Judge to sentence former head of Chicago Public Schools
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Judge to sentence former head of Chicago Public Schools
by Admin Fri Apr 28, 2017 1:01 pm
CHICAGO (AP) - The former head of Chicago Public Schools is set to be sentenced Friday for steering $23 million in no-bid city contracts to education firms for a cut of more than $2 million in bribes and kickbacks.
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who held top education jobs in Detroit and Cleveland before being tapped to lead the nation's third-largest school district, faces up to 20 years behind bars. Prosecutors will ask for a 7½-year term, while the defense will argue for 3½ years.
The scheme stood out even in Chicago - a city known for corruption - because it bilked a cash-strapped school district and diverted money from low-income students relying on education to better their lives, the presiding judge said in sentencing a Byrd-Bennett's co-defendant earlier Friday.
"CPS was struggling and still is," U.S. District Court Judge Edmond Chang said. "Every dollar that was expected to go to Byrd-Bennett was a dollar CPS could have used for itself." Prosecutors allege Byrd-Bennett, 68, agreed to the scheme at the start of her tenure in 2012, knowing the 400,000-student district was buckling under major financial strain.
The former Chicago Public Schools CEO had a national reputation as an education reformer, earned a $250,000 annual salary and had multiple pensions from previous jobs. But prosecutors say she made a decision "rooted in greed" to participate in the scheme.
SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates LLC owners Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas pleaded guilty to related charges. Chang sentenced Solomon - who prosecutors say masterminded the scheme - to seven years in prison last month. Vranas received a 18 month sentence earlier Friday.
Court documents allege Byrd-Bennett wrote in a 2012 email to Solomon about her eagerness to make money, including to help relatives pay for college. "I have tuition to pay and casinos to visit," Byrd-Bennett wrote, according to prosecutors.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hired Byrd-Bennett in 2012, vowing to revitalize a school district criticized for low student performance. As CEO, Byrd-Bennett oversaw the shuttering of dozens of schools in a money-saving measure.
She began her 40-year education career teaching in low-income neighborhoods in New York City, not far from where she grew up. Her lawyer, Michael Scudder, said she felt "crushing humiliation and shame" for her crimes. He noted that since her indictment, her name has been stripped from the title of a Cleveland training center.
As for why she took part in the scheme, Scudder wrote: "Nobody has struggled more with this question than Barbara herself." He said she planned to make a statement to the judge during her sentencing hearing Friday.
When scrutiny of district contracts grew in 2013, Byrd-Bennett began deleting potentially incriminating emails, according to prosecutors. She resigned in June 2015, as word spread of an investigation.
Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that they would have asked for a stiffer sentence but that Byrd-Bennett deserved credit for agreeing to cooperate soon after her arrest. In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in 2015, prosecutors agreed to drop 19 other counts of fraud charged in the original indictment.
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Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who held top education jobs in Detroit and Cleveland before being tapped to lead the nation's third-largest school district, faces up to 20 years behind bars. Prosecutors will ask for a 7½-year term, while the defense will argue for 3½ years.
The scheme stood out even in Chicago - a city known for corruption - because it bilked a cash-strapped school district and diverted money from low-income students relying on education to better their lives, the presiding judge said in sentencing a Byrd-Bennett's co-defendant earlier Friday.
"CPS was struggling and still is," U.S. District Court Judge Edmond Chang said. "Every dollar that was expected to go to Byrd-Bennett was a dollar CPS could have used for itself." Prosecutors allege Byrd-Bennett, 68, agreed to the scheme at the start of her tenure in 2012, knowing the 400,000-student district was buckling under major financial strain.
The former Chicago Public Schools CEO had a national reputation as an education reformer, earned a $250,000 annual salary and had multiple pensions from previous jobs. But prosecutors say she made a decision "rooted in greed" to participate in the scheme.
SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates LLC owners Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas pleaded guilty to related charges. Chang sentenced Solomon - who prosecutors say masterminded the scheme - to seven years in prison last month. Vranas received a 18 month sentence earlier Friday.
Court documents allege Byrd-Bennett wrote in a 2012 email to Solomon about her eagerness to make money, including to help relatives pay for college. "I have tuition to pay and casinos to visit," Byrd-Bennett wrote, according to prosecutors.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hired Byrd-Bennett in 2012, vowing to revitalize a school district criticized for low student performance. As CEO, Byrd-Bennett oversaw the shuttering of dozens of schools in a money-saving measure.
She began her 40-year education career teaching in low-income neighborhoods in New York City, not far from where she grew up. Her lawyer, Michael Scudder, said she felt "crushing humiliation and shame" for her crimes. He noted that since her indictment, her name has been stripped from the title of a Cleveland training center.
As for why she took part in the scheme, Scudder wrote: "Nobody has struggled more with this question than Barbara herself." He said she planned to make a statement to the judge during her sentencing hearing Friday.
When scrutiny of district contracts grew in 2013, Byrd-Bennett began deleting potentially incriminating emails, according to prosecutors. She resigned in June 2015, as word spread of an investigation.
Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that they would have asked for a stiffer sentence but that Byrd-Bennett deserved credit for agreeing to cooperate soon after her arrest. In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in 2015, prosecutors agreed to drop 19 other counts of fraud charged in the original indictment.
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