Kamar Samuels
With enrollment dropping and tiny schools multiplying eightfold over the past 25 years, the Mamdani administration faces tough choices on how to tackle closures and mergers.
Some principals of schools in shared buildings are pooling resources to offer advanced classes. Now, pressure is mounting on Chancellor Kamar Samuels to help them do it systemwide.
The proposal to close the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce comes as New York City confronts a growing number of severely underenrolled schools.
At a packed Manhattan town hall, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones challenged NYC schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels on his vision for desegregating the school system.
At a tense town hall, New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones pressed schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels on his plan to integrate NYC schools. The chancellor offered few specifics or timelines.
The city’s inaction on closing Murry Bergtraum High School — which once enrolled 3,000 students — is shortchanging the 90 students still there. It comes at a cost of $46,000 per pupil, a Chalkbeat investigation reveals.
As NYC students head back to school with a new AI moratorium and suggested screen time limits, relieved parents are using the rules to set boundaries at home.
Erica Phillips, a nonprofit leader with a history of supporting family childcare providers, will take over the Education Department’s Division of Early Childhood Education at a critical juncture.
With classes starting Sept. 10, school leaders say they’re unable to renew online gradebooks, family communication tools, and other routine software.
The software purchasing freeze is the most concrete step officials have taken to limit schools’ access to AI and educational technology products.
Out of the hundreds of press releases Mamdani sent out since his term began, just 11 relate to K-12 education.
In interviews, more than a dozen educators, administrators, and officials described a broken contract system that can make it difficult to quickly get services for kids.
The chancellor suggested community-led working groups in 5 districts could help address thorny challenges from segregation to enrollment declines.
Schools will see steady budgets for the start of the 2026-27 school year, extending a pandemic-era policy that props up schools with falling enrollment.
Samuels’ comments mark a shift in tone and indicate that the nation’s largest school system is grappling with the AI backlash brewing nationwide.
The move expands New York City’s broader curriculum mandate into elementary school math for the first time. Officials say all elementary schools will eventually be required to use approved materials.
Five new schools are opening in the Bronx and Queens this fall. Many of them will have an arts focus and embrace project-based learning. Two will exclusively serve students with disabilities.
After a contentious proposal for an AI high school was nixed earlier this week, over 100 New Yorkers demanded a moratorium on artificial intelligence use in schools. The board meeting lasted seven hours.
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said he didn’t think it was fair to advance the proposals so quickly after a major leadership transition.
Families and educators are still waiting for details about the first day of school and the timing of various holidays.