CHICAGO (CBS) — The Chicago Board of Education voted Friday evening to fire embattled Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, who filed a preemptive lawsuit challenging the board’s authority to force him out.
After a 90-minute session behind closed doors on Friday evening special meetingthe board voted 6-0 to terminate Martinez and ended the meeting without further discussion.
Before the meeting. Martinez’s attorney, William Quinlan, sent the board a letter claiming that firing him would amount to a breach of contract.
The letter states that any decision to fire Martinez would make each board member liable for damages in a lawsuit, claiming there are questions about whether they have the power to fire the CEO, “because the board members do not have have the same qualifications. as their predecessors and their apparent inability to complete the mandatory training required of board members before participating in board actions.”
Before the meeting began, Martinez’s attorneys filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court, seeking an injunction prohibiting the school board from taking any action to fire him or otherwise change his employment status.
According to the filing, firing Martinez “by making or threatening to make a pretextual and invalid ‘finding’ of ’cause’ would breach his contract with CPS” and “deprive the district and the community of its sole experienced leadership indefinitely be robbed.”
No hearing has yet been scheduled on the injunction bid, which was filed shortly after 4 p.m., less than two hours before Friday’s board meeting was set to begin. With the Daley Center courthouse, where such a hearing would be held, set to close at 5 p.m., it is unclear how soon a hearing on the injunction request could take place.
According to published reports, Martinez’s contract with CPS, which expires on June 30, 2026, contains a provision requiring six months’ notice without cause. If he were fired in that scenario, he would stay at his job for six months and receive a 20-week layoff based on his salary of more than $360,000.
To dismiss him for just cause and circumvent the six-month notice period and severance pay, the board would have to allege misconduct or criminal activity, poor performance or other misconduct.
Quinlan’s letter to the board shows that there is no good reason to fire Martinez.
“Mr. Martinez has consistently acted within his contract and the fiduciary duties he has, both to the board and the children and families CPS serves. Thus, any action to terminate or reduce his role as CEO would not only violate his contract with CPS, but also the fiduciary duties of the individual board members – thereby subjecting the board and board members individually to liability because such improper actions exceed the scope of the board’s duties,” Quinlan wrote.
Martinez’s future as CEO has been in doubt for months
In September, Martinez said he had rejected a request from Mayor Brandon Johnson to resign from his post, after rejecting the mayor’s request to take out a $300 million high-interest loan to pay for the costs of a newly proposed teacher contract and pension costs previously covered by the city. The The entire previous school board resigned in October after being pressured by the mayor to fire Martinez. Johnson Subsequently, a new school board was selected within a few days.
Martinez’s future has been in doubt for months. CBS News Chicago I received an email from September between a top assistant for Mayor Brandon Johnson and school board members, providing talking points for Martinez’s ouster.
Weeks later, Johnson insinuated that he never asked for Martinez’s job.
Rather than have the new school board fire Martinez at Friday’s meeting if he continues to reject a buyout, the mayor is reportedly considering appointing a “co-CEO” who would have the authority to go around Martinez to facilitate contract talks with the Chicago Teachers Union to arrange. but Quinlan said such a move would also be a violation of Martinez’s contract.
“Any attempt to limit Mr. Martinez’s duties or to hire additional individuals to serve as ‘Co-CEO’ after allegedly notifying Mr. Martinez that he will be terminated ‘without cause’ within 180 days dismissed would be the equivalent of a dismissal. him for cause and would also constitute a breach of contract,” Quinlan wrote.
New partially elected school board will take office in January
Many of the mayor’s critics and even some of his usual allies have done so criticized the move to fire Martinez – especially before a new, partially elected school board takes office in January.
When it comes to the new class of school board members in particular — the first ever elected by voters — they say any intention to oust Martinez before they start undermines the role they were elected to serve.
The new elected board members will not start until January. But CBS News Chicago caught up with them as they left a workout Wednesday.
“We’re asking the mayor, we’re asking this board, to please stop,” said Ellen Rosenfeld (4th), a member-elect of the Chicago Board of Education.
“The whole point of an elected school board was to consistently say they wanted 21 members to work together for the betterment of our children, the betterment of our schools and the protection of our tax dollars,” added board member-elect Che “Rhymefest.” Smith (10th).
Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th) also credited the board with scheduling the meeting during Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. She wrote that the schedule “creates an unnecessary barrier to participation in Chicago’s Jewish community, including residents, teachers and school parents who observe this sacred time.”
However, as of Friday afternoon, Silverstein’s office said it had not received a response from the school board.
