Ex-CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett to plead guilty in bribery scheme

The former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, will plead guilty to charges in an indictment released Thursday that alleges she steered more than $23 million in no-bid contracts from CPS to her former employer, authorities said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon made the announcement at a news conference Thursday. He declined to discuss the details of any plea agreement, including possible prison time.

Fardon said Byrd-Bennett and others “entered into a scheme to secretly profit from schools.”

Byrd-Bennett — Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked choice — becomes CPS’ first chief executive officer to face criminal charges in connection with her job. Federal authorities have been investigating the most controversial of those contracts — a $20.5 million no-bid CPS deal for principal training, the largest in recent memory — for more than a year.

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