Education
All 7 Chicago Board of Education Members to Step Down Amid District Disputes
(Michael Izquierdo / WTTW News)
It’s been more than a year since Mayor Brandon Johnson, fresh off his runoff election victory, hand-selected the new members of Chicago’s Board of Education — a diverse group he described at the time as district parents and “education champions” who were dedicated to “creating learning environments that support our children in the classroom and beyond.”
Now, 14 months after those appointments, all seven members of the board will step down amid ongoing strife between Johnson and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez following squabbles over finances, possible school closures and the district’s ongoing contract negotiations with Johnson’s former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union.
Board president Jianan Shi, Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland and fellow members Mariela Estrada, Mary Fahey Hughes, Rudy Lozano, Michelle Morales and Tanya Woods plan to step down from their positions this month. Johnson plans to announce their replacements Monday morning.
“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,” Johnson and the board said in a joint statement Friday.
Multiple board members did not respond to requests for comment Friday afternoon.
A CPS spokesperson on Friday acknowledged the sudden departure of the full board “may concern our families and staff,” but added that Martinez and district officials “remain focused on teaching and learning, continuing the great momentum we’ve seen in students’ academic gains and performance over the past two years.”
“These Board members in particular advocated for equity, emphasizing our collective responsibility to better serve all students but especially students with disabilities and those in neighborhoods that have been historically under-resourced and who remain furthest from opportunity,” the CPS spokesperson said.
The district also said any questions about the timing of the resignations or the appointment of new board members should be directed to Johnson’s office.
Deputy Mayor for Education Jen Johnson told WTTW News that the mayor did not fire all seven board members, but reached an agreement that the time was right for them to depart.
“They have done the work the mayor asked them to do,” said Jen Johnson, who is not related to the mayor. “We met our shared objectives, and now is the time to transition to the new board.”
Jen Johnson disputed the notion that the nation’s largest school district was engulfed in turmoil, blaming the mayor’s political foes for pushing that narrative in the news media.
“We have seen what chaos looks like,” Jen Johnson said, listing the closure of 50 schools in 2013 as an example of actual chaos. “This is manufactured chaos from those who want to relitigate the mayor's victory.”
Raise Your Hand, a parent advocacy group that had been led by Shi before he was appointed to the board last year, said in a statement it is “deeply concerned” about the resignations.
“Instead of preparing to build on the historic wins so many of us have fought so hard for, we are preparing to weather a season of extreme disruption in CPS leadership,” the organization said in a statement before asking Brandon Johnson’s office to outline a roadmap for an elected board to continue the work the current board has started.
“Who will be monitoring to ensure the 1,200+ students in special education without bus routes will be routed,” Raise Your Hand asked. “Who should families contact as their children continue to go without paraprofessionals and services? How will new board members be transitioned into their new role?”
Brandon Johnson said earlier this week he remains committed to transforming the schools system.
“I was elected to fight for the people of the city, and whoever is in the way, get out of it,” Brandon Johnson said.
The move comes just weeks before the first set of board elections, in which the board will expand from seven to 21 members, 10 of whom will be chosen by the public. That hybrid board will serve for two years before the board becomes fully elected in 2027.
According to Brandon Johnson and the board, none of the current members planned to continue serving on the hybrid board.
“With the unprecedented increase in Board membership, transitioning new members now will allow them time to orient and gain critical experience prior to welcoming additional elected and appointed members in 2025,” the city statement reads.
Martinez wrote to parents, staff and students multiple times last month, and in each letter, he has promised that he will not close any schools while at the helm of CPS, even as he acknowledged compiling a list of schools that could be closed as part of an effort to create a five-year strategic plan for the district.
Sources in the mayor’s office said Martinez’s decision to craft that list without informing the mayor indelibly broke the relationship between the two men. Martinez and Brandon Johnson have been at odds over the district’s finances and efforts to craft a new contract with CTU for months.
The board last month unanimously approved a nonbinding moratorium on school closures until 2027.
Brandon Johnson is not able to fire Martinez — that duty is left to the board — and if the board were to terminate him without cause, his contract requires that he continue serving with pay during a six-month transition period and then be paid five months’ severance.
A former organizer with the CTU, Brandon Johnson has backed the union’s demand that a new contract include pay raises for teachers, more art teachers and services for children experiencing homelessness. That would likely require the cash-strapped school district to borrow a significant amount of money at a relatively high interest rate.
Martinez opposes additional borrowing, saying it would worsen the district’s financial condition. CPS has approximately $9.3 billion in debt, costing the district more than $817 million annually, records show.
Brandon Johnson this week denied that he had asked for Martinez’s resignation, and the agenda for the board’s September meeting did not include any items regarding Martinez’s contract with the district.
Martinez, however, has said Brandon Johnson did ask him to step down, but he refused, writing in a Chicago Tribune op-ed that his decision “was not a rebuke of the mayor but rather a decision to pursue our vision for the future of CPS.”
“I have chosen not to resign because doing so would risk creating a leadership vacuum and instability that could disrupt the strategic progress we’ve made to date. I am the seventh CPS CEO in the past decade,” Martinez wrote. “A leadership change is extraordinarily disruptive to any school system, generating a domino effect of change among key positions that can stall progress and diminish opportunities for students.
“Our long-term vision and initiatives are at a critical juncture, and leaving now would jeopardize continuity and our momentum.”
The board is currently scheduled to meet for its agenda review committee meeting Oct. 16 before its monthly meeting on Oct. 24.
Heather Cherone contributed to this report.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
