Author: Reema Amin

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news.Meisha Ross Porter, the former New York City schools chancellor, has dropped out of the running to become Chicago Public Schools’ next CEO, according to two school board members. That leaves two finalists: interim CEO Macquline King and Sito Narcisse, former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools. The Chicago Tribune first reported that Porter had withdrawn. Porter had not yet met with Mayor Brandon Johnson or a community panel, meetings expected to happen this week with all the finalists. During the board’s closed session…

The Chicago Board of Education has identified multiple finalists for the next CEO of Chicago Public Schools, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The board picked finalists during its Wednesday meeting in its closed session, the sources said. One of the sources said the board is advancing three people; the other sources declined to specify a number. A second source said there’s a small chance that the board may decide to add applicants to the finalist list.In a previous interview with Chalkbeat, appointed board member Norma Rios-Sierra said the board had a goal of identifying at least three…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news.The next chief of Chicago Public Schools should prioritize high-quality instruction, make schools feel safe, and have strong communication skills, said respondents in a recent survey conducted as part of the Chicago Board of Education’s search process for the district’s next leader.Zencity — a company focused on community engagement and research — conducted an analysis of about 2,700 respondents that it recruited on its own, and separately looked at results of another 880 people who received the survey from a board member or Alma Advisory…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.For Chicago Public Schools, 2024 was a year of chaos and conflict, political maneuvering and policy disputes. In 2025, with the district facing more changes and challenges, the upheaval and uncertainty is likely to carry over.The district will usher in the new year with a new governance structure, after voters for the first time elected people to the Chicago Board of Education, and uncertainty over who will lead the district and what kind of financial shape it will be in. In 2024,…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.A Cook County Circuit Court judge ruled Tuesday that the Chicago Board of Education may not block schools chief Pedro Martinez from doing his job and may not attend teachers contract negotiations without his approval. Judge Joel Chupack granted Martinez’s request for a temporary restraining order in a Christmas Eve ruling from the bench, marking another dramatic turn in the power struggle between the CEO and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hand-picked board members.The board fired Martinez without cause on Friday, meaning he will…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.Three days after voting to fire the school district CEO, Chicago Board of Education members took the extraordinary step Monday of attending contract negotiations between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union.The lawyer for Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez responded with a letter demanding board members cease and desist from attending negotiations, describing it as “unlawful interference” with Martinez’s authority. The back-and-forth shows how the vote to oust Martinez has taken the power struggle over the nation’s fourth largest school district…

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hand-picked school board voted Friday to fire Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, taking a step their predecessors had resisted and capping a months-long campaign by the mayor and teachers union to oust the schools chief.The board voted unanimously to fire Martinez without cause, which under the terms of his contract means he will stay on the job for six more months — through the end of the current school year — and then receive severance pay of…