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CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson has picked a seventh member, Rafael Yáñez, to join a new school board he appointed earlier this month after the entire seven-member board stepped down.
Yáñez, a hate crimes investigator with the Chicago Police Department according to his LinkedIn profile, and the other new appointees will meet for the first time Thursday to review the board’s October agenda — a meeting that was pushed back a week. The Rev. Mitchell Johnson, former executive director of the Developing Communities Project, is expected to serve as president of the new board, and Mary Gardner, a West Side community organizer, as vice president.
The fate of CEO Pedro Martinez’ job and a short-term, high-interest loan for the district — two issues the previous board had refused to take on — will now be in the new appointees’ hands just two weeks before Chicagoans vote on a new partially elected school board.
The Thursday agenda includes a closed session to discuss personnel matters, but it’s not clear if Martinez’ post is one of the items the new board will tackle. The schools chief’s job hangs in the balance after an increasingly public clash with Johnson over how to handle the district’s budget challenges.
Johnson is also gearing up to present a new city budget on Oct. 30. To close the city’s projected deficit, he could rely, in part, on CPS taking on $175 million payment toward the pensions of non-teaching. The district began picking up some of that cost in 2020, but it was not included in the $9.9 billion CPS budget approved in July. Martinez, backed by the former board, has argued that the city, not CPS, should cover that payment.
Earlier in October, Johnson announced six new appointees to the board just days after the previous board members said they would resign. Yáñez rounds out the new slate. He ran for 15th Ward alderman as a progressive in 2019. His top donors during that election cycle were the Chicago Teachers Union and Service Employees International Union, which represents some district support staff.
The teachers union, which helped elect Johnson, a former CTU employee, has fiercely criticized Martinez as talks over a new four-year educator contract have grown increasingly tense.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.