David C. Banks, the chancellor of New York City's public school system, said on Tuesday that he would resign from his post at the end of December.
The announcement comes just weeks after federal agents seized Mr. Banks’s phone as part of a bribery investigation involving his brothers and fiancée — and threatens to throw into turmoil not only the nation’s largest school system but also the mayor’s administration, which is already grappling with at least four separate federal corruption probes.
The schools chancellor's resignation is the fourth by top officials in Mayor Eric Adams' administration in less than two weeks, following the resignations of the police commissioner and the city's top attorney and the health commissioner who said he would step down at the end of the year.
Of those officials, Mr. Banks is the closest to the mayor, who said recently that he has known the chancellor, his younger brother, Philip B. Banks III, who is deputy mayor for public safety, and the rest of the Banks family for decades and will continue to have a relationship with them.
And the chancellor’s announcement of her departure stunned her subordinates. It came just three weeks after the new academic year began, and while her education department was still struggling to address students’ declining academic performance and behavioral and mental health concerns, the aftereffects of the pandemic.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos, one of the chancellor’s top deputies, is expected to be named the next chancellor as soon as Wednesday, according to three people with knowledge of the appointment. It is not yet clear whether Ms. Aviles-Ramos, who previously served as Mr. Banks’ chief of staff, will serve on an interim or permanent basis.
The resignation announcement was an abrupt turnaround for a man who had said since at least the mid-1990s that the school’s chancellorship was the position he wanted more than any other.
But outside the Department of Education, the past several weeks have been tumultuous.
At dawn on Sept. 4, the day classes were to begin for New York City’s 900,000 public school students, the chancellor’s phone was seized by federal agents who were conducting a bribery and corruption investigation that focused at least in part on a consulting firm run by Mr. Banks’s youngest brother, Terrence Banks.
David Banks' fiancée, Sheena Wright, who is the first deputy mayor, also had her phone confiscated when federal agents showed up at her door. And his brother Phillip's phone was also taken by federal agents.
The investigation was separate from three other probes surrounding the Adams administration, which include an inquiry into whether Mr. Adams and his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations.
Neither Mr. Banks nor anyone else has been accused of wrongdoing in the investigation, and it is unclear whether prosecutors will file charges.
In a recent press conference, he said that he has not done anything wrong.
“I've always lived my life honestly. Every day,” Mr. Banks said.
In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Adams said the public school system had “transformed” during Mr. Banks’ nearly three years in office.
“On behalf of all New Yorkers, we thank Chancellor Banks for his service, and wish him all the best in his retirement at the end of the calendar year,” he said.
Mr. Banks' announcement of his resignation from the administration was perhaps most timely — and in the middle of the school year — reflecting the depth of the crisis at City Hall. And it has also bolstered a growing chorus of critics of the mayor.
Gustavo Rivera, a Democratic state senator from the Bronx, became the fourth state lawmaker to call for the mayor’s resignation, saying in a statement that Mr. Banks’s resignation announcement was “further proof that those closest to him know the walls are closing in,” he said, referring to the mayor.
Other elected officials also cheered the departure announcement.
“It has never happened in my lifetime that the commissioners of the three most important agencies in the city have resigned,” said Zellner Myrie, a Brooklyn state senator who is challenging Mr. Adams in next year’s Democratic mayoral primary.
“As the best city in the world, we should be elevating talented leaders, not managing a mass exodus from a scandal-plagued administration,” state Sen. Jessica Ramos of Queens, another Democratic mayoral candidate, said in a statement.
Mr. Banks, a longtime friend and informal education adviser to the mayor, was the obvious choice for chancellor from the night Mr. Adams won the mayoral primary in 2021, when Mr. Banks appeared smiling on stage with him.
And on that chilly winter morning when Mr Banks was officially nominated for the position, the future mayor expressed his appreciation to the Banks family, and David Banks in particular.
To loud applause, Mr. Adams said he didn’t have to conduct a national search to find the right person to run the city’s schools.
“I asked him what he stood for,” Mr. Adams said of Mr. Banks. “I went to meet his family, talked to his father and his mother. I talked to his brothers and the people around him. I wanted to see the character of the person I was going to entrust my children to.”
He said the decision was overwhelming: “I know this is the right person for the job.” He added: “And we not only respect each other, we love each other.”
But recently, their relationship seems to be turning sour.
People with direct knowledge of the chancellor’s thinking since his phone was seized said he had become frustrated by the chaos within the administration, particularly as it related to the matter involving his fiancée, Ms. Wright, and was questioning the value of remaining in office.
Just last week, Mr. Banks tried to project stability while delivering his annual “State of Our Schools” address. During the speech, the chancellor tried to focus on business as usual but made vague references to the swirling scandals.
He said, “When life presents you with your greatest challenges, always look inside yourself and remember who you are, and stand strong.”
Mr. Banks received a standing ovation from the teachers and elected officials gathered for the speech, which he later said was a testament to the respect he has received throughout the city.
Mr. Banks, who took office amid a surge in coronavirus cases in New York, was known as a charismatic and capable leader who often struggled to define a strong vision for a sprawling school system with 1,600 schools. He also faced regular challenges during his tenure, facing criticism over his oversight of the city’s free prekindergarten programs.
The school system has also been under constant strain to respond to the arrival of some 40,000 migrant children since the summer of 2022, leaving many school leaders frustrated.
And over the past year, the Education Department has had to deal with tensions over the Israel-Hamas war. A violent demonstration at a Queens high school — in which a pro-Israel teacher was targeted and sent to another floor — became a major issue for some Jewish families and educators across New York.
But in May, Mr. Banks was widely praised for appearing before Congress at a hearing about anti-Semitism in public schools, during which he spoke in a combative yet confident tone and flatly denied that his district had failed to respond to hate incidents.
That testimony will likely be remembered as a key moment in the Chancellor's tenure, and an occasion on which he made full use of his political skills.
“The complexity of New York City prepares you for moments like this,” Mr. Banks said after the hearing.
Rising through the ranks of the faculty, Mr. Banks was a quick study of that vast and complex system.
He started out as a teacher, and after earning a law degree and taking a brief detour to work in the state attorney general’s office, he returned as an assistant principal before founding a small high school in the Bronx.
But it was his decision to create a new network of boys-only public schools, aimed at keeping low-income black boys out of trouble, that solidified his fame and helped him rise to the chancellor's office.
When appointed he spoke of sweeping reforms to a flawed system, and during his relatively short tenure he announced major changes to the curriculum aimed at improving the way young children were taught to read.
But many of his other top initiatives — including one serving students with dyslexia — were rolled out slowly and through limited pilot programs. And after the pandemic struck, the chancellor faced criticism for not acting quickly enough to address students’ academic and emotional setbacks.
“We shall not win every battle,” Mr. Adams said on the day he appointed Mr. Banks chancellor. “But, damn it, we shall not fail to try.”
Jan Ransom, Emma G. Fitzsimmons And Jeffrey C. Mays Contributed reporting.