Mayor Brandon Johnson, along with Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, announced that the school district is in the process of expanding its paid parental leave up to 12 weeks for birthing and non-birthing parents.
Pedro Martinez
On the final day of classes for Chicago Public Schools students, Mayor Brandon Johnson again signaled that he may be planning to keep schools chief Pedro Martinez in that position moving forward.
Speaking before the Chicago Board of Education at its monthly meeting Wednesday, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter said the changes he’s seen in terms of district cooperation are “unprecedented.”
Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez did not get into specifics while speaking before the Chicago Board of Education Wednesday, but reiterated that principal Abdul Muhammad “had to be pulled” from the school “for multiple reasons.”
The district’s overall budget, which was $9.4 billion in 2023, will be essentially unchanged in 2024, with officials planning to spend an additional $150 million next year, mostly to add instructors in special education classes.
Chicago Public Schools is planning to spend $76 million to expand and upgrade the number of security cameras both inside and outside of district-run schools across the city — a move it says will improve the safety of students and staff.
Classes are not canceled Thursday, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez announced. Chicago is expecting to get hit with a dangerous combination of high winds, extremely cold temperatures and blowing snow, creating whiteout conditions.
“Everything I have in my life I owe to public education,” Sendhil Revuluri said during the meeting. “Our city, our students, our educators all need and deserve a board that listens to the community, focuses on student outcomes, sets clear goals to drive our progress and then holds one another and our district accountable for that progress.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially opposed efforts by members of the City Council to require the heads of the city’s sister agencies to answer questions from the City Council but dropped her objections Wednesday.
Pedro Martinez, appointed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in September 2021 to lead the Chicago Public Schools, has never answered questions during a City Council meeting.
The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday voted to revoke the charters for Urban Prep Academies campuses in Englewood and Bronzeville, with CPS itself set to step in and begin managing those schools.
Despite concerns from the public and elected officials, the board at its monthly meeting voted 4-3 in favor of a trio of motions to help Chicago Public Schools acquire land and take additional steps toward building the new school.
CPS on Friday announced that 93.4% of its 300,000-plus students were in their classrooms for the start of the new school year on Aug. 22. That’s the highest percentage since the 2019-20 school year, the district said.
The average bus trip districtwide is 39 minutes and over 80% of rides are under an hour, according to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, but 365 diverse learners currently have rides lasting more than 90 minutes each day.
Monday marks the first day of the 2022-23 school year, as some 300,000-plus students head back to class on one of the earliest start dates in recent memory.
Even as COVID-19 case numbers increased in recent weeks after an early spring lull, Lightfoot said she has no intention of returning to remote learning when classes resume in August.
