Eric Adams left for Ghana last week on what he called a spiritual journey.
Upon his return, he's expected to name the next school's chancellor and police commissioner.
Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best and Philadelphia Police Chief Danielle Outlaw top the short list. A third outsider, former Newark Police Chief Ivonne Roman, has also been mentioned.
Best quit the Seattle police department last year after 28 years on the force when the Seattle City Council cut her budget 14% following weeks of riots and demonstrations. She wrote a book and has been appearing on television as a law enforcement expert since then.
Outlaw became police commissioner in Philadelphia last year. A spokesperson has said she "will not comment on speculation regarding the NYPD Commissioner position."
Best and Outlaw emerged from Adams' nationwide search. He is not expected to pick an internal candidate, like Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes or Chief of Transportation Kim Royster.
The NYPD has never had a female police commissioner, but Adams has vowed to put a woman in charge of the nations largest department - with nearly 35,000 uniformed officers and 20,000 civilian employees.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has repeatedly said he planned to leave his job with the de Blasio administration, and submitted his retirement papers earlier this month.
The job pays a base salary of just over $239,000 a year.
In Adams' search for the next New York City schools chancellor, David Banks is widely expected, a longtime Adams advisor who shares many of the incoming mayor's education philosophies and seems the logical choice. He founded the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice in 1997, which current Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter coincidentally took over years later. Banks left to establish the first Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx, the city's first all-boys public high school to open in more than three decades. He is the brother of former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks, who is advising Adams on law enforcement.
Other high profile picks include a health commissioner and how Adams structures his deputy mayors, with Phil Banks potentially becoming a deputy mayor for public safety.
Other commissioners, like current FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, could theoretically continue into the new administration, as Adams transitions in his staff.
When asked about Mayor Bill de Blasio's new vaccine mandate for private-sector workers, the mayor-elect's spokesperson said, "The mayor-elect will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals."
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