Rhymefest announces he is running for a seat on Chicago’s new elected school board

In the first-ever Chicago school board election came another first on Thursday. A celebrity campaign kickoff.

In a packed boutique in Hyde Park on the South Side, Grammy-winning songwriter Che “Rhymefest” Smith announced he was running for the 10th District school board seat. The 10th District spans from Bronzeville through Hyde Park, South Shore and South Chicago to the southern border of the city. Smith started the event by rapping the Oscar-winning song “Glory” that he wrote with rap artist Common and singer John Legend.

When the music cut off, he said: “That song that you heard was written by two products of Chicago Public Schools. What did we learn when we went to those schools — we learned about our community, we learned about our ancestors … we learned about how to navigate this world and create our ways out of our own problems. … And somewhere along that road, we’ve gone off course.”

Smith said as a school board member he wants to make sure there are mental health services and arts programming in schools, as well as fiscal responsibility and transparency.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

This year, 10 candidates will be elected to represent geographic districts. Another 11 will be appointed by the mayor. In two years, all 21 members will be elected with the president facing a citywide contest.

In the week since school board candidates have been able to start circulating petitions, about a dozen people have filed campaign disclosure documents.

Other candidates have said they are intending to run, including Yesenia Lopez, who Congressman Chuy Garcia endorsed for the 7th District. Garcia’s backing was the first public political endorsement.

Candidates have until June 24 to get 1,000 signatures on a petition to get on the ballot.

The10th District, where Smith is running, is one of the few districts, so far, with more than one candidate. Smith’s opponent, Adam Parrott-Sheffer, a former principal and education consultant, was one of the first to file paperwork.

Smith ran for 20th Ward alderman in 2011 but lost to incumbent Willie Cochran.

Smith said he did not know much about Parrott-Sheffer. He said he wanted to run because in the past people in the community did not have a say on the schools. “Whether you like the decisions or didn’t like the decisions that were made to make our schools what they are today, they weren’t the decisions of the full community,” he said. “We have that opportunity now.”

Manuel Martinez/WBEZ

Smith said he also is committed to giving youth a voice. If elected he plans to create a youth committee that will help inform how he votes. He also pledged not to run for more than two terms and to build up a young leader to take his place.

“We want to make sure that whoever gets this seat in the 10th District is somebody from the 10th District, somebody that’s not just on the inside of how things have always worked, but on the outside, to have a vision, and reimagine what we can do together.”

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times