It is hard sometimes to keep up with the ups and downs in the government and politics of Chicago’s rookie mayor Brandon Johnson who is trying very hard to quiet and remove from office Pedro Martinez, CEO of our public schools who was hired three years ago by Mayor Lightfoot and since then has been doing a very good job. The evidence of how good is that for the first time in ten years, public school enrollment in Chicago is increasing which is an indication that public school parents are regaining some of their long-lost confidence in the schools. Eighty-four percent of public school students this year are graduating, which is a record achievement. And more than 1000 students are participating in internship programs. And nearly 2000 are being certified as career educators. And in many more than ten years, if not for the first time ever, the mayor of Chicago is a former public school teacher and an organizer for the teacher’s union. What CEO Pedro Martinez deserves is for Mayor Johnson to stop trying, or even thinking about, removing him from office, and instead trying to extend in his contract with a substantial increase in pay.

Walter Jacobson gives his Perspective: