New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the United Teachers Federation (UFT), and others have shared their reactions to the announcement on Tuesday, Sept. 24, by New York Public Schools Commissioner David Banks that he will be retiring effective Dec. 31, this year. The news comes on the back of a slew of other resignations by top Adams administration officials as the mayor gears up for a second term in office, and as he battles to retain the confidence of New Yorkers and strives to maintain calm amid the latest political storm.

 

As reported, on Thursday, Sept. 12, the mayor announced that he had accepted the resignation of his then-police commissioner, Edward Caban, who had been just a little over one year in the role. Caban, who rose to the position of top cop from Bronx police ranks, was the second police commissioner to resign from the Adams adminstration, following the prior resignation on June 12, 2023 of former Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first woman to hold the position in the City’s history.

 

Caban’s abrupt resignation followed news of a recent investigation by federal agents during which the homes of four top Adams administration officials were raided on Sept. 4, Banks’ and Caban’s among them. The other officials targeted in the raid were First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, and Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks, David Banks’ brother. Norwood News readers recently weighed in on the matter as part of our latest Inquiring Photographer series. The Bronx home of Adams aide Winnie Greco had also previously been raided, as reported.

 

On Friday, Sept. 13, The Associated Press reported that ahead of the 2022 school year, an education technology company called 21stCentEd was seeking to expand its presence in New York City’s public schools so they turned to Terence Banks, whose new consulting firm promised to connect clients with top government stakeholders. Terence Banks is the brother of David Banks and Philip Banks.

 

On Saturday, Sept. 14, City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg resigned, reportedly saying she could no longer effectively serve in her position.

 

On Friday, Sept. 20, Queens City Council Member Tiffany Cabán, a progressive Democrat, called for the mayor to resign, saying in part, “New York City Hall right now feels like an episode of Scandal. Let’s talk about why @ericadamsfornyc needs to resign.”

The following night, Sept. 21, as shared by Norwood News via social media, the latest appointed Interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon, who grew up in Norwood, The Bronx, announced that he was also the subject of a separate raid on his home by federal agents, less than a week into his new job. In his statement, the interim commissioner said, in part, that the raid was unrelated to his work as police commissioner and that documents that had come into his possession around 20 years ago were removed during the search.

 

As reported, during his announcement of Donlon as the latest police commissioner, Adams said Donlon served as New York’s director of the Office of Homeland Security, ran the FBI National Threat Center and the FBI NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force, and worked as the cold case agent investigating the 1993 Twin Towers bombing, as well as the attacks in U.S. embassy in Africa and the USS Cole in Yemen by al-Qaeda. When questioned about the raid on Donlon’s homes during a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 24, the mayor referred to the case as “a private matter.”

 

On Sept. 22, The City reported that Tim Pearson, a top adviser to the mayor was also under federal investigation.

 

On Monday, Sept. 23, Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan announced that he would be stepping down from his role in early January 2025, citing a need to spend more time with his family. His full statement is attached.

His announcement follows recent news that former New York City COVID-19 Czar Dr. Jay Varma was recently fired from his current job at a pharmaceutical company. Varma was allegedly fired after he conceded amid media leaks and reports that, while working as a senior health advisor in the former de Blasio administration, under former Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi during the COVID-19 pandemic, he [Varma] had attended sex parties and a rave, all while New Yorkers were isolating and social distancing to curb the spread of the virus.

 

Vasan did not address the scandal in his statement on Monday. Following news of Varma’s firing, Republicans in the City Council wrote a letter (attached) dated Friday, Sept. 20, to the City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the chair of the Health committee, Lynn Schulman, and the chair of the oversight and investigations committee, Gail Brewer, calling for an investigation into the incident.

 

When asked during a press conference on Sept. 24 about that scandal and for the calls for an investigation into the matter, the mayor said, “You know, Dr. Jay has not been kind to this administration about our excellent ability to navigate us through COVID, what we did to get us out of COVID. There was a lot of outside voices who were saying what we should have done, should not have done, but we were successful in doing so.”

He added, “I’m not going to return the same favor to him. He has to deal with that, and what his actions… they do not change the facts. We had a major pandemic. There were rules that were put in place. People chose not to follow those rules, and his behavior doesn’t change the fact that we saved lives because of the rules that were put in place. And I think Mayor de Blasio made some tough decisions as well as other leaders, executives, and they carried out those decisions. But I need to be focused on the city, not on, you know, what his [Varma’s] actions were.”

 

During the same press conference, the mayor praised Vasan, saying in part, “I really like him a lot. I am happy he gave the City three years of his life, and I thank him for that. It came with some great sacrifices, but he was committed, and he has not disappeared. He said, ‘Eric, I’m always here to assist.'”

 

Meanwhile, in a statement Tuesday, Adams said of David Banks’ announcement, “I am immensely grateful and proud of the work accomplished in New York City Public Schools under Chancellor David Banks. 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.”

He continued, “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. We’ve done all this and more on behalf of nearly one million public school students, and Chancellor Banks was crucial to getting that done every day. On behalf of all New Yorkers, we thank Chancellor Banks for his service, and wish him well in his retirement at the end of the calendar year.”

 

For his part, the schools commissioner said of his decision to step down, “After nearly 40 years of dedicated service to New York City’s public schools, I have made the decision to retire at the end of this year. 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.”

 

The commissioner continued, “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. I grew up in our public schools and spent most of my adult life serving the students and families of our city, and I have every confidence that the work we’ve started will continue to thrive and benefit generations to come.”

Adams administration officials cited the following as David Banks’ key successes:

• implemented major literacy initiative through “NYC Reads,” which has adopted curriculum based in the science of reading to half of the city’s elementary schools and 90 percent of early childhood programs;
• implemented “NYC Solves,” a major citywide initiative to raise math achievement so all students graduate with strong math skills;
• instituted nation-leading dyslexia support through mandating dyslexia screening for all students, and opened the first-ever public school dedicated to supporting students with dyslexia and other print-based learning disabilities;
• expanded accelerated learning opportunities for more students by adding 57 Gifted and Talented programs and increasing the number of students participating in it by 2,400 for a total of 16,500 students in kindergarten through 5th grade;
• opened nine new schools and 24 new school buildings, including the most new K-12 seats opened in two decades, ahead of the 2024-2025 school year;
• helped 8,662 students secure a total of 23,000 job placements, resulting in students earning a cumulative $8.2 million from paid work experiences at top companies through FutureReadyNYC;
• cemented new labor contracts that keep the city’s public schools competitive for talent nationwide, helping to increase the teacher retention rate to 95 percent;
• invested over $600 million in new funding to protect critical programs that were funded with temporary stimulus dollars;
• increased early childhood enrollment with over 114,000 children enrolled this year, stabilized the system by reducing the payment timeline to vendors from approximately 60 to 90 days to an average of 12 days, and strengthened quality with over 90 percent of programs and schools implementing a singular curriculum;
• won mayoral accountability of schools twice in three years, and achieved an increase in enrollment for the first time in eight years, while investing $180 million to implement a comprehensive class size reduction plan.

 

Meanwhile, in a statement on Tuesday, Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said of David Banks’ decision to retire, “Now more than ever, we need to focus on doing the work that our students, educators, and public schools need. Chancellor David Banks is an educator who sought to improve public education for all students. We thank him for his partnership, passion, and collaboration and wish him well.” It has since been reported that Banks will step down ahead of schedule and his successor, Bronx native Melissa Aviles-Ramos, has been announced.

 

Meanwhile, as previously reported in November 2023, the mayor himself, is also the subject of an ongoing investigation by federal agents into matters relating to campaign financing and his 2021 mayoral campaign. He has repeatedly stated that he and his administration officials are cooperating with the authorities in relation to this and all other matters.

As also reported, on March 19, during a press conference at City Hall, the mayor responded to the fact that Lorna Beach-Mathura, a resident of Florida and former resident of Brooklyn, filed a lawsuit in the State of New York the previous day, March 18, under the Adult Survivors Act against him, citing an alleged sexual assault in 1993, when both she and the mayor were employees with the Transit Bureau of the NYPD.

 

According to court-filed documents, having been passed over for promotion, Beach-Mathura, a Black, female NYPD employee, alleges she sought help with her career from Adams, both in his capacity as a police officer at the time and as a leader in the NYPD Guardians Association, an organization which advocates for the rights of Black employees.

 

Beach-Mathura, who holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership and who works in education according to her LinkedIn profile, alleges that instead of helping her, Adams allegedly asked her to perform oral sex on him after he allegedly drove her to a vacant lot. Court papers show the lawsuit was also filed against the NYPD Transit Bureau, the NYPD Guardians Association, and three other “unknown” entities, which are also defendants.

The Adult Survivors Act is New York State legislation enacted in May 2022 which amended state law to allow alleged victims of sexual offenses for which the statute of limitations had lapsed to file civil suits for a one-year period, from November 24, 2022, to November 24, 2023. During the same March 2024 press conference, Adams said he and the press were already aware of the commencement of legal proceedings by Beach-Mathura in relation to the lawsuit since November 2023. The mayor denies any wrongdoing and through his lawyers has called to dismiss the case. The NY Daily News reported on Oct. 2 that the mayor’s lawyer in the case, Alex Spiro, has withdrawn from representing the mayor in the sex assault case due to a conflict of interest surrounding the separate federal indictment charges against the mayor.

 

On Sept. 24, NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol acknowledged the accuracy of a story by Politico in which it was reported that amid the City Hall drama, the commissioner had considered leaving. Iscol retweeted the story, adding, “Their reporting is accurate that I’ve had a number of conversations about this, but have decided the right thing to do is stick around.”

 

Former Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh announced she was stepping down from the role in July, citing her wish to spend more time with her family, and having served in the position since February 2022, followiing the retirement of longtime former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro. Kavanagh was the first female fire commissioner in the City’s history. Robert Tucker was sworn in as the 35th Fire Commissioner of New York City on Aug. 12.

 

On Friday, Sept. 27,  Adams’ chief advisor Ingrid Lewis Martin was hit with a search warrant and subpoenas by federal agents on her return from a Japanese vacation.

During a press conference earlier on Tuesday, the mayor said in part, “I love every day being the mayor of the City of New York, changing the lives of New Yorkers and everything that comes with it. I am more excited now being mayor than I was when I took my oath of office in the beginning.”

 

On Wednesday, Sept. 25, Bronx Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) said, “I do not see how Mayor Adams can continue governing New York City. The flood of resignations and vacancies are threatening gov function. Nonstop investigations will make it impossible to recruit and retain a qualified administration. For the good of the city, he should resign.”

 

On Wednesday evening, The New York Times reported that the mayor was indicted following the federal corruption investigation, making him the first sitting mayor of New York City to face criminal charges. The mayor did not issue any response to the announcement as of Wednesday at 10 p.m.

 

In an earlier interview on Wednesday with News 12 The Bronx, Adams had addressed the question about calls for his resignation by the congresswoman, saying, “Well, I’m really surprised to hear her call for the resignation of the second Black mayor in the city. Here is a person who has stood up for those who were convicted of wrongdoing and saying that they should not be held accountable. So I mean, you know, the public really takes that with a grain of salt.”

 

 

On Thursday, Sept. 26, as reported, Bronx native Melissa Aviles-Ramos was announced as the next Schools Chancellor, replacing David Banks at the end of the year.

 

Norwood News has reached out to Adams’ legal counsel and to City Hall for comment.

Adams is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law. Amid growing calls for his resignation, the mayor later pleaded not guilty in federal court on Friday, Sept. 27, to bribery and other charges announced by federal authorities on Thursday, Sept. 26. He later moved to dismiss the 5-count indictment. On Tuesday, Oct. 1, the mayor sought sanctions on federal prosecutors who charged him, alleging they leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information in “brazen violations” of the rules.

 

No charges have been announced in relation to Greco, Caban, Wright, David Banks, Philip Banks, Terence Banks, Pearson or Lewis-Martin.

 

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Mayor Eric Adams previously served as New York’s director of the Office of Homeland Security, ran the FBI National Threat Center and the FBI NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force, and worked as the cold case agent investigating the 1993 Twin Towers bombing, as well as the attacks in U.S. embassy in Africa and the USS Cole in Yemen by al-Qaeda. In fact, this was a typo and those roles were held by Interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon. The story has since been corrected.