By David E. Kirkland

The appointment of Kamar Samuels to lead New York City Public Schools arrives at a moment of unusual clarity — when the nation’s largest school district must decide whether it will retreat into old habits or move courageously toward a more equitable future.

Mr. Samuels is a seasoned New York City educator and systems leader known for his deep commitment to equity, community partnership, and school transformation. A former teacher, principal, and district executive, he has spent more than two decades working to redesign schools for multilingual learners, students of color, and historically vulnerable communities. He is widely respected for his instructional expertise, his courage in tackling systemic inequities, and his ability to build trust across diverse stakeholders. As Chancellor of NYC Schools, he brings both the lived experience and visionary leadership needed to steer the nation’s largest school system toward a more just and dignifying future for all children.

However, to be sure, the job will not be easy. Chancellor Samuels inherits a system of exceptional potential, yet one deeply constrained by outdated structures that distribute privilege with startling precision. For that reason, many educators, community leaders, scholars, and advocates greet his tenure with sober enthusiasm. Many advocates see him not merely as an administrator but as a possibility because New York City doesn’t have one school system; it has two, one for the privileged few and another for everyone else. 

The data behind this moment is undeniable. Analyses across multiple years reveal that only one-sixth of New York City students attend schools that meet the full requirements of a world-class education. The remaining five-sixths, through no fault of their own, are systemically denied access to the same opportunities. This pattern is neither accidental nor new. It is the product of long-standing segregation, concentrated poverty, opportunity monopolies, and policy decisions that have codified advantage in some neighborhoods while normalizing scarcity in others.

This divide is not a matter of opinion; it shows up in every statistic the district collects.

  • Black and Latino students get shut out of specialized programs.
  • High-poverty schools offer fewer advanced courses and enrichment opportunities.
  • Immigrant students struggle not because of language gaps but because of policy gaps.
  • Students with dis/abilities wait months or years for legally mandated services.

And underneath it all sits the same stubborn problem: segregation — segregation by race, segregation by income, segregation by zip code, segregation by access to privilege, including language, housing, faith, and ability.

This segregation is the engine driving every disparity we wring our hands about in NYC education. If we’re serious about change, this is where the real work must be — not in punitive policies that blame children or families, not in recycling tired debates about “rigor” or “merit,” but in confronting the systems that have produced and maintained inequality for decades.

The challenge before the new chancellor is not simply administrative. It is philosophical. As Sylvia Wynter reminds us, human systems fail when they cling to a narrow definition of who counts and who does not. New York’s challenge is precisely that: a system designed for the few now strains to serve the many.

This is evident in the debate around gifted and talented programs. The question is not whether New York has too few such programs but whether we have failed to see allchildren as gifted in their own ways. A modern school system — one that aligns with both research and democratic ideals — must be able to accelerate every child, not merely identify a select few for acceleration.

Imagine a system built on a logic pluralism: one that recognizes each child’s “consent not to be singular,” one that sees brilliance as ubiquitous, not scarce. In such a system, gifted education becomes a universal baseline rather than an exclusionary label. This challenge is not about who gets into gifted education, but about whether we can build a system that recognizes every child as gifted. One that designs learning environments that honor, cultivate, and accelerate the brilliance each young person carries.

We now have the opportunity to create that better system — not by marginal adjustments, but by redesigning the model altogether. As Buckminster Fuller famously urged: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old one obsolete.”

We need that new model now. Our children deserve nothing less.

David E. Kirkland, PhD, is founder and CEO of forwardED, a former professor of urban education at NYU, and a past member of New York City’s School Diversity Advisory Group. He can be reached at: david@forward-ed.com.