Chicago Public Schools CEO goes to court in last-minute attempt to save job before board meeting

CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools chief Pedro Martinez filed an injunction in Cook County Court and asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent the school board’s possible firing of him Friday night.

“The Board Member Defendants were appointed to do the bidding of the Mayor as well as the Chicago Teachers Union (‘CTU’), which have both scapegoated Plaintiff over the past several months as the CTU has made unprecedented demands as part of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with CPS despite a massive budget shortfall,” the motion filed shortly before the board meeting read.

The injunction was filed shortly after Martinez’s lawyer William J. Quinlan of the Quinlan Law Firm LLC sent a letter to the sitting school board Friday afternoon asking for clarification about whether they will move to fire the CEO at a special board meeting Friday and threatening legal action to prevent it if so.

Any action against Martinez taken would be a breach of the board’s fiduciary duty, wrote Quinlan. He raised a host of other concerns, including whether the new members were colluding with the Chicago Teachers Union, and have 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. The potential appointment of a co-CEO was first reported by Crain’s.

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. Neither representatives for Mayor Brandon Johnson nor CTU responded to immediate requests for comment.

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 buyout, an option that was originally floated to him by the school board’s attorney in early December.

It’s taken months to get to here.

The conflict dated back to July, according to the suit, when Johnson “requested approval of the $300 million loan” that Martinez and the former board opposed over concerns about adding to the district’s already high debt load.

That conflict over the high-interest loan, which would help cover a new proposed teachers contract and a pension payment previously paid by the city, first came to light in September. On Sept. 18, according to the suit, “the Mayor asked Plaintiff to resign. Plaintiff refused.”

The suit also mentions a memo where the mayor’s top adviser told the CPS board Johnson wanted Martinez out by late September to land the union’s proposed new teachers contract. Negotiations between the teachers union, which helped Johnson rise to power, are ongoing.

Friday’s meeting is “the culmination of a monthslong campaign orchestrated by the Chicago Teachers Union (‘CTU’) and its ally, Mayor Brandon Johnson, to improperly and unlawfully terminate Mr. Martinez based on wholly pretextual reasons,” wrote Quinlan Friday in his letter before filing the injunction.

The previous board resigned in early October amid that pressure to fire Martinez, and the mayor promptly appointed seven new members.

The suit claims those current board members have for weeks been manufacturing a pretextual ‘cause’ to justify Martinez’s firing — using first the closure of seven schools in the Acero charter network and a then directive to bring ongoing contract negotiations to an immediate end. Martinez “properly, consistently, and thoroughly followed longstanding” CPS procedure in its handling of the closures, the suit said. It also pointed the finger at CTU for a “months-long delay in initiating negotiations” and proposals to boost pay and benefits “despite an existing budget crisis.”

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.

Termination of Martinez’s contract for cause would “severely damage his personal and professional reputation and future career prospects,” according to the suit. It might prevent him from remaining in the field of educational administration, “precluding the possibility of transitioning to another superintendent or CEO position for a district of comparable size,” the suit claims.

The board will expand from seven members to a partially appointed, partially elected 21-member board in January. Whatever action is taken on Martinez’s contract Friday evening would occur without the input of the 10 members who were elected in November.

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