Who are the Chicago school board candidates for the 2024 election?

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Chicago school board candidates began submitting their petitions this week for the city’s first school board elections on Nov. 5.

School board hopefuls need 1,000 valid signatures from residents of their district in order for their name to be printed on the ballot. The deadline to submit signatures is June 24.

To learn more about the new school board districts and find out which one you live in, Chalkbeat created an interactive map .

Many candidates have also begun fundraising for their campaigns, reporting contributions to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Here are the candidates running in each district, based on records held by the Illinois State Board of Elections and the Chicago Board of Elections.

This list will be updated.

District 1

• Jennifer Custer , a CPS parent and former teacher, union leader, and school administrator in the Chicago suburbs
• Chuck Hernandez, Republican committeeman of the 38th Ward on the city’s North West side and retired detective with the Chicago Police Department
• Michelle N. Pierre, executive director at New Leaders, a training program for school leaders, former charter school leader, and former district administrator in Cleveland

District 2

• Kate Doyle , a former teacher and co-founder of nonprofit KindWork
• Maggie Cullerton Hooper , a CPS parent and Local School Council member
• Ebony DeBerry , director of educational initiatives at ONE Northside , former CPS teacher, parent, and Local School Council member
• Daniel Steven Kleinman , community organizer and Local School Council member

District 3

• Jason Dónes , chief of people operations at non-profit Beyond 100K, former teacher and leader at Teach for America
• Carlos Rivas , a spokesperson for the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and former alumni counselor at UIC College Prep, a Noble charter school

District 4

• Kimberly Brown , a marketing professional, adjunct professor, and CPS parent
• Andrew Davis , a nonprofit leader, CPS parent, and former LSC member
• Thomas Day , co-founder of Illinois Veterans for Change
• Ellen Rosenfeld , a Family and Community Engagement Manager at Chicago Public Schools
• Karen Zaccor, a teacher at Uplift High School and former LSC member

District 5

• Jitu Brown, community organizer with Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and director of the Journey for Justice Alliance
• Anthony Hargrove, associate director of the Back To Our Future program at nonprofit Breakthrough and former dean at Chicago Public Schools

District 6

• Jessica Biggs , a CPS parent and former teacher and school principal
• Andre Smith, an entrepreneur and recent candidate for Illinois House 5th District
• Anusha Thotakura , a deputy director at Citizen Action/Illinois
• Danielle Wallace, a community youth advocate and non-profit leader

District 7

• Jesus Ayala Jr., chief of program and strategy operations at Metrosquash
• Yesenia López, a Latino outreach director with Gov J.B. Pritzker’s campaign
• Eva Villalobos, an accountant and private school parent

District 8

• Angel Gutierrez, chief advancement officer at Chicago Hope Academy , a private high school, and a former leader at Catholic Charities of Archdiocese of Chicago
• Keith Kysel, a member of the parent advisory committee at Lindblom Math & Science Academy

District 9

• Therese Boyle, a school psychologist and former candidate for CTU president
• Miquel Lewis , acting director of Cook County Juvenile Probation & Court Services and former appointed member of Chicago Board of Education , current member of Special Education Advisory Committee
• Brittany Bailey Preston, a construction manager and Local School Council member
• Lanetta Thomas , a community activist

District 10

• Brian Lamar Alexander, a nonprofit leader and former political strategist
• Rev. Robert Jones, a pastor at Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church
• Karin Norington-Reaves, a CPS parent and consultant, former candidate in Illinois’s 1st congressional district
• Adam Parrott-Scheffer , a CPS parent and education consultant, former principal in CPS and the Chicago suburbs, former district administrator in New York City
• Che “Rhymefest” Smith , a Grammy-award winning songwriter, rapper and community activist
• James M. Walton, a former school principal and administrator in CPS and the Chicago suburbs

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org .