Making History: First-ever elected school board members seated in Chicago

The first-ever elected members of the Chicago Board of Education have been sworn in, marking the first step away from mayoral control and toward a fully elected 21-member body by 2027.

WTTW-TV reports that 10 board members chosen by voters in November, and 10 more members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, each took their oath of office Wednesday morning.

“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.”

Before the state legislature expanded the board, the panel consisted of seven members, all appointed by the mayor.

The elected members sworn in Wednesday:

• Jennifer Custer (1st District), a 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 Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and now is 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 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 Board President Sean Harden — who as president does not represent any individual district — Debby Pope (2nd District), Michilla Blaise (5th District), Frank Niles Thomas (9th District) and Olga 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 pastor and immigrant rights advocate

Johnson has not yet appointed a member to serve alongside Gutierrez in the 8th District.

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

The city was divided into 10 voting districts for 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 is that the board president will no longer be allowed 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.