New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks' exit hastened
David Banks, the New York City schools chancellor, who initially planned to leave the position at the end of 2024, will instead exit in mid-October, the embattled Adams administration announced late Wednesday. Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
David Banks, the New York City schools chancellor, is being forced out months before he had planned to step down, as Gov. Kathy Hochul pressures Mayor Eric Adams to boot aides in the crosshairs of federal corruption investigators.
Banks' hastened resignation, now set for mid-October, was announced Wednesday evening by Adams' press office, just a week after Banks said he's step down Dec. 31; on Thursday, a statement issued by Banks' publicist, the TASC Group, said Banks had been "ready, willing and able" to stay on until that date, but "The Mayor has decided to accelerate that time."
Banks — whose home he shares with his now-wife, Sheena Wright, first deputy for Adams, had been raided by the FBI in early September — is the latest senior staffer to abruptly leave. Banks and Wright were married in the past few days on Martha's Vineyard.
He was supposed to leave the chancellorship at the end of 2024 and be replaced by Melissa Aviles-Ramos in the new year; instead, she’ll take over Oct. 16.
"In advancing this mission, it became clear that our students will be best served by having the same leadership through as much of the school year as possible, rather than changing chancellors halfway through," according to a statement from Adams spokeswoman Amaris Cockfield. "We have decided to accelerate the start date of Chancellor Aviles-Ramos to October 16th so that she can immediately begin executing on her vision for New York City Public Schools."
David Banks, 62, is one of at least a half-dozen Adams staffers to have their homes raided and cellphones seized by federal investigators looking into potential corruption.
He is one of three brothers — Phil, the deputy mayor for public safety, and a political consultant, Terence, are the other two — under federal investigation. None of the Banks brothers has been charged. The feds are reportedly investigating the hiring of Terence Banks by a Florida tech company that had been trying to deploy an emergency alert app into the city public schools, which David Banks runs, and the swift action taken by Phil Banks to help.
David Banks' resignation came hours after Adams appeared in federal court on his corruption case; the mayor was charged last week with a campaign scheme in which he allegedly traded illicit donations from Turkish nationals and luxury travel for favorable treatment and other favors. He has pleaded not guilty.
Earlier this week, another aide reportedly being scrutinized by the federal government, senior adviser to the mayor Tim Pearson, announced his abrupt resignation.
Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, has reportedly been pushing him to get rid of aides who are tarnished by scandal.
On Wednesday, she called Pearson's departure "a good first step."
"We expect changes," she said. "That’s not a secret."
In announcing his Dec. 31 departure, Banks had said he wanted to step down because he was out of energy.
"After 40 years," he said at the time, "I'm tired. And that's the God's honest truth."
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
