Multiple sources aware of the matter confirmed to the Tribune on Friday that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has requested Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to resign this week.
Martinez has no plans to resign right now, a supply aware of the dialog instructed the Tribune.
News of Martinez’s potential ouster was first reported by the Chicago The Sun-Times and WBEZ.
According to the supply, the mayor’s alleged transfer was resulting from Martinez’s refusal to take out costly loans to assist shut the district’s price range deficit.
In addition to his opposition to the mortgage plan, Martinez has additionally clashed with Johnson and the City Council over whether or not CPS ought to foot the invoice for a metropolis pension fee plan that features CPS retirees.
Martinez has confronted mounting stress and public criticism from the Chicago Teachers Union in latest months, with rumors of his ouster circulating. He was named the district’s CEO in 2021.
If Martinez refuses to voluntarily resign, the Board of Education has the facility to fireside him, however he can be entitled to twenty weeks of severance pay below his contract, which was up to date in December 2022. Terminating his contract with out trigger would additionally require about six months’ discover, permitting Martinez to remain till the brand new yr.
Johnson has continued to foyer the initially opposed Board of Education to take over the loans and seems to have satisfied sufficient board members to make the transfer quickly, the supply added. A senior aide within the Johnson administration additionally mentioned Friday that the CPS board will not be aligned with Martinez on funding and is in favor of taking up loans to fill the district’s price range hole as requested by the mayor.
Johnson stays carefully allied with the lecturers union. He served as a CTU organizer earlier than being elected to the Cook County Council, and the union has supplied large monetary help to his 2023 mayoral marketing campaign.
The aide declined to verify Friday that the mayor had requested Martinez to resign, however added that the administration was trying into allegations that the district had thought-about closing colleges.
The CTU accused Martinez final week of planning college closures and consolidations, citing price range slides that referred to plans for “house consolidation” and a services evaluation of greater than 100 colleges. Although Martinez denied such plans, calling the CTU’s claims “misinformation,” union management has not backed down.
CTU couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. However, criticism of Martinez has continued all through this week, with union president Stacy Davis Gates issuing a press release Wednesday saying of Martinez, “he’s not solely out of step with Chicago, he’s out of step with the district’s personal plan.”
Amid rising scrutiny over the district’s $9.9 billion price range, practically 400 CPS principals and assistant principals despatched a letter to the School Board on Aug. 29 in help of Martinez, whereas 15 of the 50 City Council members printed an open letter calling for his reappointment on Sept. 4.
Alderman Scott Waguespack, thirty second, who signed the letter of help, mentioned Friday that he and a number of other different aldermen didn’t know for sure that Martinez can be requested to resign till the information broke within the media. City Council members have been “exchanging telephone calls” Friday afternoon to attempt to be taught extra in regards to the state of affairs, Waguespack mentioned, including that he thinks “everybody needs a transparent assertion from the mayor.”
It would have been “shameful,” he mentioned, if the mayor had truly requested Martinez to resign throughout negotiations with the CTU and deliberations concerning the CPS price range.
“This does a disservice to taxpayers and particularly to CPS college students,” Waguespack mentioned.
Representatives for Chicago Public Schools didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
In a press release launched Thursday night, 4 members of the chief committee of Kids First Chicago’s mum or dad advisory board mentioned they have been “deeply involved” about rumors of Martinez’s potential firing.
“This resolution, at first of the college yr, throughout ongoing negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union, and solely months earlier than the transition to an elected college board, might have a detrimental impression on Chicago college students,” the advisory committee members wrote. “The undeniable fact that a whole bunch of principals and assistant principals have expressed their help for CEO Martinez signifies how severely a transfer like this have to be thought-about earlier than appearing.”
