Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stood at Central Park’s Charles A. Dana Discovery Center on Wednesday afternoon, hours before his midnight inauguration, and announced the appointment that working mothers across New York City had been waiting for.
Kamar Samuels, the Manhattan superintendent known for championing school integration and equity, will lead the city’s public school system as its next chancellor, Mamdani confirmed. But it was another name announced alongside Samuels that may prove equally consequential for professional women: Emmy Liss as executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Child Care.
The dual appointments signal that the incoming administration understands what advocates have been saying for years—that education policy and childcare access are not separate issues but intertwined challenges that determine whether hundreds of thousands of working mothers can sustain their careers in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
“A great city is measured by how well it takes care of its children,” Samuels said at the announcement, “and a great school system starts with leadership that knows the work from inside out.”
A Shift Born From Pragmatism
Perhaps the most notable moment of Wednesday’s announcement came when Mamdani revised one of his signature campaign positions: ending mayoral control of the school system.
After months of criticism that the current governance structure concentrates too much power in City Hall, Mamdani acknowledged he would ask the state legislature to continue mayoral control when it comes up for renewal in June. The shift reflects a willingness to adapt when confronted with new information—a pragmatism that working mothers navigating complex systems might appreciate.
“I will be asking the Legislature for a continuation of mayoral control, and I will also be committed, with my incoming schools chancellor, to ensure the control we preside over isn’t the one we see today,” Mamdani said.
He promised a reformed version that gives parents—primarily mothers, who typically shoulder more school-related responsibilities—greater influence in decisions. Mamdani pledged to restructure parent meetings so they don’t conflict with work schedules and to make community involvement “tangible and actionable” rather than ceremonial.
For professional women who have long struggled to attend weekday afternoon meetings that assume one parent doesn’t work, this could represent meaningful change—if implemented.
The Women Running the System
While media coverage of Samuels’ appointment has focused on his classroom experience and integration work, less attention has been paid to the women who actually run much of the city’s education bureaucracy—a workforce story that matters enormously to professional women across the city.
The current DOE leadership team is dominated by women in senior roles overseeing massive portfolios:
Kenita Lloyd, Chief of Staff, previously led Family and Community Engagement, rebranding the Department of Education to “New York City Public Schools” and creating the system’s first interfaith advisory council.
Isabel DiMola, Acting First Deputy Chancellor, oversees District Planning, Enrollment, Policy & Evaluation, and Student Pathways—a lifelong New Yorker who rose from social studies teacher to leading critical strategic functions.
Dr. Danika Rux, Deputy Chancellor of School Leadership, leads 44 community and high school superintendents, overseeing NYC Reads (in over 800 schools) and NYC Solves (in nearly 600 schools).
Christina Foti, Deputy Chancellor of the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning, oversees special education for over 270,000 students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and District 75.
Simone C. Hawkins, Deputy Chancellor of Early Childhood Education, oversees birth-to-5 education including 3-K and Pre-K—the programs working mothers depend on. She previously managed over $6 billion in education funding at the Office of Management and Budget.
Dr. Cristina Meléndez, Deputy Chancellor of Family, Community, and Student Empowerment, leads NYC’s largest family-facing literacy campaign and Family Connectors, connecting families with critical supports.
Seritta Scott, Chief Financial Officer, oversees the DOE’s $41 billion budget—a proud NYC public schools graduate with degrees from CUNY colleges who brings deep expertise in education policy and fiscal planning.
Liz Vladek, General Counsel, leads the legal team advising NYCPS on constitutional law, civil rights, special education, labor, and compliance.
These eight women represent some of the most powerful operational roles in city government, overseeing everything from budget to legal affairs to student services. Their work directly impacts whether working mothers can access quality schools, affordable childcare, and flexible scheduling.
Beyond the executive level, thousands of women work in the DOE’s central and administrative offices—budget analysts, HR directors, operations managers, and policy specialists. Women comprise 76.6% of NYC’s teacher workforce, making education one of the city’s largest professional sectors dominated by women.
When Samuels commits to hiring teachers “especially special education, bilingual education, math and science,” he’s describing what could become thousands of job opportunities for professional women.
The Childcare Calculus
The economics of Samuels’ appointment are stark. According to NYC data, nearly 375,000 parents left or reduced their jobs during COVID-19 due to lack of childcare access, with mothers potentially losing up to $145,000 in foregone earnings across their lifetimes when leaving the workforce to care for children.
Research from the city comptroller’s office shows that free universal childcare could increase labor income by nearly $900 million through higher labor force participation and increased work hours among mothers.
Emmy Liss’s appointment to lead childcare policy, announced at the same event as Samuels’ selection, suggests the Mamdani administration may be serious about addressing this crisis. What remains unclear is the timeline and funding mechanism.
Samuels committed Wednesday to fully funding public schools and addressing the crisis affecting 150,000 homeless students—many of whom live in families headed by single mothers. But he offered no specifics on budget priorities or implementation plans.
What Comes Next
Samuels begins work immediately, with classes resuming Monday, January 6, after the winter break. He inherits a $41 billion budget, more than 135,000 employees, and declining enrollment that has shrunk by roughly 100,000 students since 2020.
The challenges are considerable: hiring thousands of teachers to meet class size mandates, potential school mergers or closures, addressing persistent achievement gaps, and implementing governance changes while maintaining system stability.
For working women, several early indicators will reveal whether this administration’s promises translate to policy:
Universal pre-K expansion. Will the city commit funding to expand access, particularly for working families who need full-day programs?
Meeting accessibility. Will parent-teacher conferences and community meetings actually shift to times when working parents can attend?
Teacher recruitment. Will new hiring initiatives create pathways for women seeking to enter or re-enter the workforce?
School schedules. Will changes to the school calendar or extended day programs better accommodate working families?
Mamdani also announced Wednesday that Julia Kerson will serve as deputy mayor for operations, Louise Yeung as chief climate officer, and Ahmed Tigani as buildings commissioner—rounding out his senior team just hours before taking office.
A Test of Promises
Samuels brings 20 years of NYC education experience, starting as an elementary school teacher in the Bronx after earning an accounting degree from Baruch College. His work on school integration in Brooklyn’s District 13, where he implemented admissions preferences for low-income families and students in temporary housing, suggests a commitment to equity that could benefit families across income levels.
Whether that commitment extends to the structural changes working mothers need—accessible childcare, flexible school schedules, meaningful parent input—remains to be seen.
Samuels concluded his remarks Wednesday with a vision: “Together, we will make sure that every classroom in New York City is a place where learning is happening and is joyful and teachers are supported, and students can imagine a future that is as big as this city itself.”
For the city’s working mothers managing careers while navigating astronomical living costs, that future depends on whether education policy finally recognizes that school policy is economic policy—and acts accordingly.
The next 30 days will provide the first indication of whether this administration delivers systemic change or simply offers another round of well-intentioned promises that fail to materialize.
Classes resume in five days. The clock is ticking.
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