New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks, the hand-picked head of the nation’s largest school district and a long-time family friend of Mayor Eric Adams, is expected to resign amid a federal corruption investigation, according to sources familiar.
His rumored departure comes two weeks after his personal and professional phones were seized and apartment raided by federal authorities. He shares the home with his fiancé Sheena Wright, the first deputy mayor of New York City, who’s also been ensnared in the probe.
Banks on Tuesday afternoon called an emergency leadership meeting at the city’s education department’s headquarters at Tweed Courthouse, a source familiar told the Daily News.
Banks, who served in that role since the start of the Adams administration, would be the third top ranking administration official to resign since news of the investigation broke.
The Daily News previously reported the head of a STEM education company with city business interests got a private sit-down with David Banks within weeks of hiring his consultant brother, Terence Banks. Another client of his brothers, SaferWatch, ran a pilot of panic buttons in local public schools.
No one has been accused of wrongdoing to date, and the full scope of the investigations remain unclear.
Terence Banks’ company, The Pearl Alliance, represents multiple companies with city business dealings, including several with financial interests before his brothers David and Phil Banks’ agencies.
During his tenure as chancellor of a school system that serves nearly one million students, David Banks oversaw several major education initiatives, including a school cellphone ban and major curriculum overhauls in both reading and math.
