Public Schools The Chicago Way

The City of the Big Shoulders apparently has a few public school administrators who seem to need more elbow room. “A pay-to-play scandal at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has prompted two top officials to resign,” Christian Britschgi wrote on the Reason.com blog Wednesday. “Yesterday General Counsel Ronald Marmer announced his departure after an ethics investigation revealed he was receiving a $1 million severance package from the law firm Jenner & Block while also supervising legal work the firm was doing for the school system.”

“And last week CEO Forrest Claypool resigned after the same investigation found he had engaged in ‘elaborate cover-ups’ of Marmer’s behavior, including a ‘pattern of attorney shopping, record changing and lies to investigators.’
The revelations shine an unflattering light on the nation’s third largest school district, which spends $6.4 billion in public funds managing 514 public schools. Three CPS chiefs appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel have now resigned under varying levels of disgrace.”

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