In a unanimous vote, the seven members of the Chicago Board of Education voted Thursday to ban faculty closures till 2027.
The vote ended — at the least for now — an more and more fractious month wherein the district confronted allegations of a clandestine plot to shut faculties and the destiny of CEO Pedro Martinez’s job was continually in query.
In a Wednesday op-ed within the Tribune, Martinez made a case of his job after continually speculating that Mayor Brandon Johnson would fireplace him. Tension and rumors elevated this week following reviews that nameless sources instructed the media that the mayor had requested Martinez to resign.
However, Martinez’s position as CEO was not up for dialogue or on the board’s formal agenda Thursday. The risk that a variety of faculties have been on an inventory to ultimately shut or consolidate. The allegations have raised the ire of the Chicago Teachers Union, which has known as for a mediator because it continues negotiations with CPS over a brand new four-year contract.
During his speech Thursday evening, Martinez addressed the “misinformation marketing campaign” he claims has been waged in opposition to him concerning faculty closures, reiterating that the district has no plans to shut faculties. He additionally mentioned his position in crafting a decision extending a moratorium on faculty closures till January 2027. However, Martinez didn’t deal with hypothesis that he would quickly be ousted.
“There is just no fact to this,” Martinez mentioned throughout the assembly. “To put this matter to relaxation as soon as and for all, I ask the Board to undertake the decision in the present day, clearly stating that CPS won’t shut or consolidate any faculties earlier than the totally elected faculty board is in place in January 2027.”
CTU Vice President Jackson Potter took to the rostrum throughout Thursday’s board assembly, calling on Martinez to amend his decision on faculty closures, arguing that it at the moment doesn’t totally shield faculties as a result of it doesn’t ban co-locations, wherein faculties share amenities with none modifications to high school programming.
“We are discussing faculty closures and workers reductions, somewhat than implementing a change plan or calling out banks for his or her corruption and deceit,” Potter mentioned. “We are going via phases of grief. We have been traumatized by closing lists that have been wrongly given to us previously, and which then fake to be theoretical and turn out to be a harsh actuality. Please do not forget that the identical procedures don’t apply to co-locations as to closures and consolidations, as a result of neither the legislation nor the decision you propose to go tonight would prohibit this type of faculty motion. Therefore we now have modified your decision,” he mentioned.
At the opening of Thursday’s assembly, Board of Education President Jianan Shi additionally insisted there was no plan to shut faculties, immediately addressing the “noise within the media” about CPS and to the Council.
In a publish on had requested the district to take cost could be mandatory. not be on the board assembly agenda. The district shortly launched a brand new assertion, talking solely on behalf of district officers and never board members.
During Thursday’s assembly, Shi mentioned the board doesn’t “publicly focus on confidential or personnel issues,” confirming that Martinez’s employment standing won’t be mentioned.
“We need to take a second to bolster the values and imaginative and prescient that information this work as board members,” Shi instructed the viewers gathered on the Roberto Clemente Community Academy in West Town. “When this board was appointed by Mayor Johnson, we dedicated to working with our faculties and communities to remodel CPS into a completely resourced, truthful and equitable faculty system.”
Before the assembly, at a press convention exterior the college, activist and college board candidate Aaron “Jitu” Brown addressed rumors of college closures to an assembled crowd of CTU members and the press. Brown is operating for a seat within the fifth District, which incorporates Austin’s West Side neighborhoods, Garfield Park and Lawndale, amongst others.
Two posters have been assembled containing a printout of the evaluation of potential co-locations and college consolidations generated by CPS. As they confronted this listing – the flashpoint for allegations of deliberate faculty closures – the assembled crowd chanted, “No faculty closures!”
