Dr. Pascal Mubenga became Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools in August 2025 after being unanimously appointed by the Buffalo Board of Education. As Superintendent, Dr. Mubenga leads the second-largest and one of the most diverse school districts in New York State.
With more than 25 years of experience in public education, Dr. Mubenga has built a career marked by continuous growth, beginning as a math teacher and advancing through roles as assistant principal and principal before moving into leadership positions at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and serving as superintendent of Franklin County Schools.
Most recently, he held the position of superintendent for Durham Public Schools, an urban district that educates more than 30,000 students who attend 57 diverse schools.
Dr. Mubenga also served as a School Transformation Coach, District Transformation Coach, and School Transformation Team Lead during his four years at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
During his tenure as high school principal from 2007 to 2011, Dr. Mubenga transformed a consistently underperforming school into one that consistently outperformed the state average on students' final exams. The passing percentage for high school students rose from 60 percent to nearly 90 percent.
Dr. Mubenga's emphasis on establishing high standards and rewarding the best teachers was featured in the New York Times in January 2024 as being crucial to Durham students’ academic recovery following the COVID pandemic.
The Sequence of School Turnaround: A Superintendent's Letters to Principals, written by Dr. Mubenga, provides authentic and effective insights gained from years of experience in transforming struggling schools and districts.
Mubenga earned a Bachelor of Science from Shaw University, a Master of Arts in Secondary Education from Liberty University, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Capella University.
Dr. Mubenga was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and he and his wife, Chantal, have raised three beautiful children.