CHICAGO — The Chicago Public School Board of Education will hold its first meeting Thursday night since Mayor Brandon Johnson asked CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to resign.

Martinez is fighting for his job while the district is also in contract negotiations with the powerful Chicago Teachers Union.

The Board of Education can force Martinez out, but that is not on the agenda Thursday. However it’s on everyone’s mind.

As CPS and CTU continue to push forward to find some sort of contract compromise, Martinez is pushing back on calls for him to go and campaigning to save his job.

“Right now we have 23 aldermen signed on. By Thursday, we’ll have 26. That’s half the city that supports the job that Pedro Martinez is doing,” said Ald. Gilbert Villegas.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Chicago Board of Education to decide.

The CTU has made their case against Martinez and issued a vote of no-confidence in his leadership. It cites a hypothetical school closure list and other documents the union has obtained to force him out.

On Thursday, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates sat down with WGN Political Reporter Tahman Bradley.

When Bradley asked Davis Gates if she thought Martinez ordered the district to produce that list, Davis Gates said, “I can’t tell you who ordered it, I just know that it exists.”

Martinez said he is the victim of a disinformation campaign and he is asking the school board to pass a resolution promising no school’s will be closed until 2027.

Davis Gates is waiting to see it in writing, as well as bargaining to fill 1,200 teacher vacancies, smaller class sizes, and greater assistance for bilingual students.

The district is offering four to five percent raises over the next four years. With talks moving slow, the union has not ruled out a strike.

“We shouldn’t have to go on strike, we’ve been right. This idea that the contract can’t be paid for, Tahman I think we have a bigger issue in Chicago,” Davis Gates said.

She said Martinez needs to secure more funding from Springfield.

The Board of Education meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at Roberto Clemente Community Academy.

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