teaching Fellows program, starting as an elementary school teacher in the Bronx. He has since held numerous leadership positions, including principal, deputy superintendent, and superintendent in Brooklyn and Manhattan. He is also credited with leading school integration efforts and assisting with the implementation of the NYC Reads literacy initiative<\/a>, bringing a broad range of classroom and administrative experience to his new role.<\/p>\n

A draft of this story was generated using AI. It was reviewed, edited and approved by Advance\/SILive.com staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels recently began a citywide community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-130171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}