New York City accelerates school leadership change as investigations swirl around mayor’s impeachment | Education

Schools Chancellor David Banks, whose phones were seized by federal agents last month, will leave office on Oct. 16, not at the end of the year as he had originally planned, the city said.

Adams said Thursday that the move would allow incoming Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, a former Bronx teacher and principal, to lead the nation’s largest public school system with one voice. Adams cited conversations with aides and unnamed “other leaders” in making the decision.

“This is a moment of real stability,” the first-term Democrat told reporters. “Having Melissa and David there at the same time didn’t give us the stability we wanted.”

Adams has vowed to remain in office after pleading not guilty last week to charges of accepting about $100,000 in international flights, hotel stays, free or deeply discounted meals and entertainment, and seeking illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests.

At a hearing Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten said prosecutors are conducting “several related investigations” and that more defendants are “likely” to be charged and that more charges are “possible.” against Adams.

Banks, who has led the city’s public school system since Adams took office in 2022, denied wrongdoing and said last month that she is “cooperating with a federal investigation.”

“Last week I announced my planned retirement and was ready, willing and able to remain in my position until December 31 to carry out a responsible transition for our staff,” Banks said in a statement issued through a relations firm. public. “The mayor has decided to accelerate that schedule.”

Banks is one of several high-ranking officials who have left city government in recent weeks. He originally announced his retirement last week, the same day a grand jury indicted Adams but before the news became public. His decision came weeks after the FBI seized phones belonging to him and his longtime partner, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, at a home they share in Harlem.

Federal agents also seized devices belonging to Banks’ brother, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks; then-city police commissioner Edward Caban; and Timothy Pearson, advisor to the mayor and former high-ranking New York Police Department official. Banks’ other brother, Terence, a former supervisor of the city’s subway system, also had his phones confiscated. Terence Banks has been running a consulting firm that promised to connect clients with key government stakeholders.

Caban resigned on September 12. Pearson resigned on Monday. Wright and Philip Banks remain in their positions.

Just days after Adams’ indictment, David Banks married Wright over the weekend in a private ceremony in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He told television station Fox 5 on Wednesday that neither he nor Wright were “targets” of any investigation. He denied that they were married so he could invoke spousal privilege, a legal concept that protects communications between married couples and protects them from having to testify about anything that happens during their marriage.

“I think anyone who criticizes me has probably never been in love,” Banks told the station. “The reality is that Sheena and I have been together for quite some time. “We have been planning our marriage for a while.” Banks said that he and Wright were motivated to marry because of their parents’ age and health problems, “and any suggestion to the contrary to me is simply ridiculous on its face.”

The Justice Department defines a “target” of an investigation as someone against whom prosecutors or a grand jury have gathered substantial evidence linking the person to a crime, as opposed to a “subject,” someone whose conduct is simply within the scope of the investigation. scope of the investigation. investigation. Those definitions are fluid and can change as new information develops.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has the power to remove Adams from office, has privately urged him to clean up his administration, according to a person familiar with their conversations. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and did so on condition of anonymity.

“I’m working to make sure that the key positions that work with the mayor are filled with people who will be accountable, but ultimately it’s his decision to make,” Hochul said Wednesday at an unrelated news conference in Manhattan. “Just letting you know that we are monitoring the situation. We expect changes, that is not a secret, and the changes are beginning.”

Hochul has not called on Adams to resign, saying “the process must happen.” He said the resignation this week of Adams adviser Pearson was “a good first step” and that he will be “watching what else develops in the coming days.”

Adams declined Thursday to say whether he spoke to Hochul about Banks’ accelerated departure.

In her retirement letter last week, Banks said she informed Adams over the summer of her plan to resign “after ensuring the school year was off to a good start” for the city’s nearly 1 million students. His letter made no reference to the multiple ongoing federal investigations.

Adams appointed Avilés-Ramos on September 25, initially saying he would take over as chancellor on January 1. She served as Banks’ chief of staff before becoming vice chancellor for family and community engagement and external affairs for the school system. On Thursday, Adams referred to her as Banks’ “hand-picked successor.”

“It became clear that our students would be better served by having the same leadership for as much of the school year as possible, rather than changing principals halfway through,” the city said in a statement announcing the accelerated schedule.

Banks is a former teacher, principal and founder of Eagle Academy, a network of public schools to educate black and Latino youth who he believes were often underserved by the education system. Prior to his appointment, Banks led the foundation that raises funds for the six Eagle Academy schools, one in each borough of New York City and one in Newark, New Jersey.

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