A Cook County judge rescheduled Thursday’s hearing regarding the alleged obstruction of Chicago Public Schools chief Pedro Martinez’s job duties.
On Dec. 24, Judge Joel Chupack granted Martinez’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent Board of Education members from attending contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union without his approval; or block him from the “performance of his job duties.”
Representatives for Martinez and the school board agreed to defer the hearing because the school chief’s court order — or injunction — is complicated by the Jan. 15 meeting in which 10 newly elected and 11 members appointed by the mayor will be seated, William J. Quinlan, Martinez’s attorney said.
The hearing scheduled for 3:15 p.m. Thursday was moved to 10:30 a.m. Jan. 21.
“All parties agreed it was wise to defer the status hearing before the court until after the new school board had been seated,” Quinlan said in a statement.
Chupack’s Christmas Eve ruling was a victory for the chief executive officer after months of back-and-forth about his potential firing. Martinez’s contract was eventually terminated without cause on Dec. 20 by school board members appointed by the mayor. Though he was fired, he still has 180 days as acting schools chief.
The lame-duck period of Martinez’s tenure left some questions unanswered about how his ongoing responsibilities might change or whether the school board would hire a co-CEO alongside him.
Days after the firing, three board members attended a session of high-stakes contract negotiations between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union. The teachers contract expired in June and negotiations have been ongoing since April.
“(The board) didn’t even go to my team. They went directly to CTU, and even went after to strategize,” Martinez told Chupack in December. “They feel empowered. … They have the mayor and the board. And so they’re telling my team to agree.”
Last September, the mayor asked Martinez to resign due to his refusal to take out a $300 million high-interest loan to cover the costs of a new proposed teachers contract and a pension payment for nonteacher school staff.
Over $300 million in extra money from the city’s tax increment financing, or TIF, surplus funds will help bridge some of those costs, but there is still a gaping hole in the district’s budget for 2025, financial analysts say.
