N.Y.C. Schools Chancellor Seeks to Project Stability as Inquiries Swirl

David C. Banks, whose phone was seized during an investigation related to his brother, largely avoided discussing his current circumstances in his annual State of Our Schools speech.

As David C. Banks, the New York City schools chancellor, prepared to take the stage at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens on Tuesday to deliver his annual State of Our Schools address, a highlight reel from the last school year was projected onto a large screen.

In one scene, an elementary-school-aged girl said she had learned at school that it was important to listen to others. “We’re still all humans,” she said. “We’re still all trying to make it through life.”

That sentiment struck a chord with Chancellor Banks. A series of wide-ranging corruption investigations have enveloped City Hall in recent weeks, ensnaring many top members of Mayor Eric Adams’s administration, including the chancellor; his partner, Sheena Wright, the first deputy mayor; and his brother Philip B. Banks III, the deputy mayor for public safety.

So as he strode to the lectern, Chancellor Banks tried to project stability. But first, a little joke.

“My name is David Banks, and I’m just trying to make it through life,” he said, to laughs.

Ms. Wright looked on, seated next to Mr. Adams in a darkened area to the left of the stage. Neither made any public comments, but Chancellor Banks acknowledged them both.

“Thank you to Mayor Adams and all the other members from the administration who are here today,” Chancellor Banks said. “But certainly a big, big shout-out to my beloved, my sweetheart, the love of my life, the first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright.”

Ms. Wright and Chancellor Banks both had their phones seized this month as part of a bribery investigation into a consulting firm run by another Banks brother, Terence Banks.

At a news conference last week, Chancellor Banks insisted he had done nothing wrong.

“I am absolutely not a target in whatever this investigation is about,” he said at the news conference. “I have always lived my life with integrity, every day of my life. Anybody who knows me knows that.”

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As students were being dismissed at Public School 11 in Chelsea on Tuesday, many parents and caregivers said they were unaware of the investigations swirling around the Adams administration. But some expressed concern.

“If people like that can be corrupt, can you imagine what can happen?” said Gloria Zwick, whose grandson is a kindergartner at the school. “It’s education. It’s the life of our children.”

During his address, which ran almost an hour long, Chancellor Banks tried to focus on business as usual, detailing the public school system’s new artificial intelligence initiative and the opening of a school designed to prepare students to attend historically Black colleges and universities.

He acknowledged that many teachers had expressed wariness toward A.I. last year, as ChatGPT was becoming widely available and concerns were rising that it could be used to cheat.

But he said the school system would embrace the technology this year, using A.I. to assess students’ performance, identify areas where they are struggling and provide teachers with “daily” snapshots of each child’s progress in the classroom.

He said that A.I. could be used to “personalize learning,” by creating individualized plans for each student. He added that the technology could also be useful in the college application process, narrowing students’ choices and crowdsourcing the schools or programs for which they might be qualified.

“A.I. can revolutionize how we function as a school system,” Chancellor Banks said.

The new preparatory school is set to open next fall in southeast Queens, Chancellor Banks announced, calling it “the first of its kind in any metropolitan school district anywhere in the nation.”

Through a partnership with Delaware State University, a historically Black school, students who are still in high school will be able to earn their associate’s degrees for free, Chancellor Banks said.

The speech was well received by the crowd, who greeted the chancellor enthusiastically and cheered his vision for the school system. The investigation hanging over his head did not seem to dampen the atmosphere.

“I think people respect me, and I think there’s a genuine fondness across the system that I think you see reflected in that,” Chancellor Banks said at a news conference after the address. “I’m very open and transparent, not just with the press, but with our teachers and our staff.”

But he also acknowledged his current predicament.

“When life presents its greatest challenges to you, always go within yourself, and remember who you are, and stand strong,” he said during his speech.

To that end, as Chancellor Banks began to wrap up his address, he referenced the poem “Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley. He invoked Representative John Lewis and Nelson Mandela, both of whom were known to have recited it.

“It’s about resilience,” Chancellor Banks said later, at the news conference. “Everyone can relate to it, because everybody goes through something.”

Those gathered in the audience dutifully rose to join Chancellor Banks in reciting the poem. As he led them through a rousing rendition, he had them chant the last line twice:

“I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”