NYC Mayor Mamdani Responds to School Segregation Critique

Mayor Mamdani acknowledged the systemic failures highlighted in journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones's recent essay and affirmed the urgent need to improve New York City's public schools for Black and brown students. Speaking on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, the mayor said he read the piece and found it devastating, stating it articulated the systemic way the school system failed her child and many families across the city. He said improving the public school system is an urgent necessity because Black and brown students are not being adequately served. Mamdani said every school should be the right school, not only some.

Background on the critique

In September 2024, Nikole Hannah-Jones published a follow-up feature in The New York Times Magazine that detailed her daughter Najya's experiences in the city's schools. The essay described harm her daughter experienced in segregated schools. Najya attended an elementary school that was chaotic, had frequent teacher absences, and left work ungraded. Her middle school was disorganized, and she struggled to get adequate instruction. Hannah-Jones recounted staying up late to check Najya’s math assignments at P.S. 307 in Brooklyn’s District 13, discovering they were ungraded and mostly incorrect.

Feeling unprepared, Najya questioned whether her mother’s decision deprived her of a higher quality education. When enrolling in a selective public high school, she felt her mother had made the wrong choice. The viral essay reignited public conversation on racial and economic inequality in NYC public schools. Hannah-Jones directly challenged Mayor Mamdani to explain how he would reduce racial and socioeconomic isolation.

Mamdani's response and current approach

Mayor Mamdani’s administration is developing plans to address segregation but has named no concrete policies. Nine months into his term, he has offered few specific plans for improving the school system. His stated approach will rely on local working groups to develop solutions for school segregation and underenrollment. So far, five of the city’s 32 local superintendents have launched such groups. Each district is expected to have one working group within the next three years.

Hannah-Jones said she is glad Mamdani committed to releasing a plan. She worries, however, that deferring to task forces can be a stalling tactic. Momentum on integration has gone completely dormant since the pandemic, she noted, and working groups can study an issue perpetually without action. Mamdani said his administration is exploring every tool to ensure a different school system moving forward.

Context on leadership and past efforts

The city’s current Schools Chancellor is Kamar Samuels, a former superintendent of District 13 who pursued integration efforts in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The political context for addressing segregation is complex. As a candidate, Mamdani embraced rethinking gifted programs and examining bias in the specialized high school admissions test. His administration has not committed to a timeline for reforming gifted program admissions, and he recently said the specialized high school admissions test does not need to change. These programs and schools are highly segregated by race.

Mamdani previously indicated he would adopt unimplemented recommendations from a school diversity task force under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. That task force recommended eliminating middle schools’ ability to admit students based on academic records, known as screening. Mamdani did not directly answer when asked if he would embrace ending screening or rethinking school zones. The de Blasio administration argued segregation reduction should come from local communities, not top-down mandates. David Banks, schools chief under Mayor Eric Adams, was reluctant to tackle segregation directly, favoring school improvement in high-need neighborhoods over integration.

Hannah-Jones maintains that integration remains an urgent priority despite these political challenges. Kids in classrooms deserve an education that helps them reach their potential and transform lives, she said. In her family's case, Hannah-Jones ultimately let Najya choose her own high school. Najya applied to a list of majority-white and selective programs, received an offer from her first choice, but initially struggled to keep up with classmates who did not experience the same educational gaps. Mayor Mamdani promised a plan to deliver rigorous and high-quality education to all students.