Mayor Adams’s Longtime Girlfriend Retires From Highly Paid Schools Job

Tracey Collins, a high-ranking Department of Education adviser, stepped down amid allegations that her position was a “no-show” job.

Tracey Collins, a senior member of the New York City Department of Education staff and Mayor Eric Adams’s longtime girlfriend, retired this week amid an investigation into a claim that her highly paid position was a “no-show” job.

Ms. Collins retired on Monday and her last day of work was Nov. 1, according to the department. The Daily News reported that city officials were investigating the claim that Ms. Collins’s job consisted of a light schedule with only virtual meetings. Nathaniel Styer, a department spokesman, confirmed that there was an investigation.

Ms. Collins earned $279,684 in the role, according to See Through NY, a database of information about New York government salaries. Her retirement is the latest in a series of departures among high-ranking city officials against the backdrop of a wide-ranging corruption scandal that led to the indictment of Mr. Adams on bribery and other charges.

“Ms. Collins served public school students for over 30 years as a teacher, principal and administrator, and we wish her the best in her retirement,” Mr. Styer said in a statement.

Ms. Collins could not immediately be reached for comment. The city’s Department of Investigation declined to comment on the inquiry related to her job.

Ms. Collins began her career as a teacher before serving as principal at several city public schools. She became an Education Department administrator around 2007. In July 2022, six months after Mr. Adams was sworn in as mayor, she was promoted to a senior adviser role to David C. Banks, the schools chancellor at the time. He retired last month.

The promotion touched off a backlash, because the role did not previously exist and raised Ms. Collins’s pay roughly 20 percent.

The Adams administration has strongly denied accusations of favoritism, including those surrounding the mayor’s hiring of Mr. Banks’s wife, Sheena Wright, as first deputy mayor. Ms Wright resigned after federal agents seized the couple’s phones as part of an investigation into Mr. Banks’s younger brother, Terence Banks.

Ms. Collins has rarely been seen in public with Mr. Adams, but they own an apartment together in Fort Lee, N.J. The couple’s most prominent collaboration was a public service campaign when Mr. Adams was a state senator and they urged young people not to wear saggy pants.

Sarah Maslin Nir contributed reporting.