{"id":90597,"date":"2026-01-06T01:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/90597\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T01:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T01:25:07","slug":"nyc-schools-chief-kamar-samuels-begins-to-sketch-out-his-priorities-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/90597\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC schools chief Kamar Samuels begins to sketch out his priorities"},"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

In a letter to Education Department staff on Monday, New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels began sketching out some of his priorities, including school integration and lessons that reflect the system\u2019s diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that every student \u2014 starting in early childhood and continuing through graduation \u2014 deserves a school that is academically rigorous, safe, and truly integrated,\u201d Samuels wrote in the letter obtained by Chalkbeat.<\/p>\n

Families, he added, \u201cshould be able to expect that our system reflects New York City\u2019s rich multiculturalism, both through the diversity of our schools and through culturally responsive curriculum and practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not campaign on a detailed education agenda<\/a>, but he cited school integration<\/a> as one of his goals \u2014 an issue former Mayor Eric Adams largely sidestepped<\/a>. It remains to be seen how Samuels may approach diversifying one of the nation\u2019s most segregated school systems. As a local superintendent, he pursued mergers and admissions policy changes<\/a> with an eye toward integration.<\/p>\n

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In recent years, city officials have rolled out lessons that focus on historically marginalized groups \u2014 from the global African diaspora<\/a> to LGBTQ communities<\/a>. Samuels\u2019 letter suggests he is interested in building on that work. <\/p>\n

When Samuels led Brooklyn\u2019s District 13, he worked with school communities to phase out gifted and talented programs and led an effort to bring the International Baccalaureate curriculum to schools across the district. Mamdani has also pledged to scale back gifted programming<\/a> for the city\u2019s youngest students.<\/p>\n

In his Monday letter to school staffers, Samuels emphasized the importance of having \u201chigh expectations\u201d and \u201chigh-quality learning,\u201d while also noting the importance of foundational literacy skills and \u201cclass sizes that allow educators to meet students\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samuels indicated he will take community input seriously. On the campaign trail, Mamdani promised to end mayoral control of the city\u2019s schools, arguing the system has not been responsive enough to community voices. He reversed that position last week<\/a>, though the mayor has promised to come up with new ways to strengthen community input. <\/p>\n

\u201cI also believe deeply in transparency, accountability, and meaningful engagement,\u201d Samuels wrote. \u201cOur work will be strongest when educators, families, and students know their voices are heard \u2014 not symbolically, but in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new schools chancellor began his first official school day at P.S.\/M.S. 194 in the Bronx, the campus where he got his start in the city\u2019s school system in 2001 as a sixth grade math teacher. He met with educators, students, and parent leaders, according to an Education Department spokesperson. (The visit was not open to the press.) <\/p>\n

Samuels also emphasized in his letter that he has a personal stake in the system. Two of his children \u2014 a first grader and an 11th grader \u2014 are New York City public school students, while his youngest is not yet school-age. <\/p>\n

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@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":90598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,63,42968],"class_list":{"0":"post-90597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-schools-chancellor-kamar-samuels-greets-students-at-p-s-m-s-194-in-the-bronx"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90597","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=90597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}