New Colleges Chancellor Kamar Samuels spent his first morning at his new job with college students and lecturers P.S./M.S. 194 within the Bronx — acquainted territory for the brand new chief of America’s largest public college system.
Samuels, who was lately appointed chancellor by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, started his academic profession at P.S./M.S. 194 in 2001 as a sixth-grade math trainer. The varsity, situated in Westchester Sq., serves college students from kindergarten to eighth grade and homes a secondary college for youngsters with extreme particular schooling wants.
The brand new chancellor listened to folks’ considerations about desirous to be extra concerned within the classroom, in addition to discussing the necessity for lecturers to have extra sources accessible to them. He even heard from a involved fourth grader who requested Samuels to repair her college’s playground that “wasn’t fancy.”
Samuels recalled how troublesome it was to be a trainer, spending hours planning his college students’ classes.
“We need to help teachers have a roadmap,” he mentioned through the neighborhood listening session. Moreover, it could possibly start once they first graduate from their instructing applications or via mentorships inside their very own faculties.
“That’s the only thing that helped me get better,” Samuels added.
How Samuels reached the highest of NYC public faculties
Kamar Samuels was lately chosen to run the biggest public college system within the nation by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He mentioned his future plans for the varsity system in an unique interview with the Bronx Instances. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
Chancellor Samuels was born in Jamaica and moved to New York Metropolis on the age of 16.
Samuels didn’t at all times wish to be a trainer. He studied accounting at Baruch School and labored as a finance supervisor on the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation. He described the second he knew he needed to be a trainer to be an “aha moment” in an unique interview with the Bronx Instances.
Samuels studied to be an accountant as a result of he knew he was good at math however whereas in school, he tutored disabled college students and felt a draw to serving to others.
“Quite frankly, I hated it,” Samuels mentioned about working as a finance supervisor.
“I remember being in the train one day, coming up on the 4 train, and I looked up and there was an ad that said ‘You remember your first grade teacher’s name. Who will remember yours?’ That night, I filled out the [teacher educator program] application and in three months, I was in a classroom,” he mentioned.
Samuels added that he’s excited to implement insurance policies that can decrease class sizes and improve applications that can appeal to extra professionals to develop into lecturers.
Kamar Samuels, the newly elected NYC Public Colleges Chancellor, as a sixth grade math trainer in 2001. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
After making a distinction in school rooms, Samuels went on to function principal of the Bronx Writing Academy, senior management roles inside New York Metropolis Public Colleges (NYCPS) and later as a deputy superintendent in Brooklyn and superintendent in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill and elements of Bedford-Stuyvesant together with Manhattan’s Higher West Facet, Morningside Heights and elements of Harlem.
He then led his district to implement NYC Reads—an initiative that contributed to a 5% improve in literacy outcomes.
As well as, he led college integration efforts via rezoning, mergers of small faculties co-located in the identical constructing, and different “culturally responsive educational practices,” in accordance with the New York Metropolis Division of Training.
Samuels has additionally led efforts to maneuver away from gifted and proficient applications amid considerations from mother and father about racial disparities inside the program and most popular to implement Worldwide Baccalaureate (IB) applications districtwide as a extra inclusive strategy to gifted schooling for proficient college students.
New York Metropolis faculties Chancellor Kamar Samuels serving to college students throughout his go to to P.S./M.S. 194 within the Bronx. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
Samuels spent the day going across the college’s campus, popping his head into school rooms to see what the scholars have been engaged on. Occasionally, he would revert to trainer mode, making an attempt to assist college students with their work. On the finish of his tour, college directors stunned him with a go to to his previous classroom.
He seemed round his previous sixth-grade classroom, seemingly to take all of it in. “Wow,” Samuels mentioned. “I can’t believe this was it.”
Certainly one of Samuels’ star college students, Abdulla Mumen— who’s now an Assistant Director of Finance at Montefiore Well being System — mentioned it was Samuels’ perception in him that made him wish to succeed. It was Samuels who helped Mumen make the respect roll for the primary time
“We grew up at a time when our fathers couldn’t spend a lot of time with us because they were busy working,” Mumen mentioned. “He [Samuels] started a curriculum where we played soccer in the morning, soccer in the afternoon.”
New York Metropolis Colleges Chancellor Kamar Samuels together with his former pupil Abdulla Mumen, who’s now an Assistant Director of Finance at Montefiore Well being System. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
Mumen added that Samuel’s routine taught him self-discipline and put together for the actual world. He continues these classes 19 years after the category ended.
“This is part of the reason I’m successful, it’s because I have people like him [Samuels] in my life,” he mentioned. “This man had a big impact on me. One of the best math teachers I ever had.”
Throughout the neighborhood listening session, Samuels mentioned as the brand new Chancellor, his highest precedence is to pay attention to folks’ considerations and interact them within the means of their college students’ studying a lot sooner than they’ve been.
Samuels mentioned his workforce might be visiting all 5 boroughs of NYC and 45 districts to listen to extra from mother and father, lecturers, and faculties about their wants. “We’re here today to hit the ground listening,” he mentioned.
NYC Colleges Chancellor Kamar Samuels posed with a pupil on the college the place he began his profession as a trainer. P.S./M.S. 194 serves college students kindergarten to eighth grade and homes a secondary college for youngsters with extreme particular schooling wants. Photograph by Ramy Mahmoud
