Dep. Ed Chancellor Aviles-Ramos Named to Replace Banks, Day Before Hizzoner Indicted

“Ring out the old, ring in the new” go the lyrics of the wonderful 1974 George Harrison song, “Ding Dong, Dong Dong.” If that title sounds like the tolling school bells, consider the song’s next line—“Ring out the false, ring in the true”—in the light of recent events in the life of embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and the public school system he oversees.

On Tuesday, September 17, Schools Chancellor David C. Banks delivered his second annual State of Our School’s address from the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens. If hardly a speech to rival those of Cicero or Abraham Lincoln in rhetoric or exactitude, Banks generally came off as caring, enthused, and generally likable.

Here is a man one wants to succeed, one thought, because his work is so important, despite misgivings about some of his stated ideas (like touting “AI” as an educational tool) and his compromised ideals, particularly as the latter concern Banks’ boss, Hizzoner; two of Banks’ brothers, ex-cop and top mayoral aide, Philip, and ex-MTA employee Terence; and his romantic partner, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright—all of them, like himself, under the clouds of federal investigation.

But such is loyalty and love in New York City politics and Chancellor Banks seemed all too happy to brazen it through, expressing his gratitude to the Mayor and his abiding love for the First Deputy Mayor.

Unstated were the Chancellor’s feelings about Eric Adams ‘partner, Tracey Collins, who is herself thought to be ensnared in the scandals of both the Mayor, and her putative boss, for whom she is employed as a Deputy Chancellor at a salary of $221,597 a year. The New York Post recently reported on accusations that Collins’ position is a “no show” job, and that she hasn’t been seen in the office since Thanksgiving 2023.

Still, if the city’s kids are most important, Banks’ bold insouciance might be for the best.

A week to the day of his State of Our Schools address, Chancellor Banks announced his resignation, effective at the year’s end. What did it mean? Nobody knew.

That same morning, however, sharp-eyed City Hall reporters noticed that Sheena Wright was unusually absent from her regular spot at the Mayor’s weekly Tuesday press conference. What did that mean? Nobody knew—until a few hours later when it was announced that Banks was out, and then even more followed.

One mystery was cleared up quickly, however, as the next day, September 25, at the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice in Concourse Village, Deputy Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos was named Banks successor. Glowing with pride and the radiance of bright ceiling lights shining off the bald pates of both the Chancellor Banks and Hizzoner, said “I want you to see me as a symbol of stability, of commitment.”

A career educator who’s held positions from teacher to principal to superintendent. Aviles-Ramos left the DOE earlier in 2024 for a job at Monroe College in the Bronx. For reasons that remain unclear, that position didn’t work out and Aviles-Ramos returned to the DOE.

“We started amazing things in alignment with the mayor’s vision for New York City,” Aviles-Ramos continued, “and the chancellor’s mission in alignment with the mayor’s vision for New York City public schools,”

Chancellor Banks, for his part, said “I’m so thrilled that she is going to be in this role.”

Mayor Adams concurred: “Melissa is a veteran of New York City Public Schools and a lifelong educator. She brings a wealth of experience fostering community engagement and supporting families to her new role, serving in numerous roles in our public school system, and I believe she is the right woman for the moment.”

That moment didn’t last too long.

By late the following morning, Thursday September 26, Mayor Adam’s official home at Gracie Mansion was raided by the FBI and the SDNY announced a five-count corruption indictment against Hizzoner.

Was Chancellor-in-waiting Melissa Aviles-Ramos moment over before it started? Was the timing of Adams’ indictment intended to humiliate him further, so soon after he swiftly moved to assert his authority in what seemed a reasonable, informed manner, and Aviles-Ramos was simply collateral damage?

Anyone who knows isn’t saying.

If Aviles-Ramos was shocked, embarrassed or worried, she didn’t admit. Speaking the next day to the education news site, Chalkbeat, stood by the Mayor and his education agenda,“I share their vision ... That’s why I agreed to be chancellor,” she said of Adams and Banks. “My North Star is their North Star, but I have to make sure that I keep the train moving.”

Whether Adams himself will remain aboard that train come year’s end, only time and God—who didn’t respond to questions from Straus News—can tell.