This story was reported and published in collaboration with WBEZ, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit newsroom covering Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods. Stay informed with Chalkbeat Chicago’s newsletter, WBEZ and the Sun-Times’ education newsletter, and Block Club Chicago’s newsletters.
Two candidates — a retired Chicago Public Schools psychologist currently on the school board and a former CPS mom and speech-language pathologist — are running to represent the far South Side, an area with 46 public schools, most of which are neighborhood schools, with few privately run charters and lottery-based magnets.
Incumbent Therese Boyle spent 35 years working for the district, while challenger Katherine Dunneback is currently an adjunct clinical professor at Saint Xavier University.
Enrollment is an issue across much of the district, with just a small percentage of students choosing to attend zoned public high schools.
Both Dunneback and Boyle had children attend CPS for a time. Dunneback’s children attended a Morgan Park neighborhood public elementary school before attending private high school. Boyle said one of her daughters attended a Beverly public school for preschool. Both of her daughters attended private elementary and high schools.
Boyle said residents are focused on making sure the district is “spending money wisely,” while Dunneback said her neighbors are concerned about school overcrowding and closures.
The two candidates agree on academics, including imposing strict limits on AI and electronic devices, but disagree on charter schools and school closures. Boyle favors charter schools and school consolidation when equitable and cost-effective. Dunneback opposes charter schools and spoke of expanding the Sustainable Community Schools initiative as an alternative to closures.
The program, spearheaded by the district with the Chicago Teachers Union, turns neighborhood schools into community hubs. High-needs campuses and nonprofits receive $500,000 a year to expand family outreach, wraparound services, and after-school programs. The program has also faced recent questions about implementation hurdles and thin evidence of improved student outcomes.
Neither candidate wants to raise property taxes to the maximum to fund schools, according to our CPS School Board questionnaire, but Dunneback says board members should work with other elected officials to fund schools through other tax policies, whereas Boyle says CPS is not spending wisely.
Incumbent school board member Therese Boyle served at several schools across District 9b during her 35 years as a school psychologist and teacher.
In 2024, the Mount Greenwood resident won with 33% of the vote, beating three other candidates. She received 51% of her votes from her home 19th Ward, which is now part of 9b.
Boyle compared the position to a full-time job — one that has brought her back to the classroom.
“As deep a knowledge as I had about the workings of Chicago Public Schools, I did not have as deep a knowledge about all of the cogs in the wheels that make education work in Chicago,” Boyle said.
Boyle’s 2026 campaign is backed by Service Employees International Union Illinois State Council, which represents CPS school support staff and has split politically with the teachers union in recent years, as well as donors linked to pro-charter public schools and school choice groups and anti-CTU groups.
Boyle said she is focused on the district’s long-term financial stability. A top concern she hears from residents is high property taxes and making sure CPS budgets wisely. The district has higher homeownership rates compared to much of the city.
Last year the school board voted down Mayor Brandon Johnson’s preferred budget proposal that would have included a high interest loan to cover expenses. The decision would have covered short-term spending while putting the district in deeper debt.
“We do not want to saddle the district with any more debt because the debt that we currently have is eating away at the money that could be used to support the kids in the classroom,” Boyle said.
Boyle said her first term was filled with heavy lifts, in particular, a search for a new superintendent after the former was fired by the previous board. Macquline King was appointed in March as Superintendent and CEO; Boyle said she is now ready to focus on student outcomes as well as school security and safety.
“I want to make sure that we have good plans in place for addressing not only the major crises … but the day-to-day things,” Boyle said.
Read Boyle’s full questionnaire.
Dunneback, a Morgan Park resident, has spent the past three years at Saint Xavier University as an adjunct clinical professor. But it’s the years she spent working in schools with high percentages of students from low-income families and her time as a CPS parent that shaped her decision to run for school board.
“I have seen the impact of inequitable distribution of resources on lower-income kids,” she said.
Dunneback’s children graduated from Clissold Elementary School in Morgan Park in 2022. She decided to run after talking with neighbors and residents about their hopes for the school board.
“I realized that there was a need for someone on the school board who … would be vocal about standing up for our parents and our families and our communities, and would support teachers and the idea of Sustainable Community Schools,” Dunneback said.
The latter priorities are also those of the CTU, which has endorsed Dunneback and is backing her financially, according to the Illinois Sunshine Database.
If elected, she said she would focus on less technology in the classroom, expanding access to early childhood education, and reducing large class sizes, which she said contributes to parents feeling a lack of connection with teachers and questioning if their children may be falling behind academically.
“I would like to reduce the student-to-teacher ratios, because science tells us that’s the best way to support our kids,” Dunneback said.
Dunneback is politically active, having canvassed and worked phone banks for politicians, most recently with the Kamala Harris campaign for president, and is involved in Politics and Coffee, the grassroots civic engagement group in Beverly and Morgan Park.
She plans to lean on her background in the community and activism as a school board member. She hopes to work with legislators on the state and local level to fund schools through progressive tax policies.
“I want district officials to work with state legislators to fund our schools as quickly as possible according to the state’s formula,” Dunneback said. “This need should be prioritized over funding for stadiums or other optional choices.”
Read Dunneback’s full questionnaire.
Jim Lynch covers Beverly, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood, and Washington Heights for Block Club Chicago. Contact Jim at jim@blockclubchi.org.