Chicago Board of Education votes unanimously to fire schools chief Pedro Martinez

Nell Salzman and Sarah Macaraeg, Chicago Tribune on Dec 20, 2024

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CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously Friday to fire Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez, clearing the way for the mayor to install a new leader for the nation’s fourth-largest school district after a monthslong power struggle.

After a closed-door session, the seven-member school board voted 6-0 to terminate Martinez’s contract.

The mayor can now install a new schools chief who will likely forge ahead with the progressive mayor’s education agenda that has come under fire from critics and allies because of his controversial push to take out a high-interest loan.

The firing of Martinez Friday occurred just hours after the CEO’s attorney William Quinlan of the Quinlan Law Firm LLC filed an injunction against the board for acting outside of its fiduciary duties. Quinlan sent a letter to the board earlier in the day warning them about the potential legal action. He included a host of concerns, including whether the new board members had the authority to fire Martinez or appoint a co-CEO to work alongside him.

Despite that, the school board Friday appointed Johnson’s new pick for school board Sean Harden — a business consultant — as “co-CEO” in an attempt to keep him around for the remainder of Martinez’s contract.

Martinez has fought very hard to keep his job. Financial analysts say the struggle to stay in his role demonstrates the financial stakes of Friday’s vote.

“(Firing Martinez is) district suicide,” said School finance expert Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab. “If there was one city that this man was particularly committed to, it’s this one.”

Martinez, a Chicago native, is a holdover from former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. He has led the school district since 2021, when he tusseled with the Chicago Teachers Union over returning to classrooms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. His tenure has been marked with gains in student achievement.

Johnson, a former CTU organizer, opted to keep him on when assuming office last year as the district pivoted to a five-year plan to prioritize neighborhood schools over selective enrollment and magnet schools.

But that alliance fractured this summer when Martinez and Johnson’s first iteration of the school board declined to take up a $175 million pension obligation for non-teaching CPS staff, as well as a $300 million loan that would cover that payment plus the beginning raises in CTU’s upcoming contract. Martinez in September said Johnson asked him to step down, but he refused. All seven board members then resigned and were replaced by a second batch of Johnson appointees.

Those new members — sans Johnson’s handpicked board president the Rev. Mitchell Johnson, who resigned after controversial social media posts surfaced and with the addition of recently nominated member Sean Harden — fired Martinez Friday. They moved in spite of calls from the incoming elected school board members to pause until they are sworn in next year.

(Chicago Tribune’s Alice Yin contributed.)

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