NYC accelerates school leadership change as investigations swirl around mayor’s indictment

NEW YORK– New York City is accelerating its transition to a new school chief has sued Mayor Eric Adams faces mounting pressure to bring stability to a city government beset by searches, subpoenas and resignations.

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

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

“This is a time for real stability,” Adams told reporters. “Having both Melissa and David there at the same time didn’t bring the stability we wanted.”

Adams has vowed to remain in office after pleading not guilty charged last week that he accepted approximately $100,000 worth of free or heavily discounted international flights, hotel stays, meals and entertainment, and sought illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests.

At a hearing Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagan Scotten said prosecutors are conducting “various related investigations” and that it is “likely” that additional suspects will be charged and “possible” that additional charges will be filed against Adams.

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

“Last week I announced my planned retirement, and I was ready, willing and able to remain in my post until December 31 to ensure a responsible transition for our workforce,” Banks said in a statement issued through a PR -desk. “The mayor has decided to accelerate that timeline.”

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 phones confiscated from him and his longtime partner, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, from a home they share in Harlem.

Federal agents also seized devices belonging to Banks’ brother, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks; the city’s then-police commissioner, Edward Caban; and Timothy Pearson, a mayoral advisor 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 seized. Terence Banks runs a consultancy that does just that promised to connect customers with key government stakeholders.

Caban has resigned on September 12. Pearson resigned on Monday. Wright and Philip Banks will remain in office.

Just days after Adams was charged, David Banks married Wright this weekend in a private ceremony in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He told Fox 5 on Wednesday that neither he nor Wright were “targets” of any investigation. He denied that they got married so they could invoke spousal privilege, a legal concept that protects communications between married couples and saves 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 a while. We have been planning our wedding for a while.” Banks said he and Wright were motivated to get married because of their parents’ ages and health concerns, “and any suggestion otherwise is just ridiculous on its face to me.”

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 only within the scope of the law. research. These definitions are fluid and may change as new information develops.

New York Governor Kathy Hochula Democrat with the power to remove Adams from office has personally 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 trying to make sure that the key positions that work for the mayor are filled with people who will be responsible, but ultimately it’s his decision to fill those,” Hochul said at an unrelated news conference in Manhattan on Wednesday. ‘I’m just letting him know that we are monitoring the situation. We expect changes, that’s no secret, and the changes are starting.”

Hochul did not call for Adams to resign, saying “the process must play out.” She said this week’s resignation of Adams adviser Pearson was “a good first step” and that she will “be watching to see what else happens in the coming days.”

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

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

Adams appointed Aviles-Ramos on September 25 and initially said she would take over as chancellor on January 1. She served as chief of staff to Banks before becoming the school system’s deputy chancellor for family and community engagement and external affairs. On Thursday, Adams called her Banks’ “chosen successor.”

“It became clear that our students will be best served by having the same leadership for much of the school year, rather than changing chancellors midway through,” the city said in a statement announcing the accelerated timeline.

Banks is a former teacher, principal and founder of Eagle Academy, a network of public schools to educate young Black and Latino boys who he said were often ill-served by the education system. Before his appointment, Banks led the foundation that raised money for the six Eagle Academy schools, one in each New York City borough and one in Newark, New Jersey.