New York City schools Chancellor David Banks is no stranger to conflict.
As the leader of the nation鈥檚 largest school system serving nearly a million students, Banks is used to answering to school staff, politicians, parents, and even students鈥攁nd in very public fashion. But in early May, Banks had to face his toughest potential critics yet鈥擱epublican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Banks was one of three district leaders called to answer questions about a rise in antisemitism in K-12 schools at a May 8 subcommittee hearing. A few months prior, three college presidents who testified failed to forcefully condemn antisemitism on their campuses, and two were out of their jobs within weeks.
House Republicans chose Banks after pro-Palestinian students at Hillcrest High School in Queens, Banks鈥� alma mater, rampaged through the halls in November 2023 after learning a teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally. Banks subsequently moved Hillcrest鈥檚 principal to another district role, a decision that was the subject of a few heated exchanges at the hearing. The New York City schools are also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 office for civil rights for potential violations since the Israel-Hamas war.
Banks verbally parried with Republican lawmakers trying to discredit his leadership, but did not back down nor apologize for how he鈥檚 handled acts of antisemitism or Islamaphobia in the city鈥檚 schools.
In a conversation with Education Week, Banks recounted his experience testifying before Congress and the work underway in the district to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of hate.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How would you say the Israel-Hamas war has affected the culture and climate at New York City schools?
Any act of hate is a big deal, no matter where it is and no matter how it shows itself, whether that鈥檚 racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism. It is all bad.
We have a responsibility as the leaders of the system to ensure that we can keep all of our kids and our staff physically safe and emotionally safe. We have had, to date, at least 35 to 40 incidents of either antisemitism or Islamophobia that we have a record of. And it鈥檚 a wide range鈥攆rom kids who are drawing a swastika on a bathroom wall to teachers who have made Islamophobic statements to their own students.
It鈥檚 a wide range of ways in which it has shown up, and we are very concerned anytime we see it.
What has been your response to these incidents?
We see our response as something that we call safety, engagement, and education. Each one of those is critically important.
You鈥檝e got to keep kids safe, and there has to be consequences when anybody moves and behaves in a way that is outside of what our values are and what our stated disciplinary procedures are.
So, we made sure that all of our teachers know that when you see acts of antisemitism, those are hate crimes. They have to be reported to the police. We鈥檝e got to make sure that is done. But sometimes we鈥檒l see things that are not hate crimes but they are still bad behavior and they鈥檒l affect the overall culture of the school and we鈥檝e got to make sure we address those properly.
We鈥檝e been engaging the Jewish and Muslim communities around the city. I鈥檝e created an interfaith advisory council made up of some of the top faith-based leaders in the city, and that鈥檚 not just Muslim and not just Jewish. It runs a wide range of other religions as well.
We made sure that all of our teachers know that when you see acts of antisemitism, those are hate crimes.
I think that it is important to engage the faith-based community and not simply just say, 鈥榳ell, we believe in separation of church and state so we don鈥檛 even talk to them.鈥� During times like this it is critically important for us to engage everybody.
The ultimate antidote to hate and to antisemitism and to Islamophobia is to educate. We鈥檝e got to help raise the consciousness of kids. They鈥檝e got to have a greater level of exposure.
So while the teaching of the Holocaust is mandated in some of our older grades, teaching about Jewish history, the fullness of Jewish history, the fullness of Muslim history, is not actually mandated. We鈥檙e getting ready to release a pretty comprehensive curricula related to those histories. The more that our kids get exposed to that history, the more that they鈥檙e able to get out and visit places like the Jewish Heritage Museum, the better off we will be.
No teacher and no child should go to a school and fear for their lives and think they鈥檙e somehow going to come under attack simply for their faith. We want everybody to see the common humanity in us all and not see anybody else as the other.
What was your reaction to being asked to testify before Congress, and how did you prepare for it?
I was incredulous that I was asked. I couldn鈥檛 believe it.
I knew that they had brought several of the university presidents, and I said, 鈥榃hy in the world would they want K-12 leaders to show up?鈥�
I certainly did not want to do it. I saw the way in which those hearings [with university presidents] were conducted, and I considered them not helpful and very much playing to 鈥榞otcha鈥� moments, trying to embarrass people. That to me is not how you solve for antisemitism or Islamophobia.
I began to study and make sure, together with my team, that if I were asked about any incident in any school or classroom that I would be ready to respond. I had a couple of people on my staff here that I worked very, very closely with, galvanizing the information. It kind of reminded me of when I was in law school and preparing for exams. It had to be with that level of intensity.
I was incredulous that I was asked. I couldn鈥檛 believe it.
I was fully prepared to answer any questions but to also push back if members were, in my opinion, being disrespectful or otherwise just trying to play 鈥榞otcha.鈥�
I very much believe in civic engagement. Whatever your politics happen to be, it doesn鈥檛 matter. If you get called, you go, you answer the questions, you do your best and then you move on. That鈥檚 what we did and I鈥檓 proud of the way we showed up.
During the hearing, committee members pushed you on your decision to reassign, rather than fire, the principal at Hillcrest. Why might immediate firing not be the answer in situations like that?
All of our folks who work for us have due process rights. You can鈥檛 just willy nilly fire people because you disagree with what they said. You have to do the proper investigation and after that investigation you have to make a determination around what you think any particular consequence should be for that behavior if you think there鈥檚 any consequence that鈥檚 needed at all.
In this particular case, after going to the school and speaking to hundreds of educators there and parents and students, I saw some real gaps in leadership. I ultimately made the decision that the principal should be removed from the school. I didn鈥檛 think he was the right person to lead the resurgence of the school, but I was fully committed to a resurgence of the school.
Now, I also did not feel that he deserved to lose his employment altogether as well. I didn鈥檛 think he was prepared to meet the moment at Hillcrest鈥攖hat鈥檚 the reason we moved him out of that particular spot. But I also thought he had a lot to offer to the school system, so we reassigned him to another role.
How might your experience as a K-12 administrator have prepared you to be in the congressional hot seat more than the higher education leaders?
I testify before the city council on a regular basis. I testify before the state assembly. I鈥檓 engaging students on a regular basis. I do community forums on my own. I do community forums with the mayor. We鈥檙e always out there in the community in a way that is very different from the normal day of a university or college president.
Some of them don鈥檛 engage with the students much at all, and some of them do, but they don鈥檛 engage in the way that we do at public schools. Here, our kids are still forming and still developing. I鈥檓 used to engaging, I鈥檓 used to testifying. I鈥檓 used to being in front of some tough examiners, if you will.
What advice do you have for other district leaders navigating politically divisive moments like this?
Do everything you can to stay on the side of right, meaning lead with your values and hold fast to those values.
As a leader of any institution, I think that they should recognize that they have a responsibility to do the right thing for their kids, their parents, their families, and those that work for them. It keeps it simpler when you do that.
If you鈥檙e just working off of somebody else鈥檚 talking points, that鈥檚 not the best way for you to be grounded in your actions. Your actions should truly emanate from that which you believe deeply. If you do believe that, then you should move accordingly and that鈥檚 what we did.
