Lifelong Humboldt Park resident, and newly elected CPS District 3 Representative, Carlos Rivas, 35, knew he would pursue a career in education from a very young age.
“I want to be able to provide that same support that my teachers provided me to other students and families,” Rivas said. “That love aspect is definitely what brought me into education.”
His experience growing up in a single parent household with three brothers was not always easy, especially having his mother work as a lunch lady in his school cafeteria, Rivas said.
“I grew up in the neighborhood at a time when it wasn’t the safest, and there was definitely lots of gang activity and drug dealing,” Rivas said. “I grew up in poverty.”
Rivas said he values fostering as an extended home and family to support students and families who face the challenges he experienced.
Rivas has worked with CPS as a teacher, counselor, substitute teacher and teacher’s aide. He is currently the director of public affairs at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. He is adding the responsibilities of elected School Board District 3 Representative, ending 30 years of mayoral control of CPS.
In this role, Rivas will represent 55 schools in Humboldt Park, Hermosa, Belmont Cragin, Logan Square, Avondale, Old Irving Park and Mayfair.
“We need to work on creating authentic community engagement, and that’s always been a core piece for me, how do we actually have the voices of our families being represented at the board,” Rivas said. “You have CTU, SEIU, INCs, other charters, certain school groups. They’re the ones who come to speak at board meetings and sort of monopolize the few slots that are there for public comments. That’s performative community engagement to me.”
The performance – or official engagers – he is identifying are the Chicago Teachers Union, Service Employees, International Union and Illinois Network of Charter Schools, as well as the voices of other charter schools and certain school groups. He wants the engagers to include the frontline stakeholders including the families in the district.
Founding Executive Director of the Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago Fellowship, Bridget Lee, met Rivas when he applied to her learning program designed to prepare aspiring leaders in education systems.
“I don’t know if he felt super confident in running right away, and I say that because since then, he’s talked a lot about how the ALL Chicago community, the other fellows, really kept him going, especially when things got really dark,” Lee said. “Campaigning in Chicago can be a really negative experience. I think he came in with a lot of experience and confidence, but I think the community that he built in ALL sustained him throughout that process.”
The Academy for Local Leadership does not provide campaign support. Rather, their program is a learning experience for candidates considering running for school board. Lee launched this project in January, inspired by her own education experience and the excitement she felt with the new change in CPS governance.
“He’s an incredible person,” Lee said. “He had everything that he needed to succeed. I think what we did is just help him feel more confident, that he can really do this job and that he can be a leading voice on the board.”
His opponent, Jason Dones, had CTU’s endorsement, however, in the hotly contested campaign. Rivas received a total of 36,475 votes while Dones followed with 28,621 votes according to Chalkbeat.
To ensure that the voices of all families in his district are heard, Rivas said he hopes the new 21 member school board will find ways to increase community engagement by visiting schools, going to Local School Council meetings and speaking with parents. The new board will begin to meet in January with 10 elected members and 11, including the board chair, selected by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Lucia Ramirez met Rivas working for the Noble Network and they have kept in touch for the past eight years. As a friend, Ramirez supported him in his campaign efforts.
“He understands the Latino story, the immigrant story very well and he is very passionate about making sure that all students have the same opportunities to have choices when it comes to schools,” Ramirez said. “Just the way that he was brought up and the people that he surrounded himself with, he knows those stories very well, so that’s something that he puts at the center of his work and he has a passion for it even though he’s not working in schools anymore.”
Rivas said he is a big believer in school choice, as he attended Northside College Preparatory High School and wants other families to have access to a similar educational experience at the competitive regional schools where student tests determine admittance.
“If we tell a family, ‘You have to go to your neighborhood school,’ that may be a failing school, then people are going to vote with their feet,” Rivas said. “That’s either leaving the city of Chicago or leaving the state of Illinois, and that just perpetuates the problems that we have already with our fiscal cliffs.”
Outside of the political sphere, Rivas enjoys spending time walking his dog in Humboldt Park, one of Chicago’s hallmark parks that shares the name of its community. This is special to him, as there was a point in his young life where it was not safe to walk through the east side of the park.
It has only been weeks since Rivas was elected for his first term, yet he said his campaign for the 2026 election has already begun.
“I was just really anxious on election night because I didn’t know what the results were going to be,” Rivas said. “I’m really proud that the community supported me in this way and quite handsomely, a 10 point lead.”
Cover Photo: Carlos Rivas/Facebook