Mayor Mamdani stood by Chancellor Kamar Samuels on Wednesday as his schools chief is under investigation over a no-bid contract.
Samuels, who until January was a district superintendent in Manhattan, is facing a probe by the Special Commissioner of Investigation — an independent law enforcement agency that serves as a watchdog for the city’s public schools — related to a $180,000 agreement with a vendor to provide foreign language teachers in Upper West Side schools.
“I have appreciated the chancellor’s leadership of our school system,” Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference in Morningside Heights. “I’m proud of the way that he has been delivering for New York City public school students, as well as teachers and families, and I continue to be confident in his leadership.”
“I also take any SCI investigation seriously and will be sure to await the findings of it.”
Samuels acknowledged the allegations — which were first reported by the independent journalist Sue Edelman — during a City Council hearing earlier this week focused on the school system’s budget.
“I do regret the lapses in policy and procedures that took place when I was a superintendent in District 3,” Samuels said Monday. “The actions in question were undertaken in pursuit of educational opportunity for children, not for personal gain, and benefited no one other than children in the district.”
New York public schools face a shortage of full-time world language teachers. School District 3 entered into a contract with the Language Learning Network in 2023 to help fill teacher vacancies and meet students’ language needs.
SCI started looking into the contract early last year when it was revealed that one of the network’s contracted Spanish teachers, Ralph Franco, had previously been barred from working in the public schools, according to 2025 SCI findings reviewed by the Daily News.
Franco retired more than a decade ago after investigators found he “made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature” to a teenage student in Brooklyn. He was accused of lifting a 15-year-old boy’s shirt and calling him a “very cute Mexican.” Franco denied the allegations in a 2014 SCI report, also obtained by The News.
During surprise testimony at a separate City Council hearing on Wednesday, Sean Kreyling — the owner of Language Learning Network and the legal entity used to bill for its services, Kreyco — said he was not aware of the settlement when he placed Franco on the Upper West Side and has since terminated the disgraced teacher.
“I was in disbelief, because I needed to understand: Well, how did this get through the cracks? Was this person not reported to the authorities?” Kreyling said.
As SCI reviewed District 3’s agreement with the network, investigators found a bill-splitting scheme in which Mariela Graham, Samuels’ deputy at the time, improperly entered into a contract with Kreyling to circumvent thresholds for competitive bidding and the standard procurement process. Some purchase orders were issued to Kreyco, while others were made to Reimagine Education Group, another entity owned by Kreyling.
Kreyling’s companies are not pre-approved vendors by the Department of Education. The vendor testified that Samuels signed off on the scheme.
“When they found out that we are not an approved vendor, they shared with us, ‘Well, there’s this other way that we can bill. You have another organization, and you could bill from both of these organizations, so that you don’t go over $25,000,’” Kreyling said, adding that this method was framed as “business as usual.”
Councilman Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx), who chairs the City Council’s Education Committee, called the investigation “deeply troubling” and said the episode has raised questions more broadly about lapses of oversight in the procurement process.
“It speaks to the need for procurement or contract reform,” he said.
In its 2025 recommendations, SCI said Graham should be terminated, but did not look into her boss, Samuels, who had reportedly signed an earlier contract before his deputy authorized a renewal. Graham still works for the public schools and was promoted earlier this year, according to a source with knowledge of her employment.
Investigators also recommended the public schools terminate all contracts with Kreyling and any entity associated with him. Samuels notified Kreyling in March 2025 that he was terminating the agreement with the Learning Language Network, according to emails Kreyling provided to investigators in recent days and shared with The News.
SCI said it would respond to the fresh accusations.
“SCI is aware of these new allegations, and will handle them accordingly,” Anna Correa, an SCI spokeswoman, said. “We have, once again, requested that Mr. Kreyling provide SCI with any and all documentation related to his new allegations, and we stand by the findings in our previous investigation.”