José M. Torres is an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

who served as the interim

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...

(its

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

position), superintendent of the

Elgin Area School District U46 Elgin Area School District U46, often referred to as "U-46", is a unit school district headquartered in Elgin, Kane County, Illinois. Covering , the district serves portions of eleven communities in the northwest suburbs of Chicago in Cook, Du ...

, and superintendent of the

San Ysidro Elementary School District The San Ysidro School District (SYSD) is a public school district in San Diego County, California, United States. It includes five elementary schools, one middle school, and several preschools in the San Ysidro community in San Diego, California ...

. He also served as president of the

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, or IMSA, is a three-year residential public secondary education institution in Aurora, Illinois, United States, with an enrollment of approximately 650 students. Enrollment is generally offered to inc ...

Early life and education

Torres was born in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. Torres earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in education as well as a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in education policy, planning and administration from the

University of Maryland at College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

Career

Torres is a fellow at the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...

Early career

Torres started his career by working as a

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

teacher and a human relations specialist for

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

's Montgomery County Public Schools. He spent only a year in this position, teaching language classes, before moving into administrative roles. He held top administrative roles in

Baltimore City Public Schools Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS), also referred to as Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) or City Schools, is a public school district in the city of Baltimore, state of Maryland, United States. It serves the youth of Baltimore Cit ...

and the

National Association of State Boards of Education The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) is a nonprofit private association that represents U.S. state and territory boards of education. Founded in 1958, the association initially met in conjunction with the annual conferenc ...

. Torres was an associated superintendent of the San Jose Unified School District in 2000 and 2001. He served as superintendent of the

in 2001 and 2002. The school board fired him after only sixth months, citing his "problematic" leadership style as their reason. Torres worked as assistant superintendent for student services in Maryland's

Anne Arundel County Public Schools Anne Arundel County Public Schools is the public school district serving Anne Arundel County, Maryland. With over 80,000 students, the AACPS school system is the 4th largest in Maryland and the 39th largest in the United States. The district has o ...

from 2003 through 2006. Torres would be made a regional superintendent for Chicago Public Schools, putting him in charge of 25 schools on the city's South Side. He held this role from 2006 through 2008. In 2005, Torres was a fellow with the Eli Broad Urban Superintendents Academy.

Superintendent of Elgin Area School District U46

Torres spent six years as the

in Elgin, Illinois, the state's second-largest school district. He served in this position from 2008 through 2014. He was credited with implementing a dual language in the school district, in which roughly one-third of students were English language learners (unable to effectively be taught in English, or communicate fluently in English). During his tenure, Torres was also credited with roughly quadrupling the number of people of color holding appointed principal positions. Many of those he appointed were

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

. Torres received mixed reception from the community for his decision to implement a grading system that made it so that students could not receive zero-percent grades for work.

President of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

Torres spent more than six years as president of the

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

, retiring at the end of the 2021 school year. He held this role from 2014 through April 2021. During his tenure, the school had to endure losing access to a large portion of its funding during

Illinois Budget Impasse The Illinois Budget Impasse was a 793-day-long budget crisis in the state of Illinois. From July 1, 2015, to August 31, 2017, Illinois was without a complete state budget for fiscal years 2016, 2017, and part of 2018. As a result, many state agenci ...

, while the school was in the process of expanding.

Interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools

Two days after retiring, Torres was offered an opportunity to serve as the interim

CEO of Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools is headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) appointed by the mayor of Chicago. Currently serving as CEO is Pedro Martinez. This job is equivalent to a superintendent, and, before 1995, the occupant of this office was known ...

. He accepted, and it was announced July 12, 2021 that

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as ...

had chosen him to, pending the approval of the

Chicago Board of Education The Chicago Board of Education serves as the board of education (school board) for the Chicago Public Schools. The board traces its origins to the Board of School Inspectors, created in 1837. The board is currently appointed solely by the mayor ...

, be the school district's interim CEO once Janice K. Jackson retired from the position. It was stated that he was not a contender to fill the role permanently. Chicago Public Schools is Illinois' largest school district, and the third-largest in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He assumed office on July 1, 2021. Torres had made it clear upon his appointment that reopening the schools for in-person instruction was a top priority of his. Some parents and educators expressed concern with how close to the planned reopening of schools he waited before unveiling Chicago Public Schools' planned

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

safety protocols, however, Torres stated that they had held off on releasing their plans so as to not move "too far ahead" of their negotiations with the

Chicago Teachers Union The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has consistently fought for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, an ...

regarding safety precautions. In late August, Torres expressed his belief that Chicago Public Schools was "very close" to having an agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union on this matter. Torres expressed that he was dedicated to improving what he regarded to be a "broken" relationship between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union. On September 15, 2021, Mayor Lightfoot announced that

Pedro Martinez Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

would be succeeding Torres, being appointed as the permanent CEO. Martinez took office September 29, ending Martinez's tenure as acting superintendent.

Personal life

Torres' wife, Isabel Torres, is a teacher and instructional coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, José Year of birth missing (living people) Living people CEOs of Chicago Public Schools Puerto Rican educators Educators from California Educators from Illinois University of Maryland, College Park alumni Elgin Area School District U46