Mayor Brandon Johnson’s prime labor adviser advised Chicago Public Schools leaders that the mayor expects CEO Pedro Martinez to go away by Sept. 26, based on an inside memo obtained by the Tribune.
In a Sept. 12 e mail to Jianan Shi and Elizabeth Todd-Breland, the council’s president and vice chairman on the time, Deputy Mayor for Labor Relations Bridget Early wrote: “Here’s what’s subsequent for the council for the rest of this time period : CEO out by September 26… Land deal, present management just isn’t on monitor to get it accomplished earlier than a strike.”
Early’s e mail laid out a sequence of “speaking factors” that she mentioned included “council’s expectations from the mayor.”
As the ultimate merchandise within the Council Members’ Talking Points part, Early wrote: “Exit Option – ‘I advised the Mayor I’m dedicated to getting these things out earlier than the top of the time period. It’s okay if there’s rather a lot to cope with. If it looks like an excessive amount of, we are able to work on an exit plan.’”
It’s unclear whether or not Shi and Todd-Breland — who finally didn’t budge on Martinez’s employment and resigned with the remainder of Johnson’s seven-member college board in October — have responded. Shi declined to remark. Todd-Breland didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Thursday on the memo.
The mayor’s workplace declined to supply the complete e mail by means of public information requests, however the Tribune obtained an unredacted copy this week. Johnson’s chief of employees, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, was additionally included within the message. She has been floated as a possible successor to Martinez, however in an October interview with WTTW-Ch she adamantly denied that she can be leaving her present put up. 11.
The Tribune and different shops reported Johnson’s September assembly with Martinez, during which the mayor reportedly requested him to resign, based mostly on varied sources, together with the Johnson administration. Martinez then wrote an article for the Tribune’s opinion part explaining why he rejected the mayor’s request.
At first, the mayor sidestepped reporters’ questions on why he needed Martinez gone, saying he does not focus on “personnel issues,” a standard line of his administration when confronted with personnel disputes.
But he quickly started to recommend that he would by no means ask for Martinez’s resignation. In early October, Johnson responded to a query about whether or not he had requested his first college board choose to fireplace the CEO with: “No. When we discuss to members of the training board, what we requested them to do just isn’t reduce our colleges.”
During a troublesome information convention at City Hall on Dec. 2, Johnson refused to reply when requested a number of occasions if he nonetheless needed Martinez to resign, as a substitute repeating, “Did I ever need that?” and “Did you hear me ask him to resign?”
“What do you imply, ‘my want once more?’” Johnson advised a reporter. “You’re making an assumption right here, respectfully, OK. So if the query is correct, I’ll reply you.”
The mayor added, “I do not need to settle for this framing or declare that I did one thing that I by no means expressed out loud, as a result of I do not focus on personnel issues.”
Martinez’s employment state of affairs has been the topic of controversy for months since late September. Johnson, a former instructor and former Chicago lecturers union organizer, had initially referred to as for the CEO’s resignation as a result of the district was dealing with a monetary hole because of the prices of a proposed contract for brand new lecturers and paying a pension for non-teaching college employees.
Martinez refused to use for a mortgage, as requested by the mayor, as a result of he mentioned it will be fiscally irresponsible to take action.
CPS settled its funds in July with out bearing in mind the price of the proposed contract or pension funds. A funds modification is required to account for the unresolved monetary hole as soon as a contractual settlement is reached.
In October, the Martinez employment concern reached a boiling level when Shi and Todd-Breland, together with the opposite members of the primary mayoral-appointed college board, resigned en masse. But their replacements introduced with them a sequence of controversies and led to the resignation of the board’s subsequent president, the Rev. Mitchell L. Ikenna Johnson, within the wake of offensive social media posts and questions on his previous.
But after the primary college board elections final month and this week’s announcement of a 3rd slate of Johnson appointees, Martinez could also be in his last days on the helm of the nation’s fourth-largest college district. The CTU didn’t see a majority of its authorized record prevail within the November election, however the mayor nonetheless maintains management of the varsity board with a one-seat majority for the following two years.
Martinez’s contract permits him to stay as CEO for six months after the board fires him, if his termination is with out trigger. Observers say the duty at hand for Johnson’s newest iteration of the Chicago Board of Education is to discover a purpose to fireplace him that may face up to mounting a lawsuit.
Meanwhile, contract negotiations proceed. Although each side of the bargaining desk meet day by day, the district and the lecturers union have but to achieve an settlement. Months after Early emailed former board members Shi and Todd-Breland, the funding hole remains to be a urgent concern for CPS.
“The metropolis has the authorized authority to borrow on behalf of CPS,” Early wrote in his September e mail.
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