What to Know
- NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks shared his vision for public schools across the Big Apple while dropping a major bombshell: 120,000 families have left the public school system in the past five years.
- The stunning number had floated around before but NYC Schools hadn’t confirmed it. Although the decline started before the pandemic, the health crisis accelerated it.
- Banks vision for schools also includes calling for the hiring of about 1,000 school safety agents and expanding the Gifted and Talented program, instead of phasing it out entirely like former Mayor Bill de Blasio initially proposed.
NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks shared his vision for public schools across the Big Apple while dropping a major bombshell: 120,000 families have left the public school system in the past five years.
The stunning number had floated around before but NYC Schools hadn’t confirmed it. Although the decline started before the pandemic, the health crisis accelerated it.
When it comes to the declining population of public schools, Banks said that the district has "broken the trust for our families. We gotta build that trust back.”
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He also went on to say that traditional public schools should do more in promoting their success stories like charter schools have done.
Banks vision for schools also includes calling for the hiring of about 1,000 school safety agents to compensate for the 1,500 current vacancies, with the NYPD apparently transferring people to fill the rest.
Additionally, schools will have a new emphasis on tracking dyslexia, something that Mayor Eric Adams is very passionate about given his openness about the learning disorder characterized by difficulty reading, although he has not been officially diagnosed.
Banks also said he looks forward to expanding the Gifted and Talented program -- a stark contrast from the idea of scrapping it entirely as former Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed. However, the program will no longer be known as Gifted and Talented, but rather "accelerated learning."
Last October, de Blasio outlined "Brilliant NYC," the plan that he hoped would have taken the place of the Gifted and Talented program in city schools. The inclusive model was said to be able to reach 26 times more students than the Gifted and Talented program and, according to de Blasio at the time, the new plan would have gotten rid of "artificial barriers" that have plagued the Gifted and Talented program.
Banks vision for NYC Schools also includes one less administrative position. He announced that he is eliminating the high-paying role of executive superintendent.
