In a not unexpected move this Friday the Chicago School Board fired School CEO Pedro Martinez, in a closed executive session, after members of the public both praised and panned him, citing a failure of leadership, but without specific charges; and, most importantly lawyers for Martinez filed a temporary restraining order, that was too late to prevent such a move.
Well known among residents was the reason: Martinez’s failure to agree to a $300 million high interest loan to shore up teacher pensions and a pending contract, which put a target on his back by Mayor Brandon Johnson a former teacher and organizer for the powerful Chicago Teachers Union, and made him a figure of unofficial censure by many within, and without, the mayoral administration, as well as some teachers and principals.
Things had reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, and there has been a sea of rumors of when, if, and even how, Martinez could be fired, with or without cause. And, in the face of that, nearly one-third of local principals had expressed satisfaction with Martiniez and wrote the mayor a letter expressing support.
In an editorial from the Chicago Tribune the authors noted that, “More than 670 CPS principals and assistant principals — two-thirds of the 1,100 in the district — have signed a letter urging the current appointed board to retain Martinez in spite of the ongoing maneuvering by Johnson and his Chicago Teachers Union allies to remove the CEO and smooth the path to a new teachers contract that would cost an estimated $1.8 billion in the first year and more than $9.2 billion over the full agreement.”
In a prescient move, the Tribune noted: “A messy ouster, most likely accompanied by a payout to Martinez (unless the board can come up with some reason to fire him “for cause” since his contract is not up until July 1, 2026) is not in the best interests of the district. Martinez, at least, is attempting to keep taxpayers in mind by trying to hold the line on teacher contract demands that CPS has deemed “unaffordable,” claims the Tribune.
In the letter, it was noted that: “Pedro Martinez is our 9th CEO since 2009. ... Removing the CEO at this time means less guidance and support for principals and teachers until soon the lack of support hits the very people the system is built to serve — the more than 325,000 CPS students.”
“It is my hope the appointed school board will hold off any efforts for change in CPS leadership,” the principal continued, “until they take the time to speak directly to school leaders and hear how any decision to remove CEO Martinez will impact our ability to lead our schools.”
Do it for the kids is a popular tag line from past CEO battles and this seems to be true than, as it is now, and as the editorial board continued: “Johnson, for his part, won’t score any points with principals with this testy response when a reporter’s asked for his thoughts on the letter: “I actually don’t think much of it. ...Nope. I don’t think much of it at all.”
In an earlier attempt, The CPS Board offered Martinez a contract buyout.but local media reported that he had declined the offer.
"Pedro Martinez intends to honor his contract with the Chicago Public Schools and see that the 325,305 students and parents get the benefit of what they bargained with him," Martinez's attorney Bill Quinlan said.
And it was reported that, “According to Martinez's contract, the school board must find cause to fire Martinez.If not, it could lead to an expensive lawsuit,” just the result that we see going forward.
Coming on the heels of that effort, storm clouds were gathering when this was also reported: "We asked you, the board, to play a more active role in our negotiations because the CEO is supposed to be bargaining on the behalf of the board, and he is doing the opposite," Chicago Teachers Union financial secretary Maria Moreno said.
“In October, Martinez spoke to ABC7, responding to criticism that he has no CPS funding plan, and is relying on proposed cuts.He was also asked if he thought the mayor's picks for a new school board could end up firing him.”
"I don't know. I really don't. I'm being sincere," Martinez said. "I will say what's great right now is that, you know, it's very transparent what my contract says."
In what was an important development that led to Friday’s move, “The previous school board was not willing to fire Martinez or secure the short-term, high-interest loan to help pay for a new teachers contract, which led to a mass resignation in October.”
"I did not expect for this to escalate to the way it did," Martinez said at the time.
“Replacing Martinez is reaching new urgency for the mayor, his school board and their allies at the Chicago Teachers Union, who want to land a new collective bargaining agreement before mid-January, when a new 21-member partly elected school board takes over. The union has accused Martinez of being an obstacle to its demands. Just two weeks ago, the board instructed Martinez to settle the contract in the “coming days.”
“Martinez has defended his record at CPS, saying he helped shepherd the district through the latter stages of remote learning, then the return to classrooms and a subsequent nation-leading recovery in reading and math. He also has pointed to a revamp of the district’s school funding formula that activists, including the CTU, have long requested”
It has been widely noted by local media that “contract negotiations have proven to be a chief point of contention
“When the 21-member board takes office in January, with 10 members elected on Nov. 5 and another 11 appointed by the mayor, it might be harder to reach consensus on a CTU contract. Johnson’s handpicked board members are pushing hard to get a deal with the union now, but some elected board members will be opposed to the mayor and CTU.”
“Martinez and his team seem to be unwilling to meet many of the CTU’s demands, particularly around staffing, which they have said are far too expensive for the cash-strapped district that just faced a half-billion-dollar deficit this year. Martinez, like the mayor and CTU, has pushed for more state funding. But there’s no guarantee that comes through after they were rejected last spring and as the state faces its own financial difficulties,” according to both the Sun Times and WBEZ.
Chicago is the fourth largest school district in the nation, and has had decades of student population turnover, high and lows for test scores, and has faced competition from charter schools. It has also had less money due to a tax based system that often leaves it out in the cold, compared with wealthier suburban schools.
A large part of the challenges that it has also faced was with its predominantly Black and Brown population, and the lack of will by some white lawmakers to effectively fund and support it to meet growing modern day challenges has been a constant.
Martinez,a Chicago native, and graduate of CPS, confronted a maelstrom of discontent and dissatisfaction dealing with these, and would have not been able, under the best of circumstances, to turn the schools around to what the students both deserve, and need, after decades of neglect.
Former Governor Bruce Rauner likened the physical plant of many Chicago schools to “crumbling prisons,” and some, especially in the poorer sections of the West and South Sides of the city do fit that description, as painful as it sounds.
Added to student population mix are many homeless children who face outside pressures of where to sleep and eat, much less to find a place to do homework;and, then less than two years ago the district faced a wave of immigration, first promulgated by Texas governor Greg Abbott, who sent thousands to the city and whose parents, as much as their students faced the same problems of the local homeless population, with the added burden of a language barrier, where teachers often enlisted janitors to translate for Spanish speaking students.
Martinez as noted, is the latest of a series of school CEOs that have had mayoral backing, and then found disfavor as they tried to meet the myriad of issues that the system faced, and one, in particular Barbara Byrd Bennett who went to jail in a bribery investigation and “was sentenced to 4 ½ years at Federal Prison Camp,Alderson in West Virginia”; all of which has made most white parents send their children to private schools, either in the city, or suburbia, and has left the CTU and other educators to try and do the best that they can with limited resources.
For many, the money spent per pupil, seems high, yet there are problems that money alone cannot solve, for example those homeless and migrant students arriving from South America, who in addition to the language barrier, had not been schooled for many months due to school closures in their native countries, and the violence they often faced, and the dangerous journey across the Darien Gap to reach the United States.
Now, halfway through the school year, these challenges will not go away, nor will Martinez whose contract has him remain in place for 180 days be able to turn around and make any substantial changes to counter his critics.
Floating around is a rumor that there will be an addition of a Co CEO or a reduction in Martinez’s duties, but this would be a direct violation of his contract, and would also expose the city to yet another costly lawsuit, and negative national publicity,which would be ripe for an intervention form the incoming Trump administration, and the undesired attention of Elon Musk.
“Moreno has blamed Martinez for dragging his feet to get a deal done. CTU is anxious to resolve the labor dispute before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The union originally sent CPS over 700 contract demands, including a 9% raise,” according to recent reportage.
"CPS still doesn't know how to negotiate with its workers. We want to settle via negotiation, and we have provided a pathway to settlement," Moreno said.
With the incoming Trump administration, Chicago is already a target and previous trash talk about the city, its Democratic majority, violence and school issues by Trump has posited it for his attention.
Already in a recent visit to Chicago the newly, but not yet official Border Czar, Tom Homan, a Trump loyalist said to an approving crowd, that “Your mayor sucks,” and added Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to the same torrent of abuse.
Timing is everything and Johnson timed the firing, with what many have seen as a none too subtle push with his chosen board, before the newly elected school board members begin their term in January.
