Latest news with #Johnson-appointed
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
CPS CEO Martinez nears exit after firing: How we got here
CHICAGO (WGN) — Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez returned to his high school alma mater for an 8th grade graduation ceremony on Tuesday, the same place where four years earlier Mayor Lori Lightfoot named him to the post. The Mexico-born immigrant will soon depart the district after a nearly four-year battle with current Mayor Brandon Johnson. Towards the end of Martinez's tenure, he and Johnson were at odds over money, with the mayor pushing for massive borrowing to shore up school finances. Martinez refused, prompting the mayor to call for his resignation. 'The experience of a lifetime': Ousted CPS CEO bids farewell in final Board of Education meeting Weeks after Martinez declined to step aside, the entire Chicago Board of Education resigned, giving Johnson an opportunity to appoint a new board before Chicagoans began choosing elected members at the ballot box. But before elected members took their seats, the Johnson-appointed board voted to fire Martinez. Martinez sued. 'The last time I even remember an affiliate agency where someone didn't leave easily was in 1986, when Harold Washington, after three years in office, was able to get rid of Ed Kelly as head of the park district,' political analyst Dick Simpson told WGN. 'It's probably been 40 or 50 years since we've had a similar situation.' In a goodbye letter to the CPS community, Martinez referenced taking over the district in 2021 when COVID 19 fears still lingered, saying he's proud of efforts to keep people healthy and the investments made thanks to federal relief dollars. Also in that letter, Martinez boasted that he's 'proud' of the decisions his administration made to change the way schools are funded, writing, 'I'm proud that the resources a CPS school receives no longer depends on its number of students.' But Martinez leaves having presented a budget for next school year that assumed $600 million in money that may or may not come to fruition. The Chicago Principals & Administrators Association called the budget 'magical.' But the structural issues are no longer Martinez's problem. A new job awaits him. Martinez is set to become Education Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The school board will soon name an interim CEO. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Laura Washington: The mayor' choice of an inexperienced ally to lead Chicago parks could backfire
It's a risky move. Despite Mayor Brandon Johnson's precarious position, it's one he seems willing to make. Nearly two years into a turbulent mayoral term, Johnson needs a turnaround. Longtime allies could help him get there. That's why he has tapped 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa as general superintendent and chief executive officer of the Chicago Park District, to replace City Hall veteran Rosa Escareno. Johnson recently declared he wanted to clean house of holdovers from previous administrations, and Escareno, among others, retired soon after that. On Friday, the Johnson-appointed Park District board quickly confirmed the appointment, effective April 1. Johnson aims to bring in his own 'trusted' people to execute his progressive agenda. I get that, but the Ramirez-Rosa move could backfire and dig Johnson into an even deeper political hole. The appointment invites two significant risks that revolve around experience and controversy. The three-term alderman represents a Northwest Side ward that includes parts of Avondale, Hermosa, Irving Park and Logan Square. He was elected on a socialist banner and rose to quickly make a name for himself as an outspoken lefty stalwart. That, and his support for Johnson in the 2023 mayoral election, earned him coveted spots as Johnson's floor leader and chair of the council's Zoning Committee. Ramirez-Rosa has advocated for some of Johnson's biggest progressive gets, including the passage of city ordinances that eliminated the subminimum wage for tipped workers and mandated that all Chicago-based employers provide staff with at least 10 days of annual paid leave. The mayor's office issued a news release that tried mightily to tout the alderman's accomplishments. Before joining the City Council, Ramirez-Rosa, 36, worked as a congressional aide, a union staffer and a deportation defense organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and he served on a Local School Council at a public elementary school. He earned a bachelor's in political science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ramirez-Rosa, the mayor's office touted, has worked 'to address key issues like public safety, homelessness, and maintenance at city parks.' He brings a 'proven track record of securing millions in funding for urban green space improvements and advocating for equitable infrastructure and youth programs.' Glaringly absent from his resume, however, is any experience managing even a midsize organization, much less a sprawling entity such as the Park District. Johnson is putting a virtual administrative novice in charge of a system with more than 600 parks, a $598 million budget and about 6,000 employees. That would seem to be a job requiring exceptional administrative experience and skills. Johnson should know how crucial that is. His own inexperience is showing, and it's not a pretty picture. He came to the office after stints as a Cook County commissioner, a union organizer and Chicago Public Schools teacher, but unschooled in managing organizations. Johnson's tenure has been marred by his struggles to bring down the city's violent crime and handle its troubled finances and migrant crisis, multiple fights with the City Council; botched appointments and questions about his oversight of city sister agencies such as CPS and the CTA, to name a few challenges. Johnson's thin management resume has likely exacerbated those troubles. And he hasn't learned much on the job. Voter sentiment tells the tale. Nearly 80% of Chicago voters said that they disapproved of Johnson's performance as mayor, a recent poll of 700 likely Chicago voters by the firm M3 Strategies shows. Then there's controversy. Ramirez-Rosa has been a magnet for it, in ways that could further irritate the city's already-tender Black-Latino relations. In November 2023, he was forced to step down from his powerful perches as floor leader and Zoning Committee chief after a high-profile confrontation with a colleague, 37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts. He was accused of manhandling Mitts during a heated debate about Chicago's status as a sanctuary city, by blocking her from entering the City Council chambers. That incident triggered a call from council critics to censure him. Ramirez-Rosa later apologized to Mitts and survived the censure push, but there was bad blood over his treatment of the veteran African American alderman. Ramirez-Rosa is a staunch backer of aiding the thousands of migrants who have arrived here, as well as Chicago's sanctuary city status. That has been a key friction point among African American voters who resent that the city has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to house and support the predominantly Latino migrant population — to the detriment of Black citizens in need, they fear. Now, more than ever, Johnson needs savvy, experienced pros who can smoothly execute his agenda. Ramirez-Rosa may not fit that bill.
