{"id":153285,"date":"2026-03-05T02:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/153285\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T02:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:24:14","slug":"kamar-samuels-to-unveil-new-education-department-cabinet-as-old-deputies-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/153285\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamar Samuels to unveil new Education Department cabinet as old deputies exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a>to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

After two months helming New York City schools, Kamar Samuels is expected to announce his cabinet members on Thursday as top Education Department officials say their goodbyes.<\/p>\n

Acting First Deputy Chancellor Isabel DiMola, the school system\u2019s second in command, announced plans to retire in a Wednesday evening letter to staff. She was tapped to fill the role<\/a> by former Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos after a previous top deputy, Dan Weisberg<\/a>, stepped down.<\/p>\n

Also leaving her post: Deputy Chancellor for School Leadership Danika Rux, who supervises 44 superintendents charged with directly managing principals. Rux oversaw the system\u2019s reading and math curriculum overhauls<\/a>, a major priority under former Mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n

In a Wednesday letter announcing plans to step down, Rux said she is \u201cexcited to see Samuels deepen the work and build his team.\u201d Samuels has previously said he plans to keep the literacy mandate changes in place<\/a> but has suggested there could be tweaks to the math program. <\/p>\n

Cristina Mel\u00e9ndez, the deputy chancellor of family, community, and student empowerment, had previously announced her departure.<\/a><\/p>\n

The flurry of staff changes is not surprising, as Samuels is expected to assemble his own cabinet to replace the one he inherited from the prior administration. Any new appointees will play an important role implementing Samuels\u2019 priorities. The new administration\u2019s vision for the larger system remains a question mark, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said little about his plans for the city schools<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In a message to principals, Samuels wrote that he is making an announcement Thursday about the system\u2019s \u201corganizational structure\u201d and planned to convene school leaders shortly after the official announcement. <\/p>\n

In her letter to school staffers, DiMola reminisced about her 30 years in education. She started at the age of 22 teaching social studies at Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island, Brooklyn, working her way through the ranks as an assistant principal, principal, and superintendent. For 16 years, she served as the superintendent of Brooklyn\u2019s District 21, the same district where she attended public schools growing up. <\/p>\n

Rux also began her education career 30 years ago, starting as a teacher and working her way up from a school leader to superintendent. <\/p>\n

\u201cEach step along this path has strengthened my belief that leadership in education is ultimately about people,\u201d she wrote in her farewell to staffers. \u201cIt is about the relationships we cultivate, the trust we build, and the collective responsibility we carry for the success of every student in our care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rux is leaving her post as a deputy chancellor to become a senior advisor to the Education Department\u2019s Office of the General Counsel, she wrote.<\/p>\n

Former Chancellor Aviles-Ramos announced a new job of her own this week<\/a>. She has a senior role at HMH, a curriculum company with strong ties to the school system, a move that has raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for Chalkbeat New York\u2019s free daily newsletterto get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51659,9,24,55,54,19440,56,51660],"class_list":["post-153285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-chancellor-kamar-samuels","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-city-schools","tag-ny","tag-ps194"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153285","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=153285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}