Mayor-elect expected to name David Banks as the next schools chancellor: Sources

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — Sources confirm to Eyewitness News that Mayor-elect Eric Adams is expected to name David Banks as the next chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.

Adams is expected to make the announcement Thursday at 7:30 a.m. in Crown Heights.

Banks is a longtime Adams advisor who shares many of the incoming mayor’s education philosophies.

He founded the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice in 1997, which current Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter coincidentally took over years later.

Banks left to establish the first Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, the city’s first all-boys public high school to open in more than three decades.

“It’s a real challenge to grow up as a young man in the inner city and so they come to a place where we tell them, we see you,” Banks said on an episode of “Here and Now” back in February of 2020.

Today, the Eagle Academy is a network of six schools — one in each borough and Newark — and has become a national model.

Students of color at the Eagle Academy have graduation rates of almost 90%, compared to the national rate just under 60%. The formula is a mix of parental involvement, academic rigor and mentoring.

“It wasn’t easy to figure out how to create a school that would really meet the needs of Black and brown boys where we realized that so many of them are facing so many difficult challenges, trauma in their lives, gangs in the neighborhood, confrontations with police,” he said. “But we have beat the odds.”

But the odds facing the nation’s largest school system are profound.

It is struggling to find its footing from the pandemic. Tens of thousands of students have left the system and many are struggling with mental health.

It is one of the most racially segregated systems in the country and students with disabilities are not receiving their full services.

The incoming chancellor is also faced with pressing decisions, like possible vaccine mandates for children and whether to reverse Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to end Gifted and Talented programs.

But Banks would come into the role with built-in advantages over some of his predecessors.

He is the son of a police officer, raised in Southeast Queens, who has taught in Crown Heights and led several city schools.

Banks has said his first priorities include expanding childhood education options and career pathways for older students.

“Unfortunately our school treats everybody like it’s a one size that fits all and that doesn’t work,” he said.

Banks could become one of the most disruptive chancellors since Mayor Mike Bloomberg brought in Joel Klein.

He has promised to take bold action to weed out weak teachers. And like Mayor-elect Adams, he supports charter schools — unlikely to gain much support from the powerful teachers union.
Banks is also the brother of former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks, who is advising Adams on law enforcement.

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