Mayor Lightfoot to name Pedro Martinez as new CPS CEO

CHICAGO (WLS) â€" Chicago Public Schools will announce its new CEO Wednesday and is expected to name a CPS alum who now works in San Antonio.

According to Alderman Gilbert Villegas, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has picked Pedro Martinez, 51-year-old superintendent of the San Antonio school district and a graduate of Benito Juarez High School.

The position became vacant after CPS CEO Janice Jackson stepped down at the end of the last school year.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot expected to name Pedro Martinez as her pick to be the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools per @Ald_Villegas who chairs the City Council Latino Caucus. He calls the pick a step in the right direction. @ABC7Chicago

â€" Craig Wall ABC 7 (@craigrwall) September 15, 2021

Martinez inherits a district still sore and recovering from a teacher’s strike and a district fraught with tension over COVID safety in schools.

He would become the first Latino to lead the nation’s third largest school system on a full-time basis. Nearly 50 percent of cps students identify as Latinx.

Martinez has been the school superintendent in San Antonio since 2015. He also held a top position in the Reno, Nevada area.

Martinez was also the CFO for CPS from 2003-2009 so he is no stranger to the district

After he graduated from Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen, Martinez got his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and received his MBA from DePaul.

There were 25 applicants, but Martinez emerged as the frontrunner. Mayor Lightfoot is set to make the announcement at 9 a.m.

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