Pritzker doubts audit, aldermen demand resignation of newly appointed school board president

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and more than two dozen aldermen criticized Mayor Brandon Johnson for not fully vetting his choice for school board president, citing the nominee’s repeated writings about Israel’s year-long offensive in Gaza.

The Rev. Mitchell “Ikenna” Johnson was appointed by the mayor to the school board’s top leadership position after all seven previous members resigned earlier this month. But some state lawmakers and city council members questioned the decision and called for his resignation over dozens of anti-Israel posts he first reported Jewish insider.

“When someone is nominated for a position, especially one as important as the head of Chicago schools, I believe that vetting is vital. It doesn’t seem to have happened here,” Pritzker said when asked about the publications at a news conference in the Loop about the state’s new Help Stop Hate initiative.

Reverend Johnson, who is not related to the mayor, has worked with the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. After the Hamas attack on October 7, he began posting about the Israel-Hamas war on Facebook. He often wrote several times a day, and in winter their number became more frequent.

“My Jewish colleagues seem to have been drunk by the Israeli government and will live to see them paid,” he wrote in a Dec. 19 post. “Ideology of Nazi Germans adopted by Zionist Jews,” in another, February 20. Rev. Johnson’s dozens of Facebook posts about Israel continued into the spring.

After the posts were made public on social media, more than 20 elders signed the letter demanding Johnson’s immediate resignation, saying his “continued role on the school board is non-negotiable.” They called on both Rev. Johnson and the mayor to correct “this terrible mistake.”

“This situation represents a failure of leadership and judgment on the part of Mayor Johnson and his executive team,” the letter said. “Earlier this month, Mayor Johnson told reporters that his appointees will undergo thorough vetting before being sworn in. It is clear that this did not happen.”

The letter directly related to Rev. Johnson’s December Facebook post that he was “getting drunk on the Israeli government.” The post unfairly “held American Jews responsible for military actions halfway around the world,” the letter said.

In a statement to the Tribune on Wednesday, the Rev. Johnson said he worked “hand in hand” with the Jewish community in Chicago to combat anti-Semitism.

“I deeply regret that I was not more precise and thoughtful in my comments published last year,” he said. “Since then, I have asked for and received feedback from my Jewish friends and colleagues, which has helped me to be more careful in handling these sensitive issues.”

Ald. Debra Silverstein, 50, the only Jewish woman on the council, said “(her) community is just very upset.” She mentioned Saturday’s shooting in West Rogers Park, noting that the shooting victim attended her synagogue. Silverstein said the shooting “didn’t get enough attention from City Hall.”

“I don’t feel that this administration supports the Jewish community, and I don’t know how the vetting process allowed this person to get on our school board,” Silverstein said. “I am very concerned about our Jewish students at CPS and their protection. To have someone on the school board who posted anti-Semitic anti-Zionist tweets is appalling to me.”

Responding to Reverend Johnson’s posts on Wednesday, Mayor Johnson said the board president apologized for the comments he made and how “hurtful they were to people in the Jewish community.”

“I know he’s going to … meet with Jewish leaders in the city of Chicago and beyond to begin working on restoration and healing,” Johnson said. “I do not share these sentiments, and I appreciate Reverend Johnson’s willingness to take responsibility for his statements that (caused) harm.

The mayor said Reverend Johnson’s comments “in no way reflect … his commitment to ensuring that every child in our public school system is seen and heard.”

Aldermen have long been divided over the war in Gaza. The city council narrowly adopted a resolution Last year, he called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza after Mayor Johnson held a tie-breaking vote. Chicago has become the largest American city to call for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

Mayor Johnson, a former teacher and CTU organizer, also may have had a hand in the resignation of the previous school board after unsuccessfully pressuring Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to take out a controversial loan and then threatening to remove him.

Ten members of the Board of Education will be elected in November, and Mayor Johnson will appoint 11 members next year. If the mayor chooses to appoint Reverend Johnson, he can remain president. That worries some lawmakers.

Democratic Party Representative Sarah Feigenholtz said post on X, Formerly known as Twitter, she was “shocked and appalled that the mayor didn’t vet anyone before he appointed them” on Tuesday night. She asked the mayor to resign the chairman of the school board. Otherwise, she threatened with state intervention.

NBC reported last week that the president-elect had been disbarred from his Ohio law practice and had his home foreclosed on for failing to pay child support.

When asked if the allegations were true, Reverend Johnson said last Friday that he was “suggested for this position because of (his) leadership skills and ability to get things done.”

“It is true,” said Reverend Johnson. “The good news is that I wasn’t hired to be an accountant or a lawyer.”

One of the seven appointed members of the school board, Debbie Pope, who recently switched to private X, also reposted a few pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist tweets.

The school board, now chaired by the Rev. Johnson, is likely to decide the fate of Martinez and the controversial $300 million high-interest loan the mayor is seeking to help finance CTU’s new contract and balance the district’s budget.

The next meeting of the Department of Education is scheduled for Friday.

The Chicago Tribune’s Alice Yin and Jake Sheridan contributed.