In his first interview since the CPS board voted unanimously to terminate Martinez, Johnson said the current board members were carrying out his vision for the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

The threats to the CEO’s job drew pushback from elected officials at every level from Chicago City Council to the U.S. Congress, pushback from incoming board members and scores of principals, and legal action by Martinez’s lawyer.

To fully understand what led the district to this point, let’s go back in time to the spring of this year. Below is a timeline of the major events leading toward CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s termination and upcoming departure from CPS:

The unusual Friday night meeting saw more than an hour and a half of public comment before board members went into closed session to debate Martinez’s fate. In a 6-0 vote, the board dismissed Martinez without cause, which triggers a clause in his contract allowing him to stay on for a six-month transitional period and receive 20 weeks of severance.

The board announced a special meeting for Friday evening where it will take up only a small handful of items, including the schools chief’s possible termination and a settlement with CPS.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said the district enacted a “comprehensive response” to protect its students, families and staff when President-elect Donald Trump’s first term began in 2017, and CPS officials are planning to take similar steps before Trump’s inauguration next month.

The seven new board members, appointed by Johnson earlier this month, were sworn in during Thursday’s agenda review committee meeting. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was also present at Thursday’s meeting, has seen questions swirl about his continued employment with the school district.

No current or former members of the Chicago Board of Education attended Wednesday's marathon session of the City Council’s Education Committee, even after some City Council members threatened to hit them with subpoenas to require them to appear.

The school district on Wednesday released its 20th-day enrollment figures — which serve as the office CPS tally for the academic year — showing there are currently 325,305 students enrolled.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said during an appearance on WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” he has repeatedly urged the mayor to use funds from the city’s TIF districts instead of borrowing money or making cuts to classrooms.

“I’m not going to cut, and take away, layoff, fire, privatize so that other people can benefit, and the people of Chicago can lose,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “Not under my watch.”

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.

The 6-0 vote by the board overseeing the Chicago Public Schools came two days after CEO Pedro Martinez announced he had refused Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request to resign, an unprecedented show of public defiance by the head of a city agency toward the mayor.

“Borrowing to pay for operating expenses in a business, in a government, etc., is not a great idea unless you know how you’re going to pay for that, because it’s going to come due,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, “speaking as a businessperson.”

During the past week, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has written three times to parents, staff and students, 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 compile a five-year strategic plan.

Nearly a week after the Chicago School Board approved a new five-year plan for Chicago Public Schools, tensions among CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union are mounting.