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Aug 03, 2026
Mayor Brandon Johnson charged Monday that the same billionaire business interests that closed schools and mental health clinics under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel are trying to "take us back to a time of trauma and torment" and declared that Chicago is "not going back."
Johnson never mentioned Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias by name. But on the day after Giannoulias entered the race with a promise to confront the thorny issue of school closings, Johnson used the comment to his political advantage.
A previously planned announcement of the 15 more "sustainable community schools" bankrolled by the new teachers contract allowed Johnson to contrast his vision for Chicago Public Schools with Giannoulias' tough-love message.
Sustainable community schools operate as comprehensive community centers that combine education with an array of social services for students and their families.
Johnson noted that the 15 choices "primarily service people of color and families who are in a social-economic strain right now that Donald Trump has exacerbated."
That's why, he said, he's more focused on "protecting Chicago" than on mayoral politics and the lingering question of whether he will wage, what will almost certainly be an uphill battle for a second-term or walk away after four years in office.
"Right now, you have people who are declaring their candidacy for offices while already giving the word that they're gonna close schools. The same interests that shut down schools," Johnson told reporters at Malcolm X College.
"The same interests that closed mental health clinics. The same interests that fired working people across this city. Those same interests want to take us back to a time of trauma and torment and pain. I want to make this absolutely clear — and not just about sustainable community schools: We are not going back, Chicago."
During a wide-ranging interview with the Chicago Sun-Times last week, Giannoulias conde
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