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(WTTW News)
After a four-month search, Mayor Lori Lightfoot chose San Antonio School Principal Pedro Martinez as the next CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
WTTW News first reported the news Tuesday night.
Martinez, who himself is a CPS graduate and former district finance director under then-CEO Arnie Duncan, will take control of the country’s third-largest school district after leading the San Antonio Independent School District. since 2015.
“It all started here,” Martinez said Wednesday outside his alma mater Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen. “My dad came (to the United States) when I was just six… and we came to Chicago because Chicago welcomed us as immigrants.
Martinez will replace Janice Jackson, who walked away from CPS earlier this year after more than three years as CEO. Beyond Jackson, CPS has also been without a permanent director of education or director of operations for months amid leadership changes within the district.
After graduating from Juarez, Martinez attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, then earned his MBA from DePaul University, according to his LinkedIn. He then held the position of CPS CFO from 2003 to 2009.
Although he has no classroom teaching experience, Martinez has worked in education throughout his professional career.
Martinez grabbed the headlines this year when he ordered masks for all students and staff, and demanded that employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, which angered Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who had prohibited principals from applying such warrants.
Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked this mask warrant and the State Attorney General filed a complaint against Martinez and his school district in August to seek a temporary order to end the vaccine requirement.
CPC has also adopted both a mask mandate for all students and staff, and district employees are mandatory to be fully vaccinated in the middle of next month. Lightfoot praised Martinez on Wednesday for defying what she called a “bad and dangerous” mask ban.
Prior to his tenure in San Antonio, Martinez was dismissed from his duties as superintendent from the Washoe County School District in Texas following a discrepancy in his credentials as a Chartered Public Accountant. Martinez at the time called this a misunderstanding.
Lightfoot said she was “fully aware” of this before hiring Martinez, but disputed that he was fired, instead calling it a “mutual separation” – even though Martinez himself said at the time that he had been fired.
Martinez said his scheduled start date was September 29, although his appointment has yet to be approved by the Education Council.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
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