Mayor-elect Eric Adams on Friday unveiled his transition teams, including about 100 members who will advise the mayor-elect on education issues.
As mayor, Adams, who will be sworn in on Jan. 1, will also lead the nation’s largest school system with roughly 1 million students.
Among the leads on the transition team is David Banks, a former Bronx principal who founded a network of public schools for young men of color and is widely regarded to become the next chancellor. He’s joined by six others, including Bronx teacher Tashnima Choudhury, and Saskia Thompson, who was a deputy chancellor and held a number of other high-ranking roles in the education department under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The team includes other notable figures who worked under Bloomberg, who pursued aggressive education reforms in his time as mayor, closing large, struggling schools, making room for charters to expand, and often clashing with the teachers union.
Former Bloomberg officials now on the transition team include Dan Weisberg, who handled labor issues and until recently led TNTP, which focuses on teaching issues; Sonia Park, who led the department’s charter schools office and currently serves as the executive director of the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition; and Josh Thomases, a former deputy chief academic officer and current charter network leader.
Also on the team are some alumni from the outgoing administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, such as Richard Buery, a former deputy mayor, and Chris Caruso, who led the city’s high-profile work opening community schools. Both are now at the nonprofit Robin Hood Foundation.
Other members include Jasmine Gripper of the Alliance for Quality Education, an advocacy group that has long fought for more school funding and has been closely aligned with the teachers union; DeNora Getachew, leader of the youth-advocacy nonprofit DoSomething; and Debbie Meyer, a parent advocate for better instruction for students with dyslexia.
Adams has not fleshed out many of his education plans, so the transition team members may offer some clues about the policy direction his administration might pursue.
Leadership for the next education department will have an overflowing plate, deciding how to allocate millions of dollars in federal relief money, support schools continuing to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus, and setting safety standards against a constantly evolving health threat.
Here’s the list of members who will have Adams’ ear as he takes the reins.
Lead: David Banks
Lead: Saskia Thompson
Lead: Dr. Cristina Melendez
Lead: Hazel Dukes
Lead: Hector Bautista
Lead: Lorraine Cortez Vasquez
Lead: Tashnima Choudhury
Youth Co-Chairs: Darleny Suriel
Youth Co-Chairs: Ismail Hasaballa
Youth Co-Chairs: Jonathan Lam
Youth Co-Chairs: Mia Payne
Member: Angel Vasquez
Member: Anita Gundanna
Member: Ann Tisch
Member: Arva Rice
Member: Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman
Member: Carlos Moreno
Member: Council Member Rodneyse Bichotte
Member: Crystal Mcqueen-Taylor
Member: DeNora Getachew
Member: Doris Cintron
Member: Dr. Demetrius Carolina
Member: Eddie Silverio
Member: Edu Hermelyn
Member: Elizabeth McCarthy
Member: Fred Wilson
Member: Geoffrey Canada
Member: Gladys Ward
Member: Henry Ocasio
Member: Jane Martinez-Dowling
Member:Jasmine Gripper
Member: Jean Desravines
Member: Jeff Aronson
Member: Jennifer Raab
Member: Jerry Russo
Member: John Tritt
Member: Judy Dimon
Member: Kevin Cummings
Member: Khary Lazare-White
Member: Kim Sweet
Member: LaKeesha Walrond
Member: Lourdes Zapata
Member: Maria Figueroa-Dean
Member: Nancy Sunshine
Member: Phoebe Boyer
Member: Rabbi Bob Kaplan
Member: Rabbi David Zwiebel
Member: Ramona Hernandez
Member: Rev. Jacques DeGraff
Member: Richard Buery
Member: Richard Kahan
Member: Shawn Morehead
Member: Shirley Aldebol
Member: Sonia Park
Member: Vaughan Toney
Contributor: Abby Jo Sigal
Contributor: Abenaa Frempong-Boadu
Contributor: Brigid Ahern
Contributor: Carolyne Quintana
Contributor: Casey Lamb
Contributor: Cass Conrad
Contributor: Cassie Schwerner
Contributor: Cesar Zuniga
Contributor: Charissa Fernandez
Contributor: Chris Caruso
Contributor: Christopher Caruso
Contributor: Crisanta Duran
Contributor: Dan Weisberg
Contributor: David Adams
Contributor: Dawn Heyward
Contributor: Debbie Meyer
Contributor: Desmond Blackburn
Contributor: Dia Bryant, Ed.L.D.
Contributor: Dionne Grayman
Contributor: Dr. Anne Williams-Isom
Contributor: Dr. Asheena Baez
Contributor: Dr. Askia Davis
Contributor: Dr. Jawana Johnson
Contributor: Dr. Kara Ahmed
Contributor: Dr. Karren Dunkley
Contributor: Dr. Sabrina Hope King
Contributor: Dr. Sandye Johnson
Contributor: Dr. Sydney McKinney
Contributor: Dr. Tom Liam Lynch
Contributor: Dr. Wenimo Okoya
Contributor: Dr. Yvette Jackson
Contributor: Hope Lesane
Contributor: Irma Zardoya
Contributor: Jade Grieve
Contributor: Josh Thomases
Contributor: Karine Apollon
Contributor: Kelvin Chan
Contributor: Kenita Lloyd
Contributor: Lorelei Vargas
Contributor: Luke Rhine
Contributor: Marielys Divanne
Contributor: Marjorie Parker
Contributor: Maury Litwack
Contributor: Michael Rothman
Contributor: Nora Gomperts
Contributor: Paymon Rouhanifard
Contributor: Robert Lubetsky
Contributor: Rochelle Sinclair
Contributor: Ron Russell
Contributor: Sandra Escamilla
Contributor: Saskia Traill
Contributor: Savita Bharadwa
Contributor: Sherry Cleary
Contributor: Tala Manassah
Contributor: Tara Gardner
