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Cydney Wallace, a Black Jewish activist and mother of four, is Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s final pick to sit on the city’s new 21-member Board of Education.
Her appointment comes two months after Mayor Brandon Johnson named his other appointees, which was required to happen by Dec. 16 under state law. The mayor’s office said the delay was because school board positions “are unpaid and often thankless jobs.”
According to a press release from the mayor’s office, Wallace currently works for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County and is a Chicago Public Schools parent. She is also the vice president of the board of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.
Wallace lives in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the 8b side of District 8, according to Chicago Board of Elections records. She will represent schools and communities in the Chinatown, Bridgeport, Back of the Yards, and Gage Park neighborhoods. Angel Gutierrez is the elected representative for District 8 and lives in Garfield Ridge on the 8a side. In 2026, both seats will be up for election.
In 2022, Wallace filed to run for Chicago’s Police District Council, but did not have enough valid signatures to get on the ballot in the 2023 municipal elections.
Wallace will be sworn in at the school board’s next meeting scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 27. She will join the 20 members who were sworn in Wednesday, Jan. 15. The partially-elected, partly-appointed group will serve for the next two years. All 21 seats will be up for election Nov. 3, 2026 and a fully-elected board will be sworn in Jan. 15, 2027.
Chicago held its first school board elections on Nov. 5, 2024, electing 10 people to serve their communities alongside 11 mayoral appointees. The moment begins a historic shift in governance as 30 years of mayoral control in Chicago comes to a close.
Mayor Johnson, a CPS parent, former teacher, and union organizer, will still maintain significant influence over the public school system through his 11 appointees and at least three other elected members who were supported and endorsed by his allies at the Chicago Teachers Union.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
