Regarding his op-ed “I’m not resigning as CPS chief, and we’re not closing any schools” (Sept. 25): Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez embodies the American Dream, and his commitment and zeal to help our children are commendable. He has improved the Chicago public school system, and the numbers he cites speak for themselves. We should be thanking him for his service.
Instead, Mayor Brandon Johnson and his primary backers are looking to sack Martinez simply because he refused to borrow money in order to pay current bills (and provide a cushion to support the Chicago Teachers Union’s salary demands), something no competent financial adviser would suggest. There are other options, which don’t include school closures, as Martinez confirms.
We need someone to hold the line and get CPS’ financial house in order. We need Martinez.
— Dean Gerber, Chicago
Mayor, CTU should reconsider
My story was also a journey of hope, my parents also had a third grade education in Mexico and they were like so many other parents before them seeking the American Dream. My parents had a vision: They knew that the only way to beat poverty was through education, honesty and hard work. I hope Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Teachers Union reconsider their push for the ouster of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.
Students’ interests should be at the forefront. Politics should not have a bearing when it comes to the future of thousands of students and families who are trying to follow the path for a better future and greater opportunities. Let’s give the students a chance to succeed. Let’s move forward by giving them the support they deserve.
I’m also an immigrant. We arrived in Chicago back in 1967; I was 14 years old, the fourth of eight children. I was fortunate that we entered the United States legally; however, we endured the same sacrifices that all seeking the American Dream go through.
I’m also a product of the CPS system. I attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University. My three children and my nieces and nephews became professionals, proving my parents right: “Si se puede.”
I love Chicago and care deeply about its future. I still believe in the American Dream. I’m of Mexican descent and as a tribute to my parents make no excuses for it.
I embrace America wholeheartedly. This is my home and my children’s and grandchildren’s home.
— Luis Gonzalez, Chicago
Public education is critical
I am concerned that Mayor Brandon Johnson’s intensely close relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union — which has led him to ask Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to resign — will lead to an increasingly ailing school system and higher costs to taxpayers like me.
I have no children in CPS but believe supporting public education is critical for the future of our city and country. I also believe Martinez has been doing an excellent job from what I’ve read, and our mayor’s intent to do the bidding of the CTU by ousting him (with the goal of higher raises and greater borrowing to cover them) would be both a grave error and set a dangerous precedent.
My faith in our new mayor is waning.
— Debra Rosenberg, Chicago
Another Chicago scapegoat
Mayor Brandon Johnson has pulled the plug on ShotSpotter, claiming that it is too costly. He states that the cost of the system was $100 million, yet news media outlets have reported the actual cost was half that. By contrast, Johnson supports the Chicago Teachers Union’s financial demands, despite ever-increasing enrollment declines. The CTU’s bloated — and unsustainable — demands include annual wage increases that surpass market compensation trends and a multimillion-dollar pension payment by Chicago Public Schools.
Johnson is now pushing for the ouster of Pedro Martinez, the very qualified CEO of CPS, all because he will not give Johnson and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates their way. Yet another Chicago scapegoat. Seems to be a clear case of a conflict of interest.
Whatever happened to checks and balances? Then again, why am I asking? This is, after all, Chicago.
— Roberta Goeters Kushen, Chicago
CPS chief versus CTA chief
There is zero logic to Mayor Brandon Johnson insisting that Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez step down, considering Martinez’s stable fiscal management of CPS and negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union, then praising and not firing CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. for his abysmal management of the CTA.
It shows Johnson’s complete ineptitude and complete capitulation to the CTU. Johnson’s the one to be fired.
— Marty Regan, Chicago
A poorly handled decision
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handling of the ShotSpotter issue provides me with yet another reason to regret my decision to vote for him. In characterizing it as “a walkie-talkie on a stick,” he demonstrated his woeful ignorance both of the technology and of its primary benefit — saving lives! He also demonstrated his arrogance when he ignored the recommendations of his hand-picked police superintendent, a vote by 33 aldermen who represent many of the wards most affected by his decision and an independent study by the University of Chicago Crime Lab that concluded ShotSpotter saved as many as 85 lives a year.
The prudent course of action would have been to find a better solution to the problem before canceling ShotSpotter. When asked by reporters why he hadn’t done that, Johnson stated that finding a better solution takes time and he wanted to get it right. Seriously? Johnson has had 16 months to find a better solution.
I find it ironic that a man who was once a schoolteacher made such an important decision without doing his homework. Sadly, the consequences will be suffered by the very Black and brown citizens he promised to help when he ran for mayor.
I agree with Ald. Silvana Tabares, who said: “Starting tonight, every gunshot victim left bleeding in the streets of our city will be a worthy sacrifice in the eyes of the mayor for his radical agenda.” She was too diplomatic.
In my view, Johnson’s poorly considered decision to cancel ShotSpotter without having a replacement makes him responsible for the lives that inevitably will be lost as a result.
I hope voters will remember that come election time. I certainly will.
— Paul N. Eichwedel, Chicago
Voters choking on choice
The Sept. 24 letters to the editor are replete with complaints on the incompetence and lack of leadership of the novice Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is beholden to the Chicago Teachers Union. The Tribune Editorial Board also expressed similar concerns about Johnson last week (“With ShotSpotter’s looming demise, Johnson turns his back on neighborhoods whose votes made him mayor,” Sept. 20)..
In the 2023 mayoral election, voters decided to experiment with Johnson and bypassed the experienced and reasonable Paul Vallas with a good Chicago track record.
Said voters are now choking on their poor choice.
— David N. Simon, Chicago
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.