Barbara Louise Byrd–Bennett (born July 27, 1949)[citation needed] is an American educator, education administrator, former school superintendent and convicted felon. Byrd-Bennett is the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the Cleveland Municipal School District. She was CEO of the Cleveland schools from 1998 to 2006.[2] From 2009 to 2011, she was the academic and accountability officer for the Detroit Public Schools system.[3] She was hired as the chief education advisor for CPS in April 2012[2] and then named CEO by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel six months later.[4][5]
She resigned from CPS in 2015 amid a bribery investigation,[6] which led to her pleading guilty to multiple charges.[7] In 2017, Byrd-Bennett was sentenced to 4 1/2 years at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson in West Virginia. She was released from prison and placed on home confinement in May 2020.
Background
Born in Harlem, Byrd-Bennett was the first of two daughters born to Helen Lee. Byrd-Bennett graduated from high school at age 15.[citation needed] After high school, Byrd-Bennett began studying at Long Island University where she received a Bachelors of Arts in 1969. In addition to her B.A., Byrd-Bennett has a Master’s of Science from Pace University, and a Master’s of the Arts from New York University.
In 2012, federal agents began investigating Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s role in a $40 million textbook contract that was awarded while she worked in Detroit.[9] The deal was similar to a later one in Chicago in that both involved companies for which Byrd-Bennett had previously worked.[9] No charges have resulted from the Detroit investigation.
Chicago Public Schools
In April 2015, Byrd-Bennett took a personal leave as Chicago Public Schools CEO during an investigation into a $20.5 million no-bid contract that had been awarded to SUPES Academy, a professional development organization she used to work with as a consultant.[10] She resigned in June 2015 and had been on paid leave since April.[6][11]
In October 2015, a federal grand jury in Illinois returned a 23-count indictment against Byrd-Bennett and two co-conspirators.[12][13]
On October 8, 2015, the US Attorney handling the case announced that Byrd-Bennett would plead guilty to charges that she set up a kickback scheme in which she steered no-bid CPS contracts worth more than $23 million to her former employer, SUPES Academy, which would pay her 10% of that amount. Her former boss, the owner of SUPES, also promised Byrd-Bennett a job after she left her CPS post, trust accounts funded with $127,000 for each of her twin grandsons,[14] and other perks. It was reported that the US Attorney's office found incriminating evidence against Byrd-Bennett, including an email to the SUPES owner that said, "I have tuition to pay and casinos to visit."[15][16] She had pushed parties aggressively to secure the corrupt deals.[17]
Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty on October 13, 2015 in federal court. In exchange for her cooperation prosecutors agreed to request a sentence of 7 1/2 years in prison, which is below the federal sentencing guidelines. She agreed to delay her sentencing until after the charges against her co-defendants were resolved.[14][7] On April 28, 2017, she was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.[18] On August 28, 2017, Byrd-Bennett began serving her sentence at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, nicknamed "Camp Cupcake," in West Virginia. In May 2020, Byrd-Bennett was released from prison and was placed on home confinement.[19]
The CPS Inspector General's report for 2020 detailed more instances of Byrd-Bennet's misconduct, leading the district to act against several vendors and their executives. The report said "the Byrd-Bennett investigations revealed one of the most exceptional cases of an official’s abuse of public trust in CPS’s history."[20]
Personal life
Byrd-Bennett has been married twice and has one daughter. In 1969, She married Leonard Franklin in New York. She gave birth to their daughter, Naliah, in January 1972.[citation needed] Byrd-Bennett divorced Franklin in 1977.
Byrd-Bennett has been married to Bruce Bennett since 1988. Byrd-Bennett's daughter, a former prosecutor, has been the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Clerk of Courts since 2015.[21][22][23]
