Photo credit: NYC Public Schools Graphic by: Genesis Malave
Fred Walsh is the Superintendent for AMS, district 9, and other schools throughout the boroughs. On Thursday April 3rd, 2025, he came to AMS. During his visit, he was asked questions by six students: Bangaly Tawredou (11th grade), Houlematou Karaga (11th grade), Angelly Lopez (6th grade), Esthiven Rosario (6th grade), Omar Felix (6th grade), and myself. Superintendent Fred Walsh’s job is to make sure that the students and staff of AMS are safe and feel safe. He also wants to make sure that students feel joy and challenge when they come to school. Superintendent Walsh wants students to feel like they want to come to school.
When asked how he plans to address the literacy concerns of our school, Superintendent Walsh talks about the program called STAR reading where the students take a short exam that assesses their literacy level and identifies what they need to work on. Once your literacy level is reviewed, you are then put into a class where you work with a teacher to help you with your literacy skills. He said, “It feels like you’re in a special reading class. Oh, well, who cares? But then a teacher is actually working a little more closely with you and saying, Let’s read this sentence. Let’s break down this word. Let’s understand this word. That’s more important that you’re doing that than talking about your feelings,” he said, meaning he believes that advisory is less important than literacy class.
When asked about the DOGE cuts to the DOE, the Superintendent merely said, “New York City Public Schools will not be shut down.” When asked what he thinks about school uniforms, superintendent Walsh answers that he is pro- uniform because it cuts time for getting dressed and students can still express themselves through other things like hair and jewelry or even nails. He then said “I also feel very strongly about cell phones. I would not have gotten through high school if I had one of these in class. No way. I had enough distraction. You know what I mean? I wouldn’t have done any work.”
When asked what he thinks AMS is doing well, Superintendent Walsh said, “You’re a 6-12, so a lot of kids come all the way up. So they’re here for seven years. And so they feel like this is part of their home a little bit. You’ve known each other for a lot of time. I think the teachers are caring people. They really do care about every student.”