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| Chancellor Banks, right, with his daughter Aaliyah, holding a bouquet, at the press conference announcing his exit from the city Department of Education.. [picture:James Keivom] |
Daughter of outgoing NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks promoted to district job — despite lacking qualifications
Schools Chancellor David Banks may be leaving, but his daughter is moving up the ranks in the city Department of Education, The Post has learned.
While Banks, his brother Philip and his wife Sheena Wright have all quit Mayor Adams’ administration amid multiple corruption probes, David’s daughter Aaliyah has landed a coveted district-level post without meeting the posted requirements.
Aaliyah Banks, 35, has a state license to teach students with disabilities in grades 7 through 12, but started this fall in Brooklyn’s District 14 as an ELA (English Language Arts) Implementation Specialist for elementary grades, said a spokesman for the city Department of Education.
The job requires “at least eight years of successful teaching experience,” according to a DOE ad for the position. She has five years as a state-licensed teacher.
The job posting, which a DOE spokesman provided, also says applicants must have a teaching license in early childhood education, which covers birth to grade 2, or in grades 1-6. Aaliyah has neither.
She was a special-ed teacher in grades 6 to 12 at the Bronx School of Law, Government and Justice, founded by her father.
“It’s not surprising that the chancellor’s daughter is benefitting from the Banks family’s second generation of nepotism,” said a teacher informed of the move. “Why would I expect his daughter to meet the minimum requirements?”
DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer insisted the younger Banks has eight years of teaching experience, saying she started in 2017 under an alternative NYC certification. But city and state records show otherwise.
She obtained a transitional special-ed teacher certificate in 2019, and her initial certificate in February 2023, according to a state education department registry.
City payroll records, posted on Seethroughny.net, list her as a community associate — a non-teaching position –in Fiscal Year 2017, a special-ed substitute in FY 2018 and FY 2019, and a special-ed teacher for five school years starting in FY 2020.
Her current salary, $98,481, is based on eight years of teaching with a Master’s degree, Styer said. The district job does not increase it. That’s up from $79,193 in FY 2022-23, the latest payroll data available on seethrough.net.
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| David Cintron |
District 14 superintendent David Cintron, a former Bronx principal promoted by David Banks in June 2022, recently hired the chancellor’s daughter to join his team.
“We all met her at our first principals’ meeting. She introduced herself by saying she was from the Bronx,” a District 14 administrator recalled.
“One of my colleagues pulled me aside and told me [she was David Banks’ daughter]. He was advised to be very careful what we say around her.”
Despite not having the required license, “The totality of a person’s resume and experience were considered, and Ms. Banks’ certification in special education made her an ideal candidate for this role,” Styer said.
He said nine of 33 applicants tapped for the jobs in nine districts “were hired with licenses outside of those listed on the job description,” including six in special-ed.
Chancellor Banks introduced and hugged his daughter at the Sept. 25 news conference with Mayor Adams when he announced his retirement from the DOE and congratulated Melissa Aviles-Ramos on her appointment as his successor.
Two students from the Bronx school gave bouquets to both father and daughter, praising Aaliyah as “amazing” and “the greatest NHS (National Honor Society) adviser,” bringing her to tears.
The chancellor hailed Meisha Ross Porter, his predecessor and former principal at the high school, for first hiring his daughter.
“She just recently left at the beginning of this school year,” Banks said, without explaining where she went.
“She followed in my footsteps in education,” he said. “Nothing could make me prouder as a dad, to see my daughter carrying on the values that I poured into her.”
Chancellor Banks, superintendent Cintron and Aaliyah Banks did not return requests for comment.
Editor, Parentadvocates.org
Editor, New York Court Corruption
Editor, National Public Voice
Editor, NYC Public Voice
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