New School Chancellor in NYC: Melissa Aviles-Ramos takes over after David Banks’ retirement

NEW YORK (WABC) — On Wednesday afternoon, Melissa Ramos was officially announced as New York City’s next schools chancellor at a school in the Bronx.

Earlier on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary David Banks announced that he would retire at the end of the calendar year after nearly 40 years of public service in New York City’s schools.

Ramos will take over the reins from Banks on January 1st – and she is no stranger to the city or the Adams administration.

She is the highest-ranking Latino and Hispanic leader in New York City’s public schools. Ramos has worked for the Department of Education for two decades in a variety of roles, from classroom teacher to assistant principal.

She even worked as Banks’ chief of staff before he appointed her to this position.

“Becoming chancellor of the largest school district in the country is the ultimate job for a lifelong educator,” Ramos said. “As a former teacher and mother of a public school student, I believe strongly in our work and in maintaining stability during this transition. Under my leadership, we will continue to strengthen our support for students with disabilities and multilingual learners, improve our city’s literacy and math skills, help our older students pave paths to a brighter future, and keep our schools safe. I am very grateful to Chancellor Banks for his leadership, and I thank Mayor Adams for entrusting me to continue the work that began during his tenure.”

Mayor Eric Adams said Ramos is a lifelong educator with a deep commitment to public education.

“I thank Chancellor Banks for his tireless commitment to New York’s families and for what we have accomplished together over the past nearly three years,” said Adams. “From improving our children’s reading skills to improving math and graduation scores, implementing nation-leading universal dyslexia screenings to dramatically expanding access to early childhood education, among other important accomplishments, we have accomplished much for New York’s families under Chancellor Banks, and we look forward to continued leadership under Chancellor Aviles-Ramos.”

Banks said he had been talking to the mayor about resigning since “probably early summer.” He called it “a romantic notion” to retire at the end of the school year, but said after 40 years he had “run out of steam.”

The restructuring comes amid a spate of investigations into the Adams administration.

As Banks resigns from the office he held for nearly three years, a federal corruption investigation is underway, resulting in agents seizing his devices as well as those of his partner, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and his two brothers, Deputy Mayors Philip Banks and Terence Banks.

Banks’ departure joins a list of other senior officials who have announced they will be leaving their posts in the Adams administration.

They include Police Commissioner Edward Caban, Adams’ chief counsel Lisa Zornberg, and just this week, Adams’ health commissioner Ashwin Vasan announced he too would resign. There is no indication that Vasan is involved in any investigations.

Adams commented on the revolving door of exits.

“They come, they serve, they produce a high quality product, and then they move on,” Adams said. “You know, being in government and constantly being inundated with tasks, it’s exhausting. And I think people’s right to do something else when their term of service is up is excellent.”

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