The 5th District is situated on the West and Near West sides of Chicago. It covers the Galewood, Austin, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Ukrainian Village and United Center neighborhoods, as well as parts of Humboldt Park, West Town, West Loop and Little Italy.
Here’s what to know about the race in the 5th District. For a look at how the elected school board will work and more on the races in the other districts, click here.
Who’s running?
There is only one candidate still running in the 5th District: Aaron “Jitu” Brown.
How much money has been raised?
With only one name on the ballot, the race in the 5th District isn’t a very competitive one. But for his part, Brown has managed to raise a little over $48,000 for his campaign through Oct. 21.
What are the candidates’ campaign platforms?
Aaron “Jitu” Brown
What is your background in education?
I am a Chicago Public Schools alum and parent and a proud resident of the Austin community on Chicago’s West Side. For over 30 years, my work has focused on educational justice and equity.
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For many years, I was the education organizer at the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, one of Chicago’s longest-standing community organizations. I organized campaigns for greater investment in public education, worked to improve schools serving Black students, and ran youth leadership programs in schools. I was the lead organizer in the campaign to save Dyett High School from closure, which culminated in myself and others going on a 34-day hunger strike that led to Dyett being reopened with over $14 million in new investments. Out of that campaign, I helped envision the Sustainable Community School model now being implemented in communities across the country. What we did for Dyett I want to do for schools across the 5th District and the city.
From 1999 – 2013, I served on Local School Councils and trained hundreds of LSC members across the city. I was the community school coordinator at Chicago’s first community school, South Shore School of Entrepreneurship from 1999 – 12005, and taught Black history at St. Leonard’s High School, the nation’s only accredited high school serving people returning from incarceration. Since 2013, I have been proud to serve as the National Director of the Journey for Justice Alliance, an alliance of community organizations in 40 cities working to improve schools.
Why are you running for a seat on the Chicago Board of Education?
As an educator, youth mentor, and longtime community organizer in the movement for educational justice, I have seen the way corporate and profit-driven interests have led decision-makers in our city to fail our young people and our school system over and over again. In addition to working to win needed investments in neighborhood schools on the West and South sides, stop racist school closures, and expand the sustainable community school model, I have been a part of the fight to win a democratically elected School Board in Chicago for many years. In 2015, I was one of the lead organizers who formed Communities Organized for Democracy in Education to put a referendum on the ballot in 37 of 50 wards that showed nearly 90% of voters wanted an elected board. My belief is that we need community voices on the board that governs Chicago Public Schools in order to make our school district best meet the needs of our communities. As a CPS alum, CPS parent, mentor and educator to countless CPS alum across the city, and organizer of school communities, I am driven by a commitment to equity and to the vision that every young person in Chicago deserves a world-class education within a safe walking distance of their home. Now that we will get to elect our School Board representatives for the first time, I am running to collaborate with the community to win steps toward that vision.
How would you describe your campaign platform?
As a school board representative, my top priorities will be investing in neighborhood schools and fighting for more equitable school funding. For too long, structural racism in Chicago Public Schools has meant separate and unequal education along the lines of race and class. Families have been shut out of decisions impacting students’ lives. Standardized testing has been weaponized against Black and Brown children. Neighborhood schools have been underfunded, neglected, and entirely shut down. Whole communities have suffered from this kind of sabotage. The solution must be to transform CPS into an equitable district where every child and community has access to a quality neighborhood school within walking distance from home. I will prioritize expanding the sustainable community school model, which will involve:
- Securing full and equitable funding for CPS
- Investing in quality schools in every neighborhood
- Increasing and retaining Black teachers
- Ensuring more culturally relevant curriculum
- Moving away from racist and punitive standardized testing
- Supporting local school councils
What is the single most important issue facing CPS students?
Inequity and underfunding are at the heart of the problems facing Chicago Public Schools. Currently, CPS simply doesn’t have enough funding to meet the needs of our roughly 320,000 students. The State of Illinois is not properly paying into teacher pensions for CPS like it does for other school districts or fully funding its own Evidence Base Funding model. In order to have fully funded schools with librarians, well-kept facilities, counselors, and reasonable class sizes, we need to solve the problem of revenue by going to our state and federal governments to fully fund our school system. Instead of pitting the needs of some young people and some schools against one another whether they be Black students in disinvested school buildings, ESL students, or students with disabilities, we should unify around a plan for fully funded schools.
Provide three to four key points you want voters to know about your campaign.
- I knock doors, attend community events, and visit schools every week all across the 5th district to connect with parents, community members and voters!
- I am a coalition builder who leads with humility, compassion and courage. I will engage the 5th district in re-imagining public education in our communities!
- I am running on a core belief that “community wisdom in partnership with academic expertise leads to school improvement.”
To read this candidate’s questionnaire in its entirety, click here.
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The candidate’s responses shown here have been edited for length, style and clarity.