Ex-Chicago schools boss gets four years in prison
She joined contract scheme, took cut of $2M in kickbacks.
CHICAGO — The former head of Chicago Public Schools was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Friday for steering $23 million in city contracts to education fifirms for a cut of more than $2 million in kickbacks.
A tearful Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who held top education jobs in Detroit and Cleveland before being tapped to lead the nation’s third-largest school district, apologized in a 15-minute statement before she was sentenced, saying: “What I did was terribly wrong. ... I’m ashamed and I’m sorry.”
But U. S. Di st r ic t Court Judge Edmond Chang said her brazenness in bilking an already cash-strapped school district suggested she never believed she’d get caught in a city with a long, ignominious history of corruption.
The judge said the scheme diverted money from low-income students relying on education to better their lives.
T h e j u d g e a l s o s a i d B y r d - B e n n e t t a n d h e r co-schemers further eroded public confidence in Chicago public offifficials. He cited emails where Byrd-Bennett wrote about her eagerness to make money, including to help relatives pay for college, including joking in one: “I have tuition to pay and casinos to visit.”
“The crime was committed with casualness ... even humor,” Chang said.
The former Chicago Public Schools faced a maximum 20 years behind bars, though prosecutors asked for a term of seven and a half years.
During sentencing, Chang said, he factored in her age and her acts of kindness, i ncl uding payi ng for t he funerals of some students.
P r o s e c u t o r s a l l e g e 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 fifinancial strain.
She had a national repu t a t i o n a s a n e d u c a t i o n 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.
Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas ple aded guilt y 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.