Jan Resseger is puzzled that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot selected San Antonio Superintendent Pedro Martinez to lead Chicago’s public schools. His experience and views overlap with those of Arne Duncan, for whom he served as Chief Financial Officer. Parents and teachers wanted the next superintendent to be an instructional leader. Martinez has no experience as a teacher or a principal. He represents the failed ideas of corporate reform. Twenty years of test score driven decisions—closing schools and replacing them with charter schools— should be enough.
She writes:
For WBEZ, Chicago’s best education reporter, Sarah Karp introduces Pedro Martinez: “Turning to a non-educator with deep Chicago ties, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot named former Chicago schools official and a current San Antonio schools superintendent Pedro Martinez as the next CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Martinez, who was born in Mexico and raised in Chicago, will be the first permanent Latino leader in the school district’s history… Martinez worked as CPS’ chief financial officer under former CEO Arne Duncan… Martinez is an accountant who has been called ‘analytics heavy.’ And in San Antonio, he has expanded charter schools as well as partnered with private organizations to take over failing schools. These ideas have been popular in Chicago, but they have fallen out of favor in recent years… Martinez has never taught or run a school as principal. And, thus, in choosing him, Lightfoot is rejecting the input of parents and others who said they wanted someone with a strong instructional background with ‘boots on the ground’ experience… Martinez is a graduate of the Broad Superintendent Academy training program. Critics say the Broad Academy promotes school leaders who use corporate-management techniques and that they work to limit teachers’ job protections and the involvement of parents in decision-making.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is truly disgusting. When it comes to education, Lori Lightfoot is no better than Rahm Emanuel.
Wow, what a system, having the mayor appoint a superintendent of public education! I like Ohio’s system much better–though it’s far from perfect. Here, we elect a school board, and that board chooses it’s leader–the board president. The board then hires an educator–someone with a degree or two in educational administration and experienced in public education–as a Superintendent. Mayors are rarely knowledgeable about public education, and they are very subject to political whim. Elected members are politicians, too, but to a lesser extent. Most seem to be motivated by a service to or interest in education. As a former union representative, I can’t say all Ohio superintendent’s are wonderful–or even good ones. But they are at least qualified.
Martinez worked as CPS’ chief financial officer under former CEO Arne Duncan… Martinez is a graduate of the Broad Superintendent Academy training program.
They may only work for other ed reformers and they must take the “approved” training program. No one outside the circle gets hired.
Ideas, particularly those promoted persistently in a bipartisan way find their way into people’s consciousness. They become deeply rooted and resistant to modification or change. When, the system in which we live is designed to normalize, racism, inequity, and undermine democratic values and no party manages to enact polices that materially provide a counterweight, this is what we get, with substantial help from campaign contributions. The same dynamic has affected economic, healthcare and climate policy since the Democrats decided to go Republican-lite decades ago. Evidence of failure does not trump deeply held beliefs. If it did vaccine resistance would have vanished.
“Joanne Weiss
During pandemic, charter enrol’t grew by 7%, while trad’l district enrol’t fell dramatically. “Families are sending a clear message. They want more public school options.”
charteralliance”
The charter lobbying group says everyone wants more charters and fewer public schools and all of ed reform repeats it. Over and over and over.
As you can see, it’s a very rigorous “debate” with lots and lots of diverse opinions. That’s why they all promote exactly the same policy, at the same time, using identical language.
It’ll be a shame if Chicago public school students get stuck with a leader who is ideologically opposed to public schools. That isn’t fair to them. Maybe he’ll be exposed to some other opinions when he’s working in Chicago and will value public schools- that has happened to people who came out of the ed reform echo chamber- they have moderated when they’ve encountered pro-public school people.
John King is running for governor of Maryland, another Obama ed reformer.
King wasn’t as anti-public school as Duncan and the people Duncan hired but Obama was not good for public education. Public schools lost more in Obama’s two terms than under any President in my lifetime. It was 8 years of attacks on public schools and the Obama Administration joined in. At one point I thought Arne Duncan was going to endorse Scott Walker- their approach to education was identical.
Obama’s education policy was a disaster, which I think is probably inevitable when he hired people who aren’t particularly interested in public education but are instead interesting in privatizing public systems and destroying labor unions. Public school students are an afterthought. They’re busy “reinventing”, which always, always means “ship it all off to private contractors”.
Oh Chiara, Mr. King was very anti-public school and anti-teacher when he was NY education secretary 2011-2015 and I was teaching in NY then. New York has always had excellent schools and highly qualified teachers and he came in with all the deformers opinions and top down test-based accountability crap. (Even while espousing that “NY city public schools saved me” ) He was no match for the very vocal and strong LI parents’ opt out movement and was practically “run out of town” We ( silenced) NY teachers were thrilled and will always owe a huge debt to those supportive, strong “soccer Moms!”
Neither Obama nor Duncan spoke up about Scott Walker’s attacks on unions. I dared Duncan to meet me in Milwaukee to join the protest—via his communications guy on Twitter—but he and Obama went to Miami to meet Jeb Bush and celebrate the “turnaround” of a high school (that was listed in the state closure list as a failing school.)
I’m sorry, but it has to be said. Is it SO important that the new supt. be touted as “the first Latino?” Does his Latino heritage, somehow, supercede/make up for the fact that the man is NOT an educator, worked under Arne Duncan (red alert), attended Broad Academy & is pro-charter? (Always a ? to be asked/SHOULD be asked: how can a pro-charter administrator be put on charge of a PUBLIC school system & be trusted to actually RUN that system? Well, silly me: actually, expected to RUN it…into the ground.) &… how well does THAT work out for Latino students & others of color? Just because he is “the first Latino,” that, alone qualifies him to be supt. of this school system? Just. NO.
Poor choice of many made by L.L., & another that is going to create unneeded stress & animosity for her relationship with the CTU.
I really did have high hopes/expected more from her. Very sad, & VERY BAD choice for Chicago schools.
I’m thinking blackmail.
The kleptocrats behind the Charter/Voucher education industry have already proven they are ruthless liars and manipulators willing to spend billions to get what they want. So, they must have hired detectives to dig into her past until they found some dirt.
These creeps probably do it for everyone they want to control, and if they can’t find any dirt, they will lie and probably make something up to scare the mark. Then, if they don’t succeed with planting fake evidence, they hire people to start threatening the mark and his/her family to scare them into compliance through fear.
Or perhaps it’s simply the old boy/old girl dirty quid pro quo machine politics for which Chicago is infamous
Let’s see, perhaps I should hire the protege of the dumbest, most disastrously misguided person ever to hold a position of authority in US education. . . .
Until student misbehavior is curbed, CPS will continue to be a mess. I would not want to teach there despite its many wonderful students ; the minority of chaos creators creates an awful situation for everyone.
The students are the ones who keep us going through the war on public education, aren’t they. Aren’t the students marvels! Young people bring such joy to our professional lives. If it weren’t for them, the testing and privatization [insert the most foul plural noun you can think of here] would make our jobs completely unbearable. I love teaching. I hate watching those I teach be monetized.
Students are also the ones that grind us down and wear us out. Bad behaviors are going unchecked and teachers are being sacrificed on the altar of stupid ideas about behavior management. Teachers need to speak out more and stop suffering in silence. Teachers are people too.
Teachers deserve to work in a non-abusive workplace.
Absolutely, teachers need a non-abusive work place. Sounds to me like you need me to be your union rep! Teaching is abundantly joyous when we are well supported. In other words, teaching is fun when we are able to be effective, and we are able to be effective when we act in concert to support one another.
The students are the ones who keep us going through the war on public education, aren’t they. Aren’t the students marvels! Young people bring such joy to our professional lives. If it weren’t for them, the testing and privatization [insert the most foul plural noun you can think of here] would make our jobs completely unbearable. I love teaching. I hate watching those I teach be monetized.