School Board Candidates: Filed

Here is the full list of candidates who had filed to run for Chicago school board as of 5:29 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, deadline day. [Note: this post has been updated and corrected since the newsletter was sent. Board Rule regrets numerous errors. Many thanks to my generous, eagle-eyed readers who don't let my mistakes go uncorrected for very long!]

For school board president: Jessica Biggs, Jennifer Custer, Hilario Dominguez, Victor P. Henderson, Sendhil Revuluri. Board Rule has already interviewed Biggs, Custer, and Revuluri. Watch for more coverage of the race for school board president, including interviews with Dominguez and Henderson in future editions of the newsletter.

District 1A: Incumbent appointee Ed Bannon will face Margie B. Luczak.

District 1B: The seat is open since incumbent Jennifer Custer is running for president. Candidates Michelle Pierre (a former charter network administrator who ran last time) and Claudia Peralta (district director for U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, IL-03) will face off.

District 2A: Incumbent Ebony DeBerry is being challenged by 2024 candidate Bruce Leon and newcomer Hector Morales.

District 2B: Incumbent appointee Debby Pope is being challenged by newcomers Kyna Lenhof and Daniel Basco.

District 3A: Incumbent appointee Norma Rios-Sierra faces challenger Peter Gonzales.

District 3B features a rematch between incumbent board member Carlos Rivas and 2024 candidate Jason Dónes, who was endorsed last time by the Chicago Teachers Union. This time, Dónes has already won endorsements from Rep. Ramirez and other Northwest Side progressives.

District 4A: Incumbent board member Karen Zaccor, who ran in 2024 for the elected district seat, lost and was then tapped for the appointed seat, will face two challengers: Ellen Sherratt and Angel Alvarez.

District 4B: Incumbent board member Ellen Rosenfeld is running unopposed.

District 5A: Incumbent Aaron "Jitu" Brown will face realtor LaPamela Williams. Kernetha Jones, who ran in the district as a write-in candidate last time, has also filed her candidacy, though the Chicago Board of Elections report says her subdistrict "was not specified."

District 5B: Incumbent appointed (who launched a campaign in 2024, then dropped out), Michilla Blaise will face Anthony Hargrove, who filed as a candidate last time but was knocked off the ballot by signature challenges.

District 6A: Incumbent Anusha Thotakura, who ran in 2024 for the elected seat, lost, and was appointed, faces Brenda Lee Anderson and Isaiah White. Anderson recently completed a fellowship with the Academy for Local Leadership. White lost a March 2026 primary run for a seat on the Cook County Board.

District 6B: The seat is open because incumbent Jessica Biggs is running for school board president. She has endorsed Pastor Michael Neal of Glorious Light Church. Lawyer Brittany Kimble is also in the race.

District 7A: Incumbent appointee Emma Lozano will face challenger Jesus Ayala, Jr., who ran in 2024 but did not survive signature challenges.

District 7B: Incumbent Yesenia Lopez faces challenger Erika Diaz-Chavez.

District 8A: Incumbent Angel Gutierrez is running unopposed.

District 8B: Incumbent appointee Cydney Wallace faces Juan Ignacio Gonzalez, a police detective, Marine veteran, and owner of DreamCatcher Cafe in Back of the Yards.

District 9A: Incumbent appointee Ángel Vélez faces Brittany Preston, the wife of Illinois state senator Willie Preston.

District 9B: Incumbent Therese Boyle faces Katherine S. Dunneback and Marlo Barnett. Though her candidacy is listed on the Board of Elections report as "district not specified," her home address puts her in 9B.

District 10A: Incumbent Che "Rhymefest" Smith faces challengers Krista Nichols Alston and Tameka Walton.

District 10B: This is an open seat, due to the resignation of former board vice president Olga Bautista. Three candidates are vying for the seat: Connie Anderson, Rosita Chatonda, and Patrick C. Watson. Anderson co-owns The Record Track, a music store and community center in South Chicago. Chatonda, a retired CPS teacher, ran last time but withdrew her candidacy after her petition signatures were challenged. Watson is an administrative assistant to Ald. Anthony Beale (9).

InFocus: Ebony DeBerry

"We're not gonna let you mess with anybody." That's how Ebony DeBerry sums up a key lesson she learned as a child in Rogers Park, a neighborhood long known for welcoming people of all races, religions, and income levels, immigrants, and LGBTQ people. "Coming from my family and this community, I knew it was my role to mentor, support, and protect others."

In fourth grade, she decided to become a teacher. Setting that goal "helped me make good choices," she recalled. As the latchkey daughter of a single mom, she had a lot of independence, but also had strong ties at her neighborhood school, Gale Elementary, and in the community. She graduated from Sullivan High School, earned a bachelor's in elementary education from Central State University, and came back home to teach kindergartners and first graders. Later, she ran Howard Area Community Center's youth programs and facilitated restorative healing conversations.

After years of organizing as a community leader, including a stint on the Local School Council at Gale, she joined ONE Northside as their full-time education organizer in 2014. "I love working with my community in my community," she said. Among her duties, she oversees ONE Northside's Parent Mentor program, which supports parents as classroom volunteers and community leaders, and also serves on the board of Grow Your Own Teachers. In 2018, she earned a master's in communication from Northwestern University.

When the opportunity came to run for a school board seat, she said, "I could not ignore it." But sitting in the seat has come with "crisis after crisis after crisis," making it hard to set priorities and stick to them in the midst of competing demands. "Everybody deserves everything that they ask for," she said. "Trying to prioritize it all," is more challenging at the district level than it was as an LSC member.

DeBerry cited landing both the 2025 teacher contract and the 2025-26 budget as major wins for the current school board. Bucking the will of Mayor Brandon Johnson and the CTU, DeBerry voted to approve the budget that did not include borrowing or a payment into a city pension fund without enough guaranteed revenue to avoid classroom cuts. Johnson delivered that revenue through a history-making TIF surplus. DeBerry called that budget "magical," adding, "I'm hoping something similar comes through this time."

Priorities. In a second term, she'd like to tackle:

Ensuring schools can help students become "better readers, more critical thinkers"

Building pathways to apprenticeships and careers in the trades, as well as moving beyond just getting young people into college. "I want to see them finish," she said.

Rethinking school district policy on tech use. "I'm concerned about tech," she said.

Soundbite: "I am looking for my replacement." In her view, the election process isn't built for ordinary parents and community members. "I'm really concerned about the right people being involved."