A Calm Move in a High-Stakes Game

Swastikas scrawled on walls. Keffiyehs draped over teachers’ chairs. Biased and harmful lessons being taught. Students feeling unseen and unsafe. This is the reality in many New York City public schools today, even as parents are asked to trust calm messaging from leadership. Anxiety is high, and reassurance has become the system’s default, but hope without accountability can be dangerous.

Kamar Samuels’ appointment as NYCPS Chancellor feels like a strategic chess move. His experience and steady presence offer families a sense of stability when trust in the system is fragile. Relief is understandable, but hope alone is not enough. Calm leadership can stabilize the board, but could it also mask unresolved harms?

Under a DSA-aligned administration, might education policy increasingly intersect with ideology? Samuels is being highlighted through official NYC Public Schools social media, often with images and reflections that make him seem approachable. But is this visibility purely about communication, or could it also shape perception?

Could presenting the Chancellor as calm and relatable quietly reduce pushback as activist curricula, classroom ideological shifts, and broader reforms are introduced? Could careful optics make these major changes feel incremental or harmless, even as they influence what students learn and how history and current events are framed?

I write from experience. As a former NYCPS educator, co-founder of the NYC Public Schools Alliance, and Educational Coordinator of the Gevura Fund, I have supported teachers, parents, and students navigating incidents that went unaddressed, including antisemitism and harassment. Harm persists not because of bad intentions alone, but because systems fail to act with clarity, urgency, and transparency.

District 3, Samuels’ former district, illustrates why vigilance matters. At M.S. 54, parents reported repeated antisemitic incidents. Communication was slow. Explanations were vague. Follow-up was uncertain. After October 7, Jewish families described lessons framed almost entirely through oversimplified oppressor-versus-oppressed narratives, with little recognition of Jewish identity or history. Students felt isolated as lessons shifted from education to political messaging. Administrators often responded cautiously rather than decisively.

These concerns are documented. A report by the Network Contagion Research Institute, in collaboration with the NYC Public Schools Alliance, details how activist-aligned curricula enter classrooms through teacher resources, lesson plans, and professional development. The report does not oppose teaching complex topics. It warns that without oversight, activism can eclipse balanced education.

We have already emailed the Chancellor detailing serious issues across the city’s schools. He has yet to respond. I hope this is not a sign that these problems, and the normalization of hate will continue to grow.

Parents and educators cannot step back. Radicalized narratives are spreading through curricula, activist lesson plans, and social media driven educator networks, and education without transparency becomes indoctrination, not inquiry. The path forward requires hope, vigilance, and shared responsibility to keep classrooms places of learning rather than ideological battlegrounds. Parents cannot remain passive. They must ask to see curricula, attend school and district meetings, document incidents, and demand written follow up. They should connect with other families to ensure no child is isolated or silenced. Engagement, not withdrawal, is the only safeguard against institutional inertia. Our children deserve nothing less. If you need assistance navigating bias or hate in the school system, please reach out to me.

The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the organizations with which I work.