18 hours Ago By Nell Salzman, Gregory Royal Pratt
The extraordinary power struggle between Chicago Public Schools, the teachers union and Mayor Brandon Johnson continued after school board members attended ongoing teachers contract negotiations for the first time in 12 years. The unusual move to have members of the Board of Education at the bargaining table Monday came days after Johnson’s handpicked board voted to terminate CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez at a special meeting on Friday. A lawyer representing Martinez responded by sending a cease and desist email to board members saying their presence at negotiations usurped Martinez’s role as the the current CEO.
“We are writing to demand that the Board Member Defendants immediately cease and desist with any such actions, which unlawfully infringe on and interfere with Mr. Martinez’s authority, as CEO, to act as the sole representative of the Board in these negotiations,” Martinez’s lawyer William Quinlan of the Quinlan Law Firm LLC wrote. The decision to bring the board into negotiations was made public on social media by Jackson Potter, CTU vice president.
“Today, for the first time since 2012 when Board president David Vitale joined bargaining to close the deal, we have Board of Education members present helping both sides land an agreement,” Potter wrote on X Monday afternoon. Friday’s meeting marked the end of a contentious chapter in CPS history but opened the door to more uncertainty. Because the school board fired Marinez without cause, the CEO will remain in his role for six months, “during which time the Chief Executive Officer’s duties and responsibilities shall be modified by the Board,” according to the resolution that passed 6-0.
That has led to much confusion as to how Johnson and his board members would interact with the outgoing CEO and how he would respond. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union have been pushing for a resolution to a new, 4-year contract by Christmas, ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
Some financial analysts say the new board could saddle taxpayers with a fiscally irresponsible contract to reward the union — which funded Johnson’s mayoral campaign. “I think there’s this reputation right now that the mayor is driving the district to overspend, and if that’s the case, there will be less appetite from other politicians to bail (the district) out,” said Marguerite Roza, school finance expert and director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab in a recent interview with the Tribune. “These are self-inflicted wounds.
” Monday afternoon, school board President Sean Harden, and board members Frank Thomas and Olga Bautista left the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters near the United Center where negotiations were ongoing and declined comment on how Martinez’s duties would be modified. “Not at this point,” said Thomas, before getting into his car. Harden called Monday’s meeting “incredibly important work.
” He said the board members present wanted to make sure “as leaders that the team at the table negotiating understands the importance of this time.” “We want to be here to show our support, make sure things move forward,” Harden said. “There’s no pause in activities.
We’re stabilized. Taking care of business as it should be.” Chicago Board of Education board member Frank Thomas leaves the Chicago Teachers Union Center after a meeting on Dec.
23, 2024. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune) In September, Martinez refused to take out a $300 million high-interest loan — asked for by the mayor — that the CEO said would saddle the district in debt. The teachers contract expired in June, and the loan would in part cover a new contract with proposals for higher raises and staffing levels.
The bargaining team has ramped up negotiations in recent weeks, and is currently meeting six times a week. Board members Harden, Thomas and Bautista were appointed by the mayor after the previous board resigned en masse under pressure to oust Martinez for not taking out the loan. The mayor is a former teacher and CTU organizer.
Under the Illinois School Code, the superintendent of a school district “shall negotiate contracts with all labor organizations which are exclusive representatives of educational employees employed under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.” The CPS CEO negotiates collective bargaining agreements “on behalf of the board” and submits tentative agreements to the board for “adoption and approval,” according to district protocol. Though the board and the CEO have a collaborative relationship, it is uncommon for board members to be involved in negotiations.
Martinez — like other district superintendents — typically doesn’t attend negotiations because he relies on his team of employees with specialties to do so. He did not attend bargaining conversations on Monday. The district did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
The last time a school board president stepped into negotiations, as noted by Potter on X, was David Vitale in 2012 . Then-school board President Vitale, an executive in banking and then trading, maintained a presence in teachers contract negotiations as they were coming to a close during a 7-day strike.A battle in court between Martinez and the members of the board is also ramping up, with a hearing for a temporary restraining order over the CEO’s firing on Tuesday at 11:00 a.
m at the Richard J. Daley Center in the Loop..
