Lawyers for CPS CEO Pedro Martinez demand that board members stop negotiating new CTU contract

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Attorneys for Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez have sent a letter to the Chicago Board of Education, demanding members "cease and desist" from negotiating a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union.

A spokesperson for the CTU told ABC7 that for the first time this cycle, CPS board members were at contract negotiations after those same board members voted unanimously to fire Martinez without cause on Friday night.

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The only question school board member Frank Thomas responded to after voting to oust Martinez late Friday was, "Are you concerned about a lawsuit?"

"No, I am not!" Thomas responded.

Now, a judge will hear a lawsuit on Christmas Eve Day at the Daley Center.

It comes after Martinez's attorneys filed a temporary restraining order in response to his firing last week. He will remain on the job through the school year.

"One argument he did make in the papers he's already filed is that the board was not properly constituted. These members didn't receive, he says, the proper training. They weren't vetted properly, is what he alleged," said ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer.

SEE ALSO | CPS CEO Pedro Martinez plans to fight board's decision to fire him, his attorneys say

This legal battle is coming to a head after Martinez refused to take out a loan, at the behest of Mayor Brandon Johnson, to pay for a Chicago Teachers Union contract.

The CTU confirmed with ABC7 that negotiations have started, for the first time this cycle, with CPS board members present.

In a statement Friday night, the CTU said they were "able to get tentative agreements on better healthcare for Chicago's public school educators and made some significant progress on ensuring our students have the high quality classrooms and school day they deserve."

But in a cease-and-desist letter sent to the school board, Martinez's lawyers called for the board members' actions at the bargaining table to stop, saying their attempts, in part, "unlawfully infringe on and interfere with Mr. Martinez's authority, as CEO, to act as the sole representative of the Board in these negotiations."

Soffer weighed in.

"He may certainly raise this point - the subject of the cease and desist as evidence of the backdrop of what's been happening to him," Soffer said. "The only question, tomorrow, really for the judge to consider... it's whether he is entitled to a temporary restraining order to undue the dismissal."

The teachers union criticized Martinez for his legal action, calling it a "dangerous new precedent" and saying that he "fails to understand what his job is and who he works for."

ABC7 reached out to the school board and Johnson's office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Martinez's case will be heard in court on Tuesday at 11 a.m.

Full CTU statement:
"Today, members from the Chicago Board of Education attended our bargaining session and, miraculously, the stonewalling days of old disappeared. As a result, we were able to get tentative agreements on better healthcare for Chicago's public school educators and made some significant progress on ensuring our students have the high quality classrooms and school day they deserve.

Board members also participated in a robust back and forth on the union's proposals to address the racial disparities in the teacher evaluation system that have been documented by two independent studies. Unfortunately, board members also got to witness Pedro's team's obstruction on this issue, even though addressing it comes at zero financial cost to the district.

CEO Martinez's decision to try to tell his bosses-the Chicago Board of Education-what to do sets a dangerous new precedent in our school district. It is just another example of how the CEO fails to understand what his job is and who he works for."