Attorney for Chicago Public Schools CEO threatens to sue school board if they move forward with firing

Nell Salzman and A.D. Quig, Chicago Tribune on Dec 20, 2024

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CHICAGO — The attorney for embattled Chicago Public Schools chief Pedro Martinez sent a letter to the sitting school board Friday asking for clarification about whether they will move to fire the CEO by 2 p.m. and threatening legal action to prevent it if so.

Any action against Martinez taken Friday would be a breach of their fiduciary duty, wrote Maritnez’s lawyer William J. Quinlan of the Quinlan Law Firm LLC, and raised a host of other concerns, including whether the new board members had the authority to fire him or appoint a co-CEO to work alongside him.

The letter states that “Mr. Martinez has acted consistently with his contract and the fiduciary duties he holds both to the Board and the children and families that CPS serves.”

It goes on to say that any actions to terminate the CEO would “subject the Board and the members of the Board individually, to liability as such improper actions exceed the scope of the Board’s duties,” since some board members do not “hold the ‘same qualifications’ as their predecessors” and failed to complete mandatory training required before they can participate in board actions.

A workaround short of firing — like restricting Martinez’s job or splitting responsibilities with a co-CEO — would also constitute a breach of his contract, Quinlan’s letter said. The board is rumored to be considering terminating Martinez without cause, giving him 180 days to serve out his time and also appointing a co-CEO to work alongside him. Not only does Martinez’s contract stipulate he can’t be reassigned without his written consent, reducing his responsibilities would be equal to a termination without cause, Quinlan wrote.

The letter was shared with both Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the state superintendent of education, Tony Sanders.

The decision should not come on a late Friday before the holidays, Quinlan added, since “any legal issues that would arise from the meeting would be hampered and delayed by both the weekend, upcoming holiday, and the limited availability of court personnel over the coming weeks due to such holiday.” It would also starve new elected board members slated to be sworn in next month from a decision voters entrusted them with, he wrote.

An agenda for a special meeting Friday was amended to include two possible options to oust the school leader: a settlement or termination. But Martinez reportedly does not want to take a buy-out, an option that was originally floated to him by the school board’s attorney in early December.

The CPS CEO first came under fire in September after refusing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request for him to take out a $300 million high-interest loan to cover a new proposed teachers contract and a pension payment previously covered by the city. The school board resigned in early October over pressure to fire Martinez, and a new seven-member board appointed by the mayor could be tasked Friday with that task.

The school board is the public body tasked with hiring and firing the CPS chief, but it’s taken months to get to Friday.

Martinez, under his contract, can be fired two ways: with or without cause.

If fired for cause, the CEO would leave immediately. If without cause, he can stay on for 180 days and receive 20 weeks of his base salary at $340,000.

By firing Martinez “for cause,” according to the contract, the board would have to cite misconduct or criminal activity, incompetence in the performance of job duties, fraud or other wrongdoing. Quinlan writes in the letter that the current board members have for weeks been on “a clear campaign to manufacture a pretextual ‘cause’ to serve as a basis for Mr. Martinez’s termination.”

“Chicago Public Schools, as a district of immense size and complexity, demands the stability and clarity that only a unified and focused leadership can provide—especially during periods of transition. Our students, families, and staff deserve the assurance of consistent direction and confidence in the leadership shaping the future of our schools,” Quinlan said in a statement to the Tribune.

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