City leaders call on Chicago school board to delay vote on future of CPS CEO Pedro Martinez

Special Chicago Board of Education meeting Friday will also cover plan to keep Acero charter schools open

BySarah Schulte and Eric Horng

Friday, December 20, 2024

Leaders call on school board to delay vote on future of CPS CEO

City leaders are calling on the Chicago Board of Education to delay a special meeting Friday, where they are expected to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- One item on hand for Friday's special Chicago Board of Education meeting is a vote on a plan that would keep seven Acero charter schools slated for closure open through next year.

The decision will come on the same day as a vote that could decide the future of CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. His ouster and the timing of it is being highly criticized.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

The school board is expected to fire Martinez. If members vote to terminate with cause, they could individually face legal action. If they fire without cause, it is written in Martinez's contract that he stays on for 6 months and receives 20 weeks of severance.

The board's potential action Friday evening also comes as the Chicago Teachers Union is pressing for a new contract before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The union is accusing Martinez of obstructing the current board's wishes.

Pedro Martinez

Thursday was just another day on the job for Pedro Martinez. The CPS CEO began his day at Nathan Hale Elementary on the Southwest Side with Santa. Martinez gave no signs that his future at CPS is not so merry and bright. The CEO then headed to the Burbank Elementary on the Northwest Side for a school event.

"In these times today, we need to treat each other with kindness," Martinez said.

Kindness is not how Mayor Brandon Johnson's handpicked school board is treating Martinez. They are expected to fire him Friday night at the special school board meeting. Martinez did not talk about the situation Thursday, but others did, including Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who appeared with Martinez at Burbank Elementary.

"You have a guy who's doing a really good job, who is making decisions, who understands the long term fiscal challenges," Giannoulias said. "I don't understand the attack on him."

The attack from Mayor Johnson and the Chicago Teacher's Union began when Martinez refused to secure a short-term high-interest $300 million loan to pay for a new teacher's contract. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates blames Martinez for failing to come up with other options.

"We need a revenue plan, one that we understand will not lay off or furlough our members," Davis Gates said.

The mayor's first school board resigned because members didn't agree with the loan and they refused to fire Martinez. What is being dubbed a "Friday night massacre" is getting criticism from seven newly-elected school board members who have asked the current board to hold off on major CPS decisions until new board members are sworn-in on January 15. Over 700 CPS principals and assistant principals signed on to a letter in support of Martinez.

"We get the resources we need, he comes to all of our principal meetings, so he hears the voices of the school leaders," Burbank Elementary Principal Edward Collins said.

Former CPS CEO Arne Duncan, who was also President Barack Obama's Education Secretary, is among those calling on the mayor's appointed board to allow a new partly-elected board, which will begin its work next month to decide Martinez's fate

"Emotions are high," Duncan said. "Tensions are high, but this is the time to really step back, think, and do the right thing for children."

"This appears shady," Kids First Chicago Chief of Policy Hal Woods said. "What is the rush from a lame duck board to make these decisions prior to that board coming in?"

Acero schools

The proposed Acero schools plan calls for five of the seven schools to become CPS schools, fully run by the Chicago School District starting in the 2026-27 school year.