Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez on His Firing, Ongoing CTU Negotiations


Just days before Christmas, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez was terminated in a unanimous vote by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked Board of Education. This Wednesday, the city’s first-ever elected school board members will be sworn in. Martinez is still the CEO for the next six months under the terms of his contract.

He joined WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” for his first sit-down interview since being fired.

On his reaction to being fired:

Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors

“As a CPS student, someone who’s grown up in Chicago, this was the dream job for me. I was offered quite a bit of money to leave the job immediately. To do that for me would have been so wrong with so much going on in the district.”

On his working relationship with Johnson:

“We haven’t spoken since last summer when this whole ordeal started. By the way, self-inflicted. When you look at all the work we’ve done, nobody is invested more in our neighborhood schools than myself and my team.”

On the contract stalemate with the Chicago Teachers Union:

“We’re closer today on this contract than ever before. The last two contracts that were negotiated in CPS, one took 18 months, one took 14 months. We’re barely on month 10 of this process with a much more complicated contract.”


Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors

Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors