NYC Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos reflects on her first year on the job

CBS News

4 hours ago

Melissa Aviles-Ramos looks back at her first year as NYC schools chancellor
Melissa Aviles-Ramos looks back at her first year as NYC schools chancellor
Melissa Aviles-Ramos looks back at her first year as NYC schools chancellor
Thursday marks the end of the 2024-25 academic year for New York City public schools – the first under the leadership of Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos.
She sat down with CBS News New York education reporter Doug Williams for an exclusive interview.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos' mid-year start
Mayors pick their chancellors. Mayor Eric Adams first picked David Banks. He was bold, charismatic – equal parts educator and showman.
But when the show ended abruptly due to Banks' involvement in the since-dismissed federal investigation into Adams, in came Aviles-Ramos. She started mid-school year and began by listening in what she called a "Five-Borough Listening Tour."
"All the things that I started this year while listening and not changing over the system in the middle of the school year, I'd like to continue doing those things," she said.
If Adams is reelected in November, it would give Aviles-Ramos more time to take what she heard and turn it into action.
ICE and NYC public schools
The school system became part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement story in May when a 20-year-old Bronx high school student named Dylan was detained.
"Do you have any way of knowing whether fears have led to absences?" Williams asked.
"We know anecdotally that there is a fear out there," Aviles-Ramos said.
The chancellor says exact numbers of absences or potential detainments would require knowing the exact number of immigrants and asylum seekers that are in the school system, and families don't have to disclose that information when they enroll.
Aviles-Ramos headlined a rally for Dylan earlier this month along with advocates and elected officials. Many later criticized the mayor for not being more outspoken on the subject.
"The mayor and I agree on this, and the reason why I stood at the rally is because he and I felt it was very important for me to recommunicate and reiterate our commitment to serving every child," she said.
Parents report special education issues
Perhaps no issue has been brought up more frequently this year than special education.
Late last year, the United Federation of Teachers reported that roughly 9,000 students in the system weren't receiving their mandated special ed services. That's partially due to another number they reported: more than 2,000 unfilled provider jobs.
The issue can manifest itself with chronic absences or on the school bus. Often when parents find the school that will provide what their child needs, it isn't exactly close by.
One parent told CBS News New York her 6-year-old son, who is nonverbal and has autism, gets picked up by the bus at 7 a.m. and doesn't arrive at school until 9:30 a.m., half an hour after class starts.
"We are far from where we need to be, right? Like, that's just something we have to own, and we know that," Aviles-Ramos said. "We are not resolving these things overnight, but we are putting the pieces in place to have a real change."