{"id":356014,"date":"2026-09-24T20:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/356014\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T20:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:14:10","slug":"zohran-mamdani-names-new-nyc-school-board-chair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/356014\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani names new NYC school board chair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know search engines like Google are changing the way you see news? Keep Chalkbeat\u2019s valuable education coverage at the top of your feeds by clicking here<\/a> and checking the box next to our name.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped a new chairperson for New York City\u2019s school board, the volunteer body that votes on major policy decisions and contracts: Queens civic leader Alan Ong.<\/p>\n

Ong has been serving on the board since former Mayor Eric Adams appointed him in 2022.<\/a> Mamdani reappointed him in July<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under a state rule passed two years ago, the mayor must now appoint a chair for the Panel for Educational Policy, or PEP, selected from a pool narrowed by Albany officials. <\/p>\n

The role of the PEP chair was created by state officials to make the board more independent from the mayor, and was part of a deal in Albany to extend mayoral control in 2024 for another two years. The city\u2019s system of mayoral control has relied on the mayor\u2019s ability to appoint a majority of the panel\u2019s members \u2014 the mayor picks 13 of its 24 members. <\/p>\n

Many education observers have long felt the PEP is essentially a rubber stamp for the mayor\u2019s policies. But Ong\u2019s predecessor, Greg Faulkner, whose term ended this month, took his independence seriously, and under his watch, the board cast several high-profile \u201cno\u201d votes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether Ong follows suit. He was chosen by Mamdani after state Senate and Assembly leaders, as well as the chancellor of the state\u2019s Board of Regents, each nominated a candidate to oversee the city board.<\/p>\n

In a controversial PEP vote under the Adams administration, when the board voted to reject an $82 million contract to fund temporary staffing services for city schools, Ong was one of three members who abstained<\/a>. (Six members have voted yes, and five voted no.)<\/p>\n

Ong has held parent leadership positions on every rung of the city\u2019s education system: He was a PTA president before he became president of the Community Education Council of District 26, which includes Bayside, Fresh Meadows, and Jamaica Estates. He currently serves as chief of staff to Queens State Assembly Member Nily Rozic, and previously worked as a technical account manager for Thomson Reuters, according to LinkedIn. <\/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

\u201cAlan Ong was our relations chair,\u201d Faulkner said at the August PEP meeting. \u201cHe really worked on bridging the gap between the panel and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Ong may have been \u201cquiet\u201d on the panel, \u201cyou know when he calls you, he\u2019s always there to provide support,\u201d Faulkner added. <\/p>\n

Ong did not respond to a request to comment, nor did the mayor\u2019s office or the Education Department. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe obviously knows the PEP and the issues,\u201d said David Bloomfield, education professor emeritus at Brooklyn College and The CUNY Graduate Center, \u201cand can be expected to be a steady hand.\u201d <\/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":"Did you know search engines like Google are changing the way you see news? Keep Chalkbeat\u2019s valuable education…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4146,1882,9,24,3059,56,63,65,64,27174,27175,9460,27176],"class_list":["post-356014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-chalkbeat","tag-community","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-public-schools","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nycps","tag-panel-for-educational-policy","tag-parents","tag-pep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356014","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=356014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}