‘Historic’ Hybrid Board of Education Officially Takes Over in Chicago as Elected, Appointed Members Sworn In

Chicago's new hybrid Board of Education meets for the first time at the Chicago Public Schools Loop headquarters on Jan. 15, 2025. (WTTW News)Chicago's new hybrid Board of Education meets for the first time at the Chicago Public Schools Loop headquarters on Jan. 15, 2025. (WTTW News)

Wednesday marked a historic day in Chicago as the first-ever elected members of the Board of Education were officially sworn in, marking the first step away from mayoral control and toward a fully-elected body by 2027.

The 10 new elected board members, and 10 more members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, each took their oath of office during the board’s agenda review meeting inside Chicago Public Schools’ newly-renovated board room at its Loop headquarters.

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“This moment is no doubt historic,” elected member Ellen Rosenfeld said, “not just for me but for all of us, because this body reflects the voices and values of the majority of the people of our district.”

While the board now has its first-ever elected members, it will be members appointed by Johnson who hold the board’s top leadership positions.

The mayor previously tapped Sean Harden to serve as board president. And in the first sign of the new era for the board, appointed member Olga Bautista defeated elected member Jessica Biggs in a 12-7 vote to become the board’s new vice president. Similar elections held under the old fully-appointed board were routinely unanimous decisions that featured only a single candidate.

Illinois state Sen. Robert Martwick, one of the legislative leaders who led the charge for an elected board, celebrated that split vote in a social media post Wednesday, saying “Democracy has arrived!”

The elected members sworn in Wednesday include:

  • Jennifer Custer (1st District), a CPS parent who previously worked as a teacher and union president of the Itasca Education Association
  • Ebony DeBerry (2nd District), a former teacher and Local School Council member of Gale Elementary
  • Carlos Rivas Jr. (3rd District), a former teacher and director of public affairs for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability
  • Ellen Rosenfeld (4th District), who worked as a teacher at Hartigan and Dulles elementary schools
  • Jitu Brown (5th District), a longtime community organizer who in 2015 was a participant in a 34-day hunger strike to save Dyett High School
  • Jessica Biggs (6th District), a former special education teacher and principal at Burke Elementary
  • Yesenia Lopez (7th District), who worked as a Latino outreach director for Gov. JB Pritzker and current executive assistant for the Illinois Secretary of State.
  • Angel Gutierrez (8th District), who works as a consultant for nonprofits
  • Therese Boyle (9th District), who spent 35 years working as a school psychologist and teacher
  • Che “Rhymefest” Smith (10th District), a recording artist and community activist

They will serve along with Johnson’s appointees including current members Harden — who as president does not represent any individual district — Debby Pope (2nd District), Michilla Blaise (5th District), Frank Niles Thomas (9th District) and Bautista (10th District).

Other incoming mayoral appointees include:

  • Ed Bannon (1st District), who ran for 38th Ward alderperson in 2023 and served on the Dever Elementary School Local School Council
  • Norma Rios-Sierra (3rd District), an artist who also works as cultural events manager for nonprofit Palenque LSNA
  • Karen Zaccor (4th District), a retired teacher who was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union
  • Anusha Thotakura (6th District), a former teacher
  • Emma Lozano (7th District), a a Pilsen pastor and immigrant rights advocate

Johnson as of Wednesday had not yet appointed a member to serve alongside Gutierrez in the 8th District but indicated in recent interviews he intends to make a selection shortly.

The immediate challenges facing new school board members are enormous: They must ink a new deal with CTU, pick a new leader and confront the threat posed by President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to deport thousands of undocumented Chicagoans.

The shift to a hybrid board, and ultimately a fully-elected board, is the culmination of yearslong efforts by education advocates who sought to end three decades of full mayoral control over the board.

“I want to say thank you to everyone who believed in this moment," Brown said. "There’s an old saying: First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Brown recalled laughs while passing out petitions for an elected school board at the Bud Billiken parade back in 2006, but public sentiment eventually turned in favor of an elected board and now that dream has been realized.

“Today we sit here,” he said. “The difficult we do right away, the impossible just takes a little longer.”

The city was divided into 10 individual districts for this past November’s first school board races. The districts were then split in two and Johnson was required to appoint board members who live on the opposite side of each district from those who were elected.

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 beginning Jan. 15, 2027.

Another shift in procedure announced Wednesday is that the board president will no longer be able to vote except in tie-break situations, until the fully-elected board is in place in 2027. At that point, the president will again be allowed to vote as any other member.

No other official action was expected to be taken during Wednesday’s meeting, which typically only serves to preview agenda items at the board’s regular monthly meeting.

Heather Cherone contributed to this report. 

This is a developing story.


 

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