John Jefferson
The entire Chicago Board of Education have announced their resignations after reportedly resisting a pressure campaign from the city’s Democrat mayor to fire the public schools CEO during contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union.
Sources tell Fox32 Chicago that several of the board members grew agitated by an effort from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office for them to get rid of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and approve a high-interest, short-term loan aimed at plugging a budget gap and paying for a new teachers union contract.
“It would be disappointing and irresponsible for Mayor Johnson to push for such a risky move just to lower the city’s own deficit. There is nothing progressive, transparent, or accountable about such a move,” 40th Ward Alderman Andre Vasquez wrote on X Friday after the seven board members said they would quit.
“The fact that this pressure would lead to an entire board — all of which were appointed by the mayor — to resign is unprecedented and deeply alarming,” he added.
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Earlier this week, Johnson said, “I didn’t ask anybody to do anything,” and “The only thing that I’m requiring in this moment is leadership that’s prepared to invest in our children,” according to WBBM Newsradio.
Then in a statement on Friday, the mayor’s office said, “Mayor Brandon Johnson and members of the Chicago Board of Education are enacting a transition plan which includes all current members transitioning from service on the Board later this month.
“With the shift to a hybrid elected and appointed Board forthcoming, current Board members and Mayor Johnson understand that laying a strong foundation for the shift is necessary to serve the best interests of students and families in Chicago Public Schools,” the statement added.
The powerful Chicago Teachers Union said in its own statement that the resignations are the “latest instability caused by the CEO in our district.
“We finally have a mayor that is moving the district away from cuts and furloughs and leading us toward a transformed school system that provides for its students and their families, and provides stable quality education in our communities. To date, this CEO has told him ‘no,’” the CTU said on its website.
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Martinez wrote a column in the Chicago Tribune in late September in which he said, “I remain against exorbitant, short-term borrowing, a past practice that generated negative bond ratings for CPS and that would likely lead to additional bond rating cuts and higher borrowing interest rates.”
The new 21-member hybrid elected and appointed board will come into office in January, according to Fox32 Chicago.
Johnson’s office says he will announce seven new appointments to replace the outgoing members on Monday.
“I really believe that they’re going to try and appoint a rubber-stamp board of his CTU colleagues and friends in order to give CTU everything they want before this board takes effect,” 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale, described by Fox 32 Chicago as a critic of the mayor, told the station.
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