CPS CEO Pedro Martinez threatens to sue school board before they consider firing him at Friday meeting

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez has threatened to file a lawsuit against the Board of Education and all seven of its members hours before they plan to fire him at a hastily called special meeting Friday night.

The school board is leaning toward firing Martinez without cause, several sources told WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times earlier Friday, which would trigger a portion of his contract that allows him to remain in his role for six months.

The board is then considering installing Sean Harden — Mayor Brandon Johnson's pick for new board president — as co-interim CEO during that time to freeze out Martinez, two sources said. But conversations are ongoing over who exactly would step in and how much power Martinez would retain.

Sidelining Martinez could allow Johnson and his allies at the Chicago Teachers Union to move forward with items that Martinez has blocked: settling a new union contract, pushing a pension payment for non-teacher CPS staff onto the school system’s books and taking out a short-term loan to fill a midyear budget deficit and avoid budget cuts like layoffs or furloughs.

In a five-page letter sent Friday afternoon, Martinez’s attorneys asked the board “not to take any steps to terminate Mr. Martinez or diminish his role as CEO.

“Any such actions would constitute not only a breach of Mr. Martinez’s contract with the board, but also the relevant Illinois law governing the board’s actions. Such action would also be contrary to the interests of the children and families that CPS and the board serve,” the letter read.

“We respectfully request that the board confirm if it intends to move forward with actions that would result in the termination or diminishment of Mr. Martinez’s employment as CEO at tonight’s meeting by no later than 2 p.m. today — so that we can engage the appropriate legal response.”

Johnson and the school board likely would rather have Martinez immediately out of his position. But former Mayor Lori Lightfoot's Board of Education amended Martinez’s contract in December 2022 — in her last months in office — to require the six months’ notice of termination without cause. During that time, Martinez would continue working his $360,706-a-year job and transition his duties to a new CEO. In that scenario, his contract calls for 20 weeks’ severance, which would come out to $138,733. Martinez’s five-year contract runs through June 30, 2026.

The alternative would be firing Martinez for cause by citing wrongdoing or poor performance. But the school board has feared the lawsuit that could come with that route.

His contract spells out the reasons he could be fired for cause: misconduct, criminal activity, failure to perform his duties, fraud or other wrongdoing or “any other conduct inconsistent with the CEO’s duties and obligations to CPS or the Board, or that may be reasonably perceived to have a material adverse impact on the good name and integrity of CPS or the Board.”

Supporters of Martinez have said that this language gives him the leverage to sue the school district and perhaps even school board members themselves. This made school board members, including those who resigned en masse in October, nervous about quickly terminating Martinez, who has not committed any gross wrongdoing.

The school board has repeatedly offered Martinez significant money to leave, but he has insisted he wants to stay through the end of the school year, sources said.