Mamdani has appointed Superintendent Kamar Samuels as NYC schools chancellor! Kamar Samuels served as the Superintendent of District 13 which spans from Brooklyn Heights to DUMBO, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and parts of Bed Stuy from early 2019 until mid 2022. During his time in Brooklyn, he led school integration efforts by merging schools and replacing gifted & talented programs with IB programs.
While in charge of District 13, he oversaw the move of Arts & Letters, a coveted, unzoned pre-K-8 school, from its home in Fort Greene to an under-enrolled school building in Bedford-Stuy. The merger officially began in the 2020-2021 school year, though discussions and planning started in late 2019.
In 2021, District 13 middle schools implemented a district-wide Diversity in Admissions (DIA) initiative and joined District 3, District 15 and over 80 other individual schools in offering this priority for their school communities. District 13 Superintendent Kamar Samuels at the time: “We know that offering greater opportunity and access for all students makes our schools stronger and I’m glad that our District is making important progress towards a more equitable system. This initiative will help ensure our classrooms better reflect the rich diversity of our community and bring us one step closer to a fair admissions process.” Read more about it here.
In 2022, District 13 Superintendent Kamar Samuels announced the implementation of the International Baccalaureate program in 8 public elementary and 4 public middle schools in District 13. Read more about it here.
Samuels, who is currently the superintendent of Manhattan’s District 3 based on the Upper West Side, will oversee the city’s nearly one million public school students. He has has worked in the school system for two decades, including as a teacher and principal in the Bronx.
In his appointment speech on December 31, 2025, he promised that the new administration will fully fund public schools, “we will invest in special education, bilingual education, math and science so that every child has a teacher qualified and supported”.
