Schools Chancellor David Banks is retiring from his post as head of the city’s public school system at the end of the year — the latest high-profile resignation to rock an Adams administration besieged by turmoil in recent weeks.
The retirement announcement comes amid a series of FBI probes into several high-ranking city officials close to Mayor Eric Adams. Banks, along with his partner, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, both had their phones seized by federal agents on Sept. 4 as part of the investigations.
Banks, who was appointed in early 2022, announced he is ending his 40-year career in New York City education in a Tuesday afternoon statement that did not address the federal raids or investigation.
“I want to thank Mayor Adams for giving me the opportunity to serve as chancellor, and I am immensely proud of the progress we’ve made together — ensuring every child can read, expanding special education and gifted & talented programs, and creating innovative pathways for our students to secure rewarding careers and long-term success,” Banks said. “Additionally, I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of families who entrust us with their children and the 140,000 employees who show up every day for our students — you make our public schools possible.”
In a letter to Mayor Eric Adams obtained by Pix-11 reporter Dan Mannarino and posted on X (formerly Twitter), the chancellor said he had discussed possible retirement with the mayor earlier this year. Banks believes the end of the current calendar year is the appropriate time to step aside.
Adams lauded Banks’ nearly three-year tenure as DOE chancellor, crediting him with shepherding the public school system out of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing students reading and math scores, and implementing new reading and math curriculums.
“I am immensely grateful and proud of the work accomplished in New York City Public Schools under Chancellor David Banks,” the mayor said. “In less than three years, our city’s public schools have transformed — from ensuring schools were safe and open coming out of the pandemic to a space that has increased our students’ reading scores, math scores, and graduation rates. We’ve implemented critical initiatives like ‘NYC Reads,’ ‘NYC Solves,’ and universal dyslexia screenings, while also ensuring a seamless and timely coordination with partners to welcome, enroll, and support thousands of newly-arriving students and their families on a citywide scale.”
Chancellor Banks was hardly the only Adams admin official to be swept up in recent federal law enforcement actions.
On Sept. 4, the feds also executed a search warrant at the home of Banks’ brother, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks. Investigators are reportedly also eyeing a third Banks brother, Terence Banks, over some of the clients of his consulting firm the Pearl Alliance who have won city contracts since 2022.
Chancellor Banks, during a press conference earlier this month marking the start of the school year, said his attorney assured him that he is “not a target” of the investigation. He also insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“I have always lived my life with integrity, every day of my life,” he continued. “And anybody who knows me knows that. My staff knows that. The folks that I have with for many many years know that as well.”
Banks has been the schools chancellor since the start of the Adams administration in 2022. Adams, as mayor-elect, announced Banks as the new chancellor in December 2021.
His departure comes amid several high-profile resignations at City Hall in recent weeks, including that of former Police Commissioner Edward Caban, Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg and, just Monday, Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan.
Adams attempted to play off the slew of high-ranking officials in his administration who appear to be jumping ship amid the intensifying investigations during a press conference earlier Tuesday.
“Employees and staffers come and go,” Adams said. “Very few remain throughout an entire term.”
Banks was president and CEO of the Eagle Academy, a network of public schools for boys in NYC and Newark, NJ, at the time he was named chancellor. He was the first commissioner Adams named to his administration.
Implementing NYC Reads, which is still ongoing and aims to improve literacy in public schools, was one of the chancellor’s major initiatives during his tenure.
In May, the chancellor was in the hot seat when lawmakers in Congress grilled him on what he had done to combat the rise of antisemitism in NYC’s public school system — the largest in the nation. Teachers, parents and community members have been critical of how the chancellor handled several infamous incidents of hate and antisemitism in public schools since the start of the Israel – Hams war on Oct. 7.
Since taking office, Banks has often appeared at education town halls, Community Education Council meetings, and in the media, stressing the importance of community and parental feedback.
“You will never see the mayor-elect once he’s the mayor or myself as the chancellor announce any major policy initiatives for our schools unless we are surrounded by parents and families who have co-signed what we are doing,” Banks said in 2021.
