On October 13, 2024, Mayor Eric Adams hosted the “Hear From the Mayor” show on WBLS 107.5, featuring the new NYC Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. Highlighting Hispanic Heritage Month, the conversation explored Aviles-Ramos’s inspiring journey, her success in boosting graduation rates, and her vision for the future of NYC public schools. Mayor Adams and Aviles-Ramos emphasized initiatives like job readiness programs, meditation, and addressing absenteeism, all aimed at fostering academic and emotional development for students.
Transcript: Mayor Adams Hosts “Hear From the Mayor” Radio Show
Gary Byrd: Time to wake up everybody. Well, each and every second Sunday of the month, WBLS is proud to welcome the 110th mayor of New York City, the second mayor of color, and the first hip-hop mayor in the city’s history. It’s time for us to hear from our mayor, Mayor Eric L. Adams on 107.5 WBLS. Mr. Mayor, good morning and welcome.
Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, brother, how are you? Good morning to you and your listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Hear from the Mayor. I’m your mayor, Eric Adams. If this is your first time tuning in, the purpose of this show is really to engage in a dialogue with everyday New Yorkers, and so feel free to reach out. The listeners can give me a call here directly from your mayor on what we are doing to build a better New York City.
You can sign up to hear more from me by visiting nyc.gov/hearfromeric. You can sign up on our website to text with Eric and talk with me on WhatsApp. But today, as we do the show, you can call in 2-1-2-5-4-5-1-0-7-5, 2-1-2-5-4-5-1-0-7-5, and I’m really excited about today’s show.
As we move into Hispanic History Month, I want to introduce our audience to the incoming New York City Public Schools Chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos. She’s cycling in handpicked by the prior chancellor, Chancellor David Banks. She is going to just continue some of the good stuff we’re doing, but I want to be clear that Melissa is not new to this. She’s true to this. She has seen firsthand our public school system through nearly every lens, teacher, principal, deputy chancellor, chancellor, and perhaps what I like to say the most important role you can have.
She’s a parent of a public school student, so she’s deeply invested, and Melissa is bringing her full self to this role and has a proven track record behind her. What impressed me the most is this: In her first year as principal, she increased her project graduation rate from 23, the projected graduation rate from 23 percent to 68 percent by the end of the school year, and what did she do for [an] encore? In her second year, she increased it again from 68 percent to 83 percent with approximately 71 percent of English language learner students being deemed as college ready.
Did you hear that number? 71 percent of English language learner students deemed as college ready, and so folks, that is what getting stuff done looks like, and I just really want to welcome a really is a dynamic person. Melissa, congratulations. I know it’s exciting as we move to Hispanic History Month, and you are a proud daughter of a Puerto Rican single mom. How did your mother and upbringing inspire you to become an educator today, and why don’t you give us some background growing up in the BX, right? Love it.
Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos: That’s right, sir. Thank you for having me. I did grow up in the Bronx, single mom, Puerto Rican, first generation. She was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. She was, my mom has a very interesting story. She actually met her husband on her wedding day when she was nearly 15 years old, and the purpose of that arrangement was so that way she could escape a very violent, domestic violence and abusive situation at home.
My grandmother had four other children, and she figured let’s get the eldest out of the house, and maybe she’ll have a better life by marrying someone who’s 10 years her senior. So by the time she was 18 years old, she found herself a wife and a mother of two small children, and so having been yanked out of school in the ninth grade, my mother always longed for an education, and she was an avid reader and writer. She was also a really gifted artist, and so when it came time to educate her children, she turned to the New York City public school system.
Unfortunately, my brother and sister didn’t do so well. Public schools in the Bronx in the 80s are not what they are today, and they both ended up dropping out and getting GEDs. They went on to do amazing things, but school was not the bridge between home and a new life. So when it came time for me to go to school, she put me in Catholic school. She worked my tuition off in the Catholic school. She went to the principal, and she was like, look, I don’t have an education. I don’t know much, but I’ll do whatever you want me to do so that way my daughter can come here, and so that set the stage for me, right? Like, I saw how important it was for my mother to invest in my education, and what I say to the community is people should be able to make all the choices they want about their children’s education, but it shouldn’t be because the schools in our neighborhood, the public schools, are not an option, and that’s where my commitment started.
Mayor Adams: So I know that inspires you when you look at what your daughter is doing now in public school, and you came up through the system, you know, for the different roles that you had that really prepared you for this moment. How did it prepare you for this moment?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: I’ve been honored to be a teacher since 2007. I still consider myself a teacher. To me, a teacher is a facilitator of learning, and so having been a teacher at Harry S. Truman High School and working with different populations of students from new arrivals to English language learners and students with IEPs and different parents, it was a really great learning experience, which then taught me what’s most important, which is really connecting with families and making sure that they and their children are at the center of everything that we do. So that was excellent preparation for me for this role because that’s what continues to center me.
Mayor Adams: And you turned around schools. I mean, to have graduation rates go from the levels that they were to you moving into 83 percent graduation rate from 23 percent, that is a lot. And what was it? What was your style? What did you see to make that transformation?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: Always a collaborative leader. I believe when you are a leader, you are of service to others. And so for me, it was working with my team and identifying the different strengths and weaknesses that we all had and putting a plan together that really took into account everyone’s strengths and growth areas so that way we could get together and make these moves very quickly.
I mean, when I got there, we found out that only about 14 students were on track to graduate, and the worst part of it is that up to 40 students thought that they were on track, but they were programming issues. So I had to tell parents, sorry, I know you thought your kids might graduate at the end of this year or that they would graduate, but the likelihood is that they will not. And so the team very quickly had to work together. But this was a place where you had to leave egos aside. This wasn’t about me walking in and saying, I’m the principal, I know best. You know, we had to all work together and figure out how we were going to get as many kids to graduation at that point.
Mayor Adams: And so now you are no longer in charge of just one school, you’re in charge of all the schools. What’s the vision? How do we look? Are we starting from new or are we continuing? How do you see being at the helm and what’s the future?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: I’m uniquely privileged, sir. Having worked with you and Chancellor Banks over the last two and a half years, we’ve done some amazing things together from the pathways work to early childhood, New York City Reads, supporting our newcomers of Project Open Arms. Those great things will continue. There’s no need for them to not continue. And I’ve said to many people, who doesn’t want kids to read and write? Who doesn’t want kids to have bright starts and bold futures? That work will remain. What I think is most important is for us to, in addition to those things, double down on families and kids. How do we continue to strengthen our community and make sure that children are safe and with an overall sense of wellness?
Mayor Adams: No, well said. And it’s about developing the full personhood of a child. And what I like about what Chancellor Banks and you as one of his partners, what you were able to accomplish is that it’s more than our children being academically smart. They have to be emotionally intelligent. They have to be prepared for the future.
What you’re doing around teaching them meditation, breathing exercise, financial literacy, how you and the chancellor lean into children with disabilities and dyslexia screening. You’ve gone beyond just a traditional method of dealing with children. And one thing that interests me is also how you talk about absenteeism. You want to focus on that. Can you share more with the audience?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: Absolutely. Schools are well-equipped to monitor attendance. They make calls, they have attendance teachers, they have school counselors and social workers who help. But what we really need to do is connect with our families and really figure out what are the barriers that are keeping kids from coming to school. Everybody wants their kids to come to school, but sometimes there are barriers. And I know this firsthand, right? Sometimes we didn’t know where our meals were going to come from. I didn’t have a coat at one point. The community helped us get coats and food. And so we need to figure out what those barriers are and work family to family and help families bring the kids to school. I always say when I was a teacher, I was not a mother. When I was a principal, I was the mother of an infant toddler. And now in these current roles, I’m the mother of a school-age child in New York City Public Schools. So I know a lot more about what that looks like.
Mayor Adams: And what has been amazing is how the DOE has, the New York City Public Schools, I should say, have also focused on job readiness. And I assume you want to continue that because it’s about when you finish school, what are we preparing you for? And talk about some of the job readiness ideas.
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: We’re so proud of the Future Ready work. We already have so many students in over 100 schools who are already connected to careers and starting that while they’re in high school. Over $8 million was put into students’ pockets already. This is very important for us because what we don’t want is for our children to go to school and not have a plan after.
I was very lucky. I saw all the advertisements for New York City Teaching Fellows as I was riding the train from some random job that I had, and I was able to become a teacher. But how do we also equip our students to understand the myriad of careers that are out there so that way they can be creative and find a place that meets their passions and their interests?
Mayor Adams: And that is when I talk about the development and the full personhood of children, we understand that these children are facing so many challenges. And one of the things I heard when we had our youth town hall is dealing with mental health. What are some of the focus that you would look at to deal with the mental health of our children, particularly coming out of COVID?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: Absolutely. Well, thanks to all the work that we’ve done under your administration and funding from City Council, every school has access to a mental health clinic or a social worker, which is huge. When I was a principal, I couldn’t afford a social worker. I used to have to share a social worker with another principal on the campus who was kind enough to share resources with me.
Nobody should be in a position to do that. And this administration, again, thanks to you and your leadership and funding from City Council, we’ve been able to accomplish that. And so, again, I want to double down on that. How do we reallocate our resources to make sure that children have access to mental health support?
Because we talk so much about the end product, the manifestation. So if there’s some sort of a fight or violence or attendance issue, many times that is a symptom of a mental health issue. If it’s not a barrier that’s keeping families from sending students to school, sometimes it’s a student suffering from mental health themselves, right, from a mental health issue. How do we support them?
Mayor Adams: So true. And I often talk about it, the fact that by the time a child reaches a classroom, they have gone through so many different issues. And if it was only about teaching children one and one equals two, anyone could do that. But by the time that child is getting there, they may be dealing with housing insecurity. They may be dealing with issues around food insecurity, domestic violence, all of those things that children bring into that classroom.
And that’s why it’s such a commendable job to be an educator, particularly [in] economically challenging communities. It takes a special person to be an educator. And growing up in the Bronx, you know that many of our children are dealing with so many barriers. And by the time they get in that classroom, the need is so high. Being able to identify, how does a teacher identify that little Johnny or little Jose, something is going on with him? What is that skill?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: That’s a great question, sir. And so a couple of things. One is that sometimes the student who makes the most noise is the student that needs the most attention. And teachers typically see that as a flag. And so if Melissa is running all over the place and she’s purposely trying to find some trouble, they’re going to pay attention to Melissa.
But sometimes Michael may retreat to a corner and he’ll show up with a hood over his head and sit in a corner and he won’t want to talk to anyone. And he just distances himself. And too often we leave those students alone. And that’s where the danger comes in because that’s also a cry for help. So we also need to support our teachers because our teachers are doing a lot of things every single day. But we help them identify that sometimes the noisiest students who are crying for help, yes, they need it. But sometimes the ones who don’t cry for help are still sending those signals.
Mayor Adams: You know, we hear this talk about all the time, ai, ai, ai. You know, instead of being afraid of it, you know, I know the Chancellor and yourself, you’ve been leaning into artificial intelligence. What does that look like for us in the future so that our children are ready to fill these jobs?
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: Absolutely. And when we first started talking about about ai not too long ago, a lot of people were saying we can’t have this. Kids will be cheating and this isn’t the way. And what we said is we’re going to create an inequity if we have that mindset, because other school systems are embracing it. So if our Black and brown students are not at the table to really learn how to use ai, then we are bridging. We are not going to bridge a gap. We’re going to create a gap.
Mayor Adams: No, so true. Speaking of gaps, that’s the music that’s telling us we have a gap in the program. So we’re going to take a break and we’re going to come back and hear directly from you, New Yorkers. So feel free to pick up your phones, call in as you communicate with us on today’s show. Again, the number to call in is 2-1-2-5-4-5-1-0-7-5. We see you on the other side of the break.
Byrd: It’s hear from the mayor. Good morning to you all. And the mayor wants to hear from you. 2-1-2-5-4-5-1-0-7-5. Here’s our mayor, Eric Adams.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much, Gary. And really excited to hear from our incoming chancellor. Melissa has really shared some of her vision and you’re going to be seeing a lot of her. So this is not the first time. But why don’t we go to our callers right now? 2-1-2-5-4-5-1-0-7-5. Let’s hear from our callers if they’re on the air.
Question: Hi. Good morning.
Mayor Adams: Good morning. How are you? You’re in the air.
Question: Mayor Adams, good morning. I thought I was going to be free. Good morning, everyone. Good morning to you. From Jamaica, Queens calling you.
Mayor Adams: Oh, you need to stop. South side is always outside.
Question: Hey, good morning. Thank you always for your time on with us weekly on the radio. And giving I’m calling because I’m requesting a town hall for us for New York City. We’re all concerned. Many of us are concerned of the investigations going on. And I am all my prayers are with you to prevail. And we I really think we New Yorkers, taxpayers, consumers and voters, we need a town hall.
That’s why the FBI continues to be here and overreaching overstepping their their authority and really dismantling our our administration that we taxpayers, consumers and voters are the ones paying for responsible and can hold accountable for it. So I’m requesting a town hall, please, Mr. Mayor. And good luck with all with everything.
Mayor Adams: Thank you so much. And you know, you must be you must have ESP because we are doing a town hall in South Jamaica, Queens. I think that’s our next town hall. We’ve done over 31 town halls because we we like to speak directly to the voters. And it is so tempting for me to go into the full details of my perspective of this investigation in federal action.
But, you know, the lawyers say, Eric, I need you to have discipline. This is going to be fight for in the courtroom. What you must do is continue to run the city. And since this investigation became known to us, we continue to move the city forward. The numbers are clear. Everything from our economy to housing, to educating our children, to building our infrastructure, to driving down crime. We have not missed a beat.
And so when people say, Eric, well, you seem distracted. I said, well, tell me, where’s the distraction? Because this success has been overwhelming with this administration has been doing. But we are coming to South Jamaica, Queens. I spoke with the team last week to hold the town hall. And I look forward to you becoming aware of it and being part of the audience. Next caller, you’re in the air.
Question: Oh, hi, mayor. How are you?
Mayor Adams: Quite well. And yourself?
Question: Okay. I’m in the area. I live in Laurelton, and we’re going to be covered by the new precinct, 116. I don’t know if it’s official or not. But anyway, what I would like to see, if the pre, when the precinct opens, that the community affairs officer, I think that office should be expanded. I don’t think covering the, you know, the three areas of Rosedale, Laurelton, and Springfield Gardens. I think they would be more helpful to the captains. So do you have any ideas how that office can be expanded for the eyes and ears of the community? And I’ll hang up and listen.
Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. And you know, just I always love when we get a of public safety community interest questions, such as what you just offered. That new precinct is going to be a real additive to the public safety in the community. And we will find out, let me check on exactly what the community affairs and what the span of their outreach, but they partnered with neighboring precincts also. Commissioner Stewart has done an amazing job of dealing with the whole issue around making sure our community affairs are proactive. He’s teaching children golf. He’s teaching them how to fly planes, how to get their real estate license. He goes after those young people who have young children to give them the early supplies they need when they have a newborn.
So he has changed the face of community affairs. We’re going to continue to do that. And so let me find out those precincts that are involved, but I look forward to that precinct doing what I believe, making sure that public safety is a community law enforcement partnership. So let me look into that. But I see today is Queen’s day, Laurelton, South Jamaica, I guess Cambridge Heights is next, you know, but we’re looking to that for you.
That sounds like my music that’s coming on, you know, great being on the air with you. And we look forward to being on next month. So much to do. But as we say in our administration, let’s stay focused, not be distracted and grind. And that’s the message that incoming chancellor is sharing with all of us. Melissa, we wish you well. Good luck to you with a million school children. We know that you’re going to bring the fullness of your entire life experience to this job. Congratulations to you.
Chancellor Aviles-Ramos: Thank you, sir.
Byrd: We are giving thanks this morning for our monthly broadcast with Mayor Eric Adams here from the mayor, the second Sunday of each and every month.
October 13, 2024 Manhattan New York
Sources: NYC.gov, Midtown Tribune
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