The new members of the Chicago Board of Education, appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and just sworn in, are sure to make the condition of education in the city far worse.
Johnson appointed five new members to the board while keeping just one of his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot’s, picks. A look into who these members are reveals a radical track record that will inevitably influence the direction of education in Chicago.
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Let's start with the New board president, Jianan Shi. According to Chalkbeat Chicago, he is the former executive director of Raise Your Hand, an advocacy organization that is openly anti-school choice, focuses on "Systemic inequities" and “build[ing] collective movements” in its mission statement, and is funded by the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation. He also is the chair of the Asian American Midwest Progressives and expresses those opinions frequently on his Twitter page. During his first board meeting while president, he questioned whether screening kids for weapons before entering school actually makes people safer.
Next, we have Mary Fahey. She worked at the same organization as Shi, Raise Your Hand, as “a parent liaison for special education.” The position itself is benign, but working at that organization signals what kinds of opinions she is likely to have on other education-related questions that will inevitably come before the board.
The third new appointee is named Michelle Morales, who used to be president of the Woods Fund. It, too, is a left-wing organization, which describes itself as a “bold grantmaker that partners with communities to fight the brutality of structural racism and economic injustice. It promotes social, economic, and racial justice through the support of community organizing, coalition building, and public policy advocacy.” It is also one of the primary funders of Shi’s organization, Raise Your Hand, according to its website.
The last two, Mariela Estrada and Rudy Lozano, worked for organizations that do not seem to be overtly political — United Way of Metro Chicago and Enlace Chicago, respectively. However, they both listed "community organizing" as a crucial part of their past experience.
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Of course, the board, with Johnson’s appointees, has not done much of anything yet. However, there is certainly reason for concern when it seems that Johnson just wanted to appoint as many left-wing activists as possible. We ought to keep an eye on it as it begins to make important decisions for the city of Chicago.
Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.