Entire Chicago Board of Education to resign after weeks of friction at CPS

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - In an act of defiance, the entire Chicago Board of Education will resign at the end of the month.

The news was confirmed by a joint statement issued by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Board of Ed.

The seven members' unified decision follows the acrimonious relationship that has developed among the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez, the school board and Johnson during contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union.

After refusing to engage in short-term borrowing to help pay for the new contract, Martinez said in a Chicago Tribune op-ed that the mayor asked him to resign.

Earlier this week, Johnson denied the claim .

“I didn’t ask anybody to do anything,” Johnson insisted. “The only thing that I’m requiring in this moment is leadership that’s prepared to invest in our children. The strategy is ultimately about what’s best for our children.”

If Martinez does not resign, the school board would have to vote to fire him, but, as part of his amended contract signed off by the Board of Ed in 2022, there must be six months’ notice of termination without cause.

The board could only fire Martinez for cause if they can prove misconduct, criminal activity, job failure, fraud or wrongdoing.

Although ten new members will be elected by city residents next month, under the hybrid model, the mayor still will have control of the board. He will be appointing ten members as well as a president of the board.

Friday’s announcement will enable Johsnon to choose members who will align with his desires.

In the joint statement, the mayor and the board called this a “transition plan.”

“Together, Mayor Johnson and the board fulfilled many objectives of the Johnson’s administration's vision for Chicago’s public schools, including shifting away from inequitable student-based budgeting, completing the change to a school safety model that does not rely on school resource officers and focusing on Black Student Success,” the statement said in part.

Johnson announced that he will introduce all seven of his new appointments Monday morning at a South Side church.

The resignations could be viewed as a victory for the mayor, but, according to David Greising of the Better Government Association, this is also a setback.

“What we see here now is a mayor who really lost control of this board,” Greising told WBBM. “He was pressuring them to agree to a $300 million loan that they wouldn’t agree to, and, instead of being bullied by the mayor to change their minds, they resigned en masse in a public rebuke of the mayor.”

WBBM's Craig Dellimore contributed to this report.

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