Chicago school board head ousted because of social media posts deemed antisemitic, misogynistic

By The Associated Press

Rev. Mitchell L. Ikenna Johnson, one of six nominees by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to the Chicago Board of Education listens to the mayor during a news conference introducing his nominees Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Charles Rex Arbogast]

CHICAGO (AP) — The president of the Chicago school board resigned Thursday just a week after he was appointed because of social media posts deemed antisemitic, anti-women and lending credence to a conspiracy theory about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s resignation came at the request of Mayor Brandon Johnson.

“Rev. Mitchell Johnson’s statements were not only hurtful but deeply disturbing,” the mayor said in a statement. “I want to be clear: antisemitic, misogynistic, and conspiratorial statements are unacceptable.”

Mitchell Johnson was appointed president just a week ago. He was among seven board members tabbed earlier this month by Brandon Johnson after former members of board managing the nation’s third-largest school district resigned en masse.

Media reports have turned up social media posts by Mitchell Johnson that showed him agreeing that the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and elsewhere were an “inside job.”

Forty of the city’s 50 alderpersons called on him to step down after a post following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that appeared to defend Hamas and added, “My Jewish colleagues appear drunk with the Israeli power and will live to see their payment.” Yet another post appeared to denigrate working women.

The mayor’s statement came just hours after Gov. J.B. Pritzker demanded Mitchell Johnson’s ouster. Pritzker this week had criticized the vetting process the mayor used in selecting the board president.

“Any person charged with the stewardship of the Chicago Public School Board must exemplify focused, inclusive, and steady leadership,” Pritzker said in a statement. “The views expressed in the current chair’s posts — antisemitism, misogyny, fringe conspiracy theories — very clearly do not meet that standard.”

The former board, chosen by the mayor just months after he took office in 2023, quit rather than join a struggle the mayor has had with schools CEO Pedro Martinez over issues including how to close budget gaps. Martinez was appointed by Brandon Johnson’s predecessor, and Martinez has refused to resign.