The Board of Education didn’t take up Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez’s contract or Mayor Brandon Johnson’s loan idea at Thursday evening’s school board meeting.
There had been significant anticipation that the tension at the nation’s fourth largest school system would come to a head and the meeting would prove decisive for Martinez’s future. That was after last week’s news that Johnson asked Martinez to resign, and the schools chief’s public defense of his job and reputation this week.
But the public agenda for Thursday’s meeting didn’t list a voting item for a loan that Johnson wants CPS to take to help pay for a new Chicago Teachers Union contract — which is yet to be settled — and a pension payment for non-teaching staff that he has demanded the school district make.
The agenda also didn’t include any discussion or vote on Martinez’s contract, which would have been in closed session, where board members conduct sensitive business like personnel matters.
And during the meeting, held at Roberto Clemente Community Academy on the Near West Side, board President Jianan Shi didn’t comment in depth on the strife that has unfolded while families try to focus on their kids’ education.
“We want to acknowledge that there’s a lot of noise in the media about CPS and this body,” he said in his opening remarks.
“Listening to the voices of our stakeholders in our communities is important,” Shi said. “However, as is the case at all board meetings, and with the fidelity of our roles and responsibilities as board members, we cannot and will not discuss confidential or personnel matters.”
Martinez largely didn’t address the tension. He only said he was encouraged by some progress in contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union, touting the district’s offers on health and dental benefits, pay raises, lower class sizes and more teacher preparation time.
“I’m excited to share that CPS has now responded to all 700-plus proposals originally presented to us by CTU last April,” Martinez said.
“We look forward to hearing responses from our CTU partners on these and other key proposals as we work toward reaching a contract that rewards the excellent work of our teachers and paraprofessionals while continuing to make decisions that are responsible for the long-term success of our district,” he said.
Martinez once again denied any plans to close schools, as did Shi.
There were still fireworks, though, since the fight over Martinez’s future has landed fully in the Chicago political arena, where elected officials and civic leaders are lining up to take sides and pressure is mounting from the teachers union to find a new schools CEO.
The school board unanimously approved a self-imposed school closings moratorium that aimed to fend off CTU accusations that Martinez has been planning to close schools. Without naming the teachers union, Martinez has called those claims a “misinformation campaign” and “outright lies.”
In his comments, CTU Vice President Jackson Potter urged the board to pass a version of the resolution amended by the union that promised not to pursue “mass layoffs” or furloughs.
“If you could exert a fraction of the energy and chutzpah you’ve exercised to defend your job to champion our students and full funding, we’d be well on our way to closing this projected deficit,” Potter said to a mix of jeers and cheers.
The ban on closings is essentially symbolic since it’s not legally binding and can be reversed at any time. But, as passed, it lasts until 2027. That’s through the rest of Martinez’s contract and several months after the city’s first fully elected school board is seated.
The first-ever school board elections this November will make the body partially elected.
Progressive firebrand Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) got into a couple of verbal spats with hecklers in the audience as he directed his ire at Martinez in his comments.
“This politicization of the issue, and I speak directly to the CEO — when you were [chief financial officer] of the public schools, there was no problem getting funding, even … to take loans to make sure that our kids have the same opportunities as other kids,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “What is different now?”
Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) wore a “Vote for Pedro” shirt. And Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), who also supports Martinez, said it was “hilarious” that previous mayors always got blamed for CPS’ shortfalls, but the criticism is now directed at the CPS CEO. He urged all parties to “work together and figure out how we’re going to get funds from Springfield as well as Washington, D.C.
“All the energy that’s been going on right now, and the division that’s been caused, needs to stop,” Villegas said. “Let’s stop the politics. Let’s get fully funded schools.”