Mayor Brandon Johnson will fill an empty seat on Chicago’s school board before Thursday’s critical budget vote in which he needs the majority of members to commit to covering a controversial municipal pension payment.

Ángel Vélez is a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant with a doctorate in education policy, organization and leadership, from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. He’ll be sworn in at Thursday’s board meeting to represent District 9A on the South Side, a seat that has been empty since June.

In a statement, Vélez said he brings his professional experience and lived experience as an Afro-Latino man who went to Clemente High School in Humboldt Park and now lives in West Englewood. His child attends CPS.

Similar to last year, the mayor and CPS officials are at od

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