Ex-Chicago school board member on Martinez, Johnson, former CTU head Lewis

CHICAGO (WGN) — Last fall, amid a tense standoff between Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, the seven Chicago Board of Education members announced their resignations.

Elizabeth Todd-Breland, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and the co-author of former Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis’ posthumous new memoir, was among them.

In a sit-down interview with WGN on Monday, Todd-Breland carefully walked around our questions about Martinez and Johnson, but said communication among the CPS decision makers is problem.

“I think as an appointee you serve at the pleasure of the mayor. They were ready to transition a little earlier. I don’t want to speak for all of the board members, but I was good,” she said with a laugh. “We have a governance triangle. So the Board, CPS CEO and their staff and the mayors office, and how information travels around there, I do think is difficult.”

On CPS CEO Pedro Martinez:

Todd-Breland: “So I actually think it’s maybe not appropriate for me to comment on it because he was my direct report, right? I was part of formal evaluations of Pedro Martinez and I was very direct in my evaluations.”

On former CTU President Karen Lewis:

Todd-Breland: “She inherited the leadership of the union that was pushing forward a different way of thinking about the role of the union to look at sorta beyond just bread and butter issues.”

In the memoir, “I Didn’t Come Here to Lie,” Lewis opens up about her battles with former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the 7-day strike she led in 2012, and the union’s response to the closure of 50 schools in 2013.

Todd-Breland: “She pulled no punches. I think he brought it to her and she threw it back. It was very clear with him about how she was going to stand up for young people and educators in this city.”

Lewis died in 2021 after a battle with brain cancer, but her work to thrust CTU into Chicago politics is still being felt today.

Todd-Breland: “She talks and calls out billionaires and the way that they’re hoarding money and working people aren’t getting what they need. That certainly speaks to our time. She talks about the need for cross racial and cross class solidarity, right? That is something that we need now more than ever.”

“I Didn’t Come Here to Lie” is available now, its release coming as the CTU awaits final votes to ratify their new contract.