Education
WTTW News to Host Town Hall With Chicago Board of Education President Candidates
The five candidates vying to become Chicago’s next Board of Education president will discuss education, finances and why they should lead the city’s first fully elected school board as they face off in a WTTW News town hall next month ahead of November’s critical election.
“Chicago Tonight” anchor Brandis Friedman will moderate a panel of Jessica Biggs, Jennifer Custer, Hilario Dominguez, Victor P. Henderson and Sendhil Revuluri before a live studio audience of Chicago residents for an hourlong forum on Sept. 15.
WTTW News is presenting the event along with community partners Kids First Chicago, The Chicago Public Education Fund, Mikva Challenge and the Chicago Education Alliance.
This fall’s race marks the first time the board’s president will be handpicked by Chicago voters, as the board transforms into a fully elected body.
Chicago has been divided into 20 separate voting districts, whose residents will each elect one representative to serve on the school board. But the board president position is a citywide race, meaning all Chicago voters will have a say.
Biggs and Custer are current board members, while Revuluri previously served as the board’s vice president. Domínguez is the Chicago Teachers Union’s political director, and Henderson is a trial attorney who also serves on the board of directors for the Urban Prep Academies charter schools.
The town hall will be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at WTTW Studios, located at 5400 N. St. Louis Ave. The event is free, but an RSVP is required.
Audience members from Chicago neighborhoods will be given the opportunity to participate in the conversation by submitting questions for the candidates ahead of time. Those questions can be sent to [email protected] by 3 p.m. Sept. 10.
WTTW News education reporting is supported, in part, by Press Forward Chicago.
