New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says fixing the city's public schools is urgent. But he has not named a plan to reduce school segregation, Chalkbeat reports. He spoke on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. Nine months into his term, Chalkbeat reports, Mamdani has offered few plans for the nation's largest school system. He did not say when a plan would come out.
His words answered a public challenge. The day before, on Monday, September 28, New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones asked how he would reduce the racial and economic isolation of students, Chalkbeat reports. Her challenge followed her New York Times Magazine essay. The essay described the harm her daughter, Najya, faced in segregated schools.
Mamdani called the essay "a devastating piece." He said it showed "the systemic nature of the way that the public school system in our city failed her child," according to Chalkbeat. He said Black and brown students "are not being adequately served." He also said, "Every school should be the right school." Mamdani called it the most segregated school system in the United States, Yahoo News reports.
Mamdani called the problem urgent. But the main step he named moves slowly. He said his team will lean on local working groups to find solutions, Chalkbeat reports. So far, five of the city's 32 local superintendents have started such groups. Each district is expected to have one within three years, Chalkbeat reports. Yahoo News reports that the schools chancellor, Kamar Samuels, has set a goal of expanding the groups citywide by 2028. The dossier does not explain how the "within three years" timeline and the 2028 goal fit together. So it is not clear they mean the same deadline.
In an interview with Chalkbeat, Hannah-Jones said she was glad the mayor promised to release a plan. She was also encouraged that Samuels had worked to promote integration as a local superintendent, Chalkbeat reports. Still, she said momentum on the issue had "gone completely dormant" since the pandemic. She warned that leaning on task forces can be a way to avoid action. "I also know, having studied this issue for a very long time, that working groups can also be a way of studying an issue perpetually or in perpetuity," she said. She said the mayor would need to show leadership and state clearly what he expects.
During his campaign, Chalkbeat reports, Mamdani backed some ideas to address segregation. These included rethinking gifted programs and looking at possible bias in the specialized high school admissions test.