All of Chicago’s new school board members are scheduled to be sworn in at an agenda review meeting Thursday morning, including Chicago Police Department Hate Crimes Officer Rafael Yañez, the seventh school board member appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The agenda meeting, which was postponed for a week, was posted on the Chicago Board of Education’s website a day after Jen Johnson, Mayor Johnson’s deputy mayor for education, youth and human services, announced she would be taking a leave of absence from her job. The actual school board meeting is scheduled for November 1st.
The resignation of city leaders and the appointment of a new school board is the latest in a months-long standoff over how to deal with CPS’s budget crisis caused by the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds and the clashing financial demands of new teachers. It’s just an evolution. Contracts and national pension payments.
All seven school board members resigned earlier this month, and Mayor Brandon Johnson announced appointees for all but one seat just days later.
The agenda for Thursday’s meeting includes swearing in Yañez. “I have over 15 years of experience conducting comprehensive investigations, training police recruits, and partnering with federal and local agencies to prevent and respond to violent crime,” Yañez said on his LinkedIn profile. There is. Yañez also ran for city council in Ward 15 in 2019.
The Rev. Mitchell Johnson, former executive director of the Development Community Project, will serve as the new board chairman. Mary Gardner, a Westside community organizer, will serve as vice president.
The new school board is expected to be sworn in in just a few weeks before Chicagoans vote on a district-elected school board member to replace the Johnson-appointed board. The other half of the 21 new board members and the board chair will continue to be appointed by Mayor Johnson. The new hybrid directors are expected to take office in January.
The purpose of Thursday’s “Agenda Review Committee” is to review, deliberate, and approve the items that will be discussed at the actual school board meeting in November.
Although not specifically mentioned on Thursday’s agenda, tensions between the mayor, CTU and Martinez have been brewing for months.
The uproar was sparked in part by unrest over the mayor’s private request for CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to resign this fall, but the mayor reportedly That’s because he rejected the mayor’s request to approve a controversial $300 million high-interest loan to cover new teacher contracts and $175 funding. 1 million pension payment. Martinez also reportedly came under fire from CTU President Stacey Davis Gates for refusing to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to fill the district’s budget shortfall.
It has become common to schedule an agenda review meeting before the actual monthly meeting, where the board discusses and votes to approve CPS policies and investments.
The October board meeting was postponed to November following the mayor’s successful board shakeup. The next meeting is scheduled for December 12th.
Regardless of whether the newly appointed school board addresses Martinez’s position, he will undergo a performance review in January, where he will be voted out by the newly appointed school board. There is a possibility that If he is fired without cause, he will remain in his job for a six-month “transition period” and receive severance pay. If fired “for cause,” Mr. Martinez would be fired immediately.
It’s still unclear how long the city’s deputy mayor will be on leave, even as the city is in the midst of a complete change of board and at a critical period of budget deliberations. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said personal information about her decision could not be released.
The mayor’s deputy mayor for education was appointed in 2023 after serving as chief of staff for the Chicago Teachers Union. She is reportedly taking a leave of absence due to health issues, which was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Ikram Mohammed of the Chicago Tribune contributed.
