Kamar Samuels
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.
As New York overhauls graduation requirements, the IB model may soon gain more momentum. Educators appreciate the move from rote testing to real-world learning.
Student reporters ask the new schools chief about his top priorities, from safety and academic rigor to AI and school integration, and assess his answers.
Last school year, 63% of the roughly 65,000 students who lived in homeless shelters were marked chronically absent — meaning they missed at least 1 in 10 school days.
City officials have spent $1.6 billion in recent years on “hold harmless” policies that propped up school budgets amid declining enrollment. Now lawmakers are pressing for answers on whether cuts are coming.
The school-level efforts offer a preview of the complex task facing the city as it seeks to chart a path forward at a moment when the role of AI in education is fiercely contested
Chancellor Kamar Samuels is vowing to shift the city’s literacy overhaul to focus on middle and high school students who have long slipped through the cracks.
Six of 11 members of Samuels’ cabinet are staying in roles they assumed in the previous administration.
Two more senior Education Department officials are leaving as Samuels tees up his first major cabinet appoints.