Chicago City School Board, District 5A

The Dish: Ardent Westsider Aaron “Jitu” Brown is a powerhouse when it comes to education and lifelong activism. He was elected to the school board in 2024, unopposed in a Subdistrict that includes parts of Austin, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, West Loop, and West Humboldt Park. Brown's experience extends within Chicago Public Schools, where he coordinated African-centered youth leadership programs and trained teachers on culturally relevant curriculum. He’s served on various Local School Councils. In 2015, Brown went on a 34-day hunger strike alongside other parents and activists to protest the closing of Dyett High School, which eventually reopened. He is the current National Director for the Journey for Justice Alliance, organizing for community-driven school improvement across 40 cities. His experience spans education, combating system failures, empowering community schools, and demanding accountability effectively. 

Brown has CTU backing, including an endorsement and campaign financing. In the past, he’s received funds from United Working Families and Our Schools PAC, and received endorsements from some of our political faves like State Senator Lakesia Collins (GS20), Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (GS22), and Green-rated Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor. 

With his platform Brown intends to “create a world-class, pre-k through 12th grade system of education within safe walking distance of every District 5 home,” which is pretty ambitious. Priorities include expansion of the sustainable community schools model, ensuring equitable access to early childhood education starting with pre-k, securing equitable funding from the State, and increasing the number of Black and brown students. 

Despite all that, Brown’s website appears to be only-somewhat updated. The giveaway being that his site lists just “District 5” in several places and incorrectly lists Election Day as November 5th, which was correct two years ago. Election Day in 2026 is November 3rd. This is a pretty significant oversight, and if you’re a longtime reader of the Guide, you’ll know we hate it when candidates don’t take their elections seriously and offer voters half-filled-out priorities, an ancient website, or an exclusively online presence. Voters deserve candidates who show, in every way at their disposal, exactly why we should use our precious vote on them. Not bothering to update your website to the point where you list the wrong date for the election is beyond disrespectful.

LaPamela Williams was born and raised on Chicago's West Side. A graduate of Lane Tech College Prep High School. Now a realtor, Williams doesn’t seem to have much experience in education or community activism. Nor does she have very much in terms of campaign dollars, aside from multiple in-kind donations from The Urban Center- yes, that Urban Center, the same one financing a bunch of pro-charter, centrist candidates. She has even less of a presence than Brown on Facebook and Instagram, with one of her three posts on the Gram attempting to solicit financial support. Her priorities include financial responsibility, addressing chronic absenteeism, and ensuring transparency & accountability. 

While I’d encourage Aaron “Jitu” Brown to stay on top of his campaign efforts and provide accurate information to voters, he is clearly the most qualified and progressive-aligned candidate by a long shot, which is why District 5A should re-elect him. 

EDITOR'S NOTE (9/26):

As of the evening of September 24th, Jitu Brown's campaign website was updated and showed the proper information for the 2026 Election cycle. Because of this, we are strengthening our endorsement of Aaron Jitu Brown for Subdistrict 5A.