(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)

Two independent candidates have won their races for the Chicago Board of Education, according to the Associated Press.

Therese Boyle won a two-year term representing District 9 on the city’s South and Southeast side on the board overseeing the Chicago Public Schools, according to unofficial returns.

With 36% of the vote, Boyle defeated three candidates, including one backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, and another backed by advocates for charter schools. Boyle unsuccessfully ran for CTU president in 2019 alongside a slate opposed to the union's current leadership.

Che “Rhymefest” Smith won a two-year term representing District 10 on the city’s Far South Side on the first-ever elected Chicago school board, according to unofficial returns.

With 32% of the vote, Smith also defeated three candidates, including one backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, and another backed by advocates for charter schools. Smith, a musician, won a Grammy for the song “Jesus Walks” with Kanye West.

A winner has yet to be declared in one of the 10 school board races. 

In District 1, Jennifer Custer leads Michelle N. Pierre by approximately 3 percentage points, according to unofficial returns. Custer had the CTU endorsement, while Pierre was backed by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools.

The school board election has delivered a mixed verdict on the leadership of Mayor Brandon Johnson and the CTU. 

Three candidates backed by CTU won their elections to represent the North, West and Southwest sides of the city on the new board, according to unofficial returns. 

In two races to represent districts on the Near Northwest Side and the South and Southwest sides of the city, the candidate backed by advocates for charter schools emerged victorious, according to unofficial returns. 

In two races to represent districts on the North Side and in the Loop and Near South Side, independent candidates who were not endorsed by either CTU or charter school advocates won, according to unofficial returns. 

The new board that takes office in January will end nearly 30 years of complete mayoral control that began in 1995 under former Mayor Richard M. Daley. Before that, community members would nominate school board members, with the mayor having the final say. 

But Johnson will still have a great deal of control of the school board, at least until 2027. 

The legislation approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, despite the objections of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, divides Chicago into 20 school board districts, with voters in each district electing a representative and the president of the board.

That means the current seven-member board, whose members are all appointed to by the mayor, will transform into a 21-member board elected by Chicago’s voters. 

But in this first school board election, the city was divided into just 10 districts. The winners of those races will take office in January, alongside 10 members — and the board president — appointed by Johnson. 

But Johnson faces a complicated task, since his picks must live on the opposite side of each school board district from their elected counterpart. 

Those board members will all serve for at least two years, when Chicagoans will be asked to elect 20 school board members, one from each district, to serve either a two-year or four-year term. The race for school board president will be decided by a citywide race, with a four-year term starting Jan. 15, 2027, up for grabs.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | [email protected] | (773) 569-1863