{"id":307885,"date":"2026-07-28T19:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/307885\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:16:07","slug":"meet-the-13-people-zorhan-mamdani-appointed-to-nycs-school-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/307885\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the 13 people Zorhan Mamdani appointed to NYC\u2019s school board"},"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

Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed 13 people to the city\u2019s school board Tuesday, cementing his control over the panel that votes on major policy changes, contracts, and decisions to merge or close schools.<\/p>\n

The appointees to the Panel for Educational Policy bring a range of professional experience, including an environmental justice advocate and a budget official at the MTA. Others have more traditional education policy backgrounds, including a former early childhood policy official who worked under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Several are current or former public school parents.<\/p>\n

Mamdani also reappointed three members who served under former Mayor Eric Adams. The terms of Adams\u2019 appointees ended last month. (See a full list of Mamdani\u2019s appointees below.)<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic schools belong to New Yorkers, and the families, students and educators who make them what they are deserve a real voice in the decisions that shape them,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cThe Panel for Educational Policy has a vital responsibility to help guide our school system with transparency and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under state law, the mayor has the power to appoint 13 of the board\u2019s 24 members and pick the chair from a list provided by state lawmakers. The current chair\u2019s term does not expire until September. Parent leaders select five members, and each of the five borough presidents appoints one.<\/p>\n

That structure gives Mamdani direct authority over the school system, a power he campaigned on giving up to make the system more democratic<\/a>, though he never sketched out a clear alternative. He abandoned that position<\/a> shortly before taking office and successfully lobbied state lawmakers for a two-year extension<\/a> of mayoral control in the most recent state budget. <\/p>\n

Under Mamdani, the panel will likely consider a range of hot-button issues, and advocates are already gearing up to influence the new board.<\/p>\n

A group pushing for a moratorium on artificial intelligence in the city\u2019s public schools plans to rally outside Wednesday\u2019s panel meeting, the first that will feature Mamdani\u2019s new appointees. The board has previously been skeptical of AI<\/a>, and the city is developing new guidance on how the technology can be used in classrooms. The city delayed releasing the guidance due to overwhelming pushback<\/a>, but officials said they planned to release it before this fall.<\/p>\n

The panel will also have to grapple with how to approach declining enrollment in the nation\u2019s largest school system<\/a>. Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels has indicated the city may need to ramp up school mergers and closures<\/a>, but such proposals often spark fierce backlash, with parents, students, and educators packing board meetings in protest. <\/p>\n

Historically, mayoral appointees tend to vote in line with the mayor and his schools chancellor. Mamdani, however, has vowed to listen to community input. It remains to be seen if that posture will give his appointees more room to vote independently of City Hall\u2019s wishes. The mayor can no longer remove his own board members<\/a> simply for voting against his proposals under a 2022 tweak in state law. <\/p>\n

We’re on a need-to-know basis.<\/p>\n

Every weekday morning, Chalkbeat New York is bringing thousands of subscribers the news on public schools and education policy that they need to start their day. Sign up for our free newsletter to join them.<\/p>\n

Adams sometimes struggled to control the board, which more frequently bucked City Hall\u2019s proposals<\/a> than panels under previous mayors. Toward the end of his term, Adams allowed three mayoral appointees on the board to sit vacant, effectively giving up his majority. <\/p>\n

Under recent changes to the board\u2019s structure, mayoral appointees serve one-year terms that expire at the end of June. That makes Mamdani the first mayor required to work with board members appointed under his predecessor for his first six months in office. Although Mamdani could have filled two mayoral vacancies that Adams left open, he mostly allowed them to sit empty in recent months. He appointed one member, Brooklyn College professor Maddy Fox, in time for the June board meeting.<\/p>\n

Greg Faulkner, the panel\u2019s current chair who was appointed by Adams, said he was impressed with the new slate of board members. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited by this new group \u2014 the diversity and experience is really great,” he said.<\/p>\n

Here are the members Mamdani appointed, according to a press release issued Tuesday afternoon. The three members Mamdani reappointed are Alan Ong, Marjorie Dienstag, and Amy Fair. <\/p>\n

Karla Cordero<\/p>\n

Cordero is chief of staff at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, which fights for climate justice in low-income areas of West Harlem and upper Manhattan. She previously worked in government and helped launch an emergency food program during the COVID pandemic that delivered more than 18 million meals to New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

Tariq Khan<\/p>\n

Khan has spent nearly three decades at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he now works in budget and finance. The Queens resident has also been active as a parent leader in his local school communities. <\/p>\n

Mehrain Mahdi<\/p>\n

Mahdi, a parent in Manhattan\u2019s District 2, served on her school\u2019s leadership team, where she launched an after-school Spanish program. She also founded Little Leaping Leaders, a mentorship program for young girls. <\/p>\n

Alan Ong<\/p>\n

Ong, a longtime civic leader in Queens, has served as a parent-teacher association president and as president of District 26\u2019s Community Education Council. He previously was an Adams\u2019 appointee on the PEP.<\/p>\n

Amy Fair <\/p>\n

Fair has worked in higher education administration for more than 25 years and is the director of strategic initiatives and special projects at NYU Steinhardt. She has also served on the community education council in Bronx District 11 \u201cand in several community leadership roles supporting students, families and schools,\u201d according to her official bio. <\/p>\n

Courtney Rajwani<\/p>\n

Rajwani, the parent of two public school children, is a managing consultant at the Lewin Group, a healthcare consulting firm. Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, she was an executive director for policy development and support in the city Education Department\u2019s early childhood division.<\/p>\n

Crystal\u202fVera-Montalvo<\/p>\n

Vera-Montalvo is the director of community educational engagement at the College of Staten Island. She oversees a slew of programs, including English as a second language, continuing education, GED, as well as other initiatives geared toward older adults and people with disabilities. She is the parent of a current New York City public school student.<\/p>\n

Marjorie Dienstag<\/p>\n

Dienstag\u2019s three children have attended both public and private schools, including one who currently attends a District 75 school, which serves children with more complex disabilities. She led a grassroots push to build a West Village middle school that includes a program for District 75 students. <\/p>\n

Lucas Koehler<\/p>\n

Koehler previously worked as a seventh-grade math teacher in the Bronx and is now the chief financial officer at the Foundation for City College. His bio credits him with playing a \u201ckey role in expanding New York City\u2019s early childhood education system.\u201d He also previously worked in the Mayor\u2019s Office of Management and Budget.<\/p>\n

Primo Lasana<\/p>\n

Before becoming chief impact officer at the Forum for Youth Investment, a nonprofit focused on youth development, Lasana was the executive director of Reading Partners and director of new site development at\u202fiMentor. He\u2019s also been active on his Brooklyn community board. <\/p>\n

Kristin Jefferson<\/p>\n

Jefferson is a senior education consultant at Teaching Matters, a nonprofit that works with schools to improve reading and math instruction through training and coaching. She also founded KJ-Ed Solutions LLC, an education consulting firm. She previously was the academic director and network multilingual learner coordinator at Explore Charter Schools and director of recruitment for the Education Department\u2019s Office of New Schools.\u202f<\/p>\n

Maddy Fox<\/p>\n

Fox is a Brooklyn College professor who studies children and youth as well as sociology and is a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a \u201cunion member and participatory action researcher whose work focuses on partnering with young people and communities to shape public policy,\u201d according to her official bio. Fox has two children in the city\u2019s public schools.<\/p>\n

Raysa Rodriguez<\/p>\n

Rodriguez is the executive director of the Citizens\u2019 Committee for Children, an advocacy and research organization. She previously worked at other nonprofits, including the United Way of New York City. During the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she was a senior adviser on children\u2019s issues for the deputy mayor for health and human services. She was born and raised in the Bronx and is a former kindergarten teacher. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a senior 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 newsletter to get essential news about NYC\u2019s public schools delivered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[112509,67,4953,6225,9,56,63,65,7733,64,116478,82],"class_list":["post-307885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-economic","tag-education","tag-financial","tag-getty-editorial","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-mayor","tag-nyc-news","tag-school-board-members","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307885","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=307885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}