The nation’s largest school district has a new leader. On Wednesday, Melissa Aviles-Ramos takes the reins from David Banks, who served as chancellor of the New York City Public Schools since the start of Mayor Adams’ administration. Aviles-Ramos is not yet a household name, but in local education circles, the former deputy chancellor is well known as a veteran of the public school system with deep ties to the Bronx and immigrant communities. Here’s what you need to know about the leadership transition and new schools head: Wasn’t Banks staying until the end of 2024? Ensnared in a federal corruption investigation, Banks announced last month he planned to retire by the end of the calendar year. He promised a smooth leadership transition, with Aviles-Ramos joining him for the remainder of his engagements — until Adams unexpectedly pushed him out 2.5 months early. Aviles-Ramos has acknowledged the accelerated timeline, but insisted she’s up for the challenge. “I really want to just talk about the obvious, which is the transition,” Aviles-Ramos told a parent advisory council to the chancellor on Thursday. “I know that it was supposed to be much later, and I know that the new date makes folks just a little bit concerned. ‘This is so quick. Oh, my goodness, is everything going to be OK?’ Yes, everything is going to be fine.” A family trailblazer Aviles-Ramos was born and raised in Soundview, the Bronx, to a single mom from Puerto Rico. She was the highest-ranking Latina and Spanish-speaking leader in the public school system before her latest promotion. The incoming chancellor was the first in her family to graduate from high school, after her mother, then 15, left school and married to escape domestic violence, Aviles-Ramos said Sunday on 107.5 WBLS. She graduated from a Catholic school, where her mom worked off her tuition. “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,” she said on the show with Adams. Aviles-Ramos attended college at Fordham University and holds a master’s degree from City College, part of the City University of New York system. After seeing an advertisement for the city’s teaching fellows program on the train, she rose through the ranks as an educator in the Bronx. She started her career as an English teacher at Truman High School in 2007, before becoming the principal of Schuylerville Preparatory High School. “Melissa is a dedicated educator and a consummate professional,” said Michael Barakat, the principal of Bronx High School for Law & Community Service, who met Aviles-Ramos nearly two decades ago when they were both teachers at Truman. “She is a staunch advocate for all students, particularly English Language Learners.” Newly appointed Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos is pictured during a press conference at the Bronx School of Law, Government and Justice on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News) She was promoted to deputy and acting superintendent in the Bronx, leading some of the principals she worked alongside in the borough. “I respect her work so much,” said Asya Johnson, the former principal of Longwood Preparatory Academy starting a HBCU-focused high school — who was a school leader with, then under Aviles-Ramos. “I’m incredibly proud of the work that we’ve done in the Bronx. She is definitely a game-changer, and so I’m really excited about seeing what she’s going to bring to the city and our children.” A departure, and a return Aviles-Ramos left the Bronx at the start of the Adams administration for a role in the office of the first deputy chancellor, where she was the senior executive director of program implementation. She worked closely there with, Dan Weisberg who both Adams and Banks would later credit with recommending Aviles-Ramos for the top post. Before then, Aviles-Ramos worked as chief of staff to Banks, where she lead Project Open Arms, the public school system’s response to a growing number of school-aged children immigrating to New York amid the massive influx of migrants, many from the southern border. Two sources told the Daily News she was unhappy in the role and departed for a vice president gig at Monroe College. But Aviles-Ramos returned over the summer as deputy chancellor for family and community engagement and external affairs, which she said she approached from the perspective of a parent. “My experience of family engagement very much changed once I had a school-aged child myself in the system,” she said. “As a working mom, there were times when I couldn’t engage as much as I wanted to. … That experience really taught me that we need to think very much outside of the box when we talk about family engagement.” Mayor Eric Adams, right, addresses newly-appointed Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, left, during a press conference at the Bronx School of Law, Government and Justice on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News) Will an abrupt transition hurt kids? The changeover comes just over a month into the current school year, which got underway on Sept. 5 with an citywide expansion of Banks’ signature reading curriculum overhaul, and a focus on workforce skills and certifications and a head start on college credits. Aviles-Ramos told parents both initiatives will continue, and “the team is not changing” during the transition, though her position is in the process of being backfilled. “I have lived through many transitions,” said Aviles-Ramos. “Sometimes they’re smooth, sometimes they’re awful. And as someone who has lived through so many, it is my commitment, particularly since the school year has already started, that we do nothing to hurt schools and districts. We are not going to disrupt their flow. We are not going to cause any chaos.”