We\u2019re glad to hear that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has his minions looking to replace his tainted schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, but we have little hope the mayor will actually choose anyone good for the job.<\/p>\n
The immediate cause for Samuels\u2019 ouster would be The Post\u2019s reporting<\/a> on how he approved a $180,000 no-bid contract (to provide temporary foreign-language teachers) with a non-DOE-approved vendor when he was a Manhattan district superintendent.<\/p>\n Some efforts are in train to paint these violations as no big deal, with media reports suggesting the city Department of Education\u2019s \u201ccumbersome\u201d and \u201cdysfunctional\u201d procurement process excuses Samuels\u2019 breach of the rules.<\/p>\n Hmm: We don\u2019t see how that could also excuse the subsequent coverup, as his No. 2 took the blame when the special commissioner of investigation\u00a0came calling, and Samuels then rewarded that fall gal<\/a> once he became chancellor.<\/p>\n The rules sure had some function: The vendor Samuels wrongly used wound up supplying a teacher who\u2019d been been pushed out of city schools over charges of sexual misconduct with a 15-year-old, which is why the SCI got called in.<\/p>\n City Councilman Phil Wong (D-Brooklyn) has urged Samuels to resign (with some colleagues agreeing), but the mayor is standing by him publicly . . . even as Mamdani\u2019s people vet possible replacements<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPost Editorial Board<\/p>\n Problem is, the hacks they\u2019re looking at don\u2019t look much cleaner: Meisha Ross Porter, Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s last chancellor, is pushing to return, but City Hall chose Samuels over her because she\u2019s tainted by financial scandals at a Bronx charity she ran.<\/p>\n