NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks discusses cellphone ban, antisemitism and more ahead of new school year
NEW YORK — Nearly one million students in New York City head back to school Thursday for the first day of class.
New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks oversees the largest school system in the country, and one that is simultaneously undergoing multiple curriculum overhauls, dealing with an influx of asylum seekers, and facing ongoing challenges with COVID learning loss, teacher retention and morale.
CBS News New York education reporter Doug Williams sat down with Banks to preview the 2024-2025 school year.
"We're ready ... Everybody understands what the gameplan is all about," Banks said.
Antisemitism in NYC schools
Gameplans are often forced to evolve on the fly. Last school year, for example, Banks found himself testifying on Capitol Hill in early May due to multiple allegations of antisemitism within the school system.
"What did you learn from that experience, and what will change or feel different in this school year and maybe your own approach to things that pop up throughout the year?" Williams asked.
"If we're serious about solving for these issues, it has to start in our public schools and it has to start with the great educators," Banks said. "You have to have responsible conversations with kids so that they don't see anyone else as the other, but actually see the common humanity, one to another. And that takes work, because our educators also bring their own bias."
Banks says he now discusses these issues regularly with a first-of-its-kind Interfaith Advisory Council as part of an effort, he says, to meet this moment with diverse ideologies and points of view
Cellphone ban in NYC schools
For months, there has been talk about a smart phone ban in city schools.
"I don't think that cellphones have a real place in our schools," Banks said.
Despite it being championed by the chancellor, the city public school year will begin Thursday without a system-wide ban on smart phones.
"They should be seriously considering banning the use of cellphones in their individual schools even without a citywide ban," Banks said.
The Department of Education says about 350 schools already have a ban in place. The goal is for bans to be enforced when kids enter school so it's not added to the increasingly long list of responsibilities for city teachers.
"Given the changes in reading, given the changes in math, given the asylum seeker crisis, the influx of migrants – how do you make being a teacher in the city public school system a job that people want to do?" Williams asked.
"Our job is to continue to make that job as easy for them as we possibly can and give them all the opportunities to be successful with their kids. That's the reason why we put the NYC Reads program into place because our teachers have been working for a long time to teach kids to read, but we gave them the wrong script," Banks said.
NYC schools continue to focus on reading levels
The "script" that the chancellor is referring to is called "balanced literacy" – the Department of Education reading curriculum prior to his arrival, and though he believes the new curriculum will help, for some, it may be too late.
"If a kid is in high school right now and was a product of, as you have said, the failure of the old administrations and also the old curriculums, what is being done for high school kids who are struggling?" Williams asked.
"Yeah, we haven't given up on those kids. There are a wide range of supports we've been providing for them as well and for their teachers. It's just that most of the focus has been on younger students because we've really been trying to kind of plug the dam, if you will," Banks said.
For older students, the levee was broken years ago. Take the numbers from 2022, when, according to the DOE, 59.9% of 8th graders at the time were at reading level. They're now sophomores in high school.
"Many kids have given up on themselves the older that they get. When you're in the 10th grade and you're still reading on a 4th grade level, it's a heavy lift," Banks said.
Inside the classroom, the challenge of literacy remains. DOE numbers from last school year show a 2.6% decrease in reading proficiency in grades 3-8. Banks says that data has nothing to do with the new phonics-based NYC Reads curriculum.
"How long from now is that for where you'll be able to be confident that you're looking at the stats that accurately reflect the new curriculum?" Williams asked.
"I think over the next three to four years," Banks said.