Barbara Louise Byrd–Bennett (born July 27, 1949) 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 Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. ...

(CPS) and the

Cleveland Municipal School District Cleveland Metropolitan School District, formerly the Cleveland Municipal School District, is a public school district in the U.S. state of Ohio that serves almost all of the city of Cleveland. The district covers 79 square miles. The Cleveland ...

. She served as CEO of the Cleveland schools from 1998 to 2006.Patrick O'Donnell.
Former Cleveland schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett becomes CEO of Chicago Public Schools
. ''The Plain Dealer''. cleveland.com. October 12, 2012. Retrieved on March 22, 2013. From 2009 to 2011, she was the academic and accountability officer for the

Detroit Public Schools Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...

system. She was hired as the chief education advisor for CPS in April 2012 and then named CEO by Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...

six months later. She resigned from CPS in 2015 amid a bribery investigation,Juan Perez, Jr.
CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett resigns amid federal criminal investigation
. ''Chicago Tribune''. June 1, 2015. Retrieved on June 2, 2015. which led to her pleading guilty to multiple charges. In 2017, Byrd-Bennett was sentenced to 4 1/2 years at

Federal Prison Camp, Alderson The Federal Prison Camp, Alderson (FPC Alderson) is a minimum-security United States federal prison for female inmates in West Virginia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. ...

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. After high school, Byrd-Bennett began studying at

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

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 Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

, and a Master’s of the Arts from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Byrd-Bennett also holds

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

degrees from

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

Baldwin Wallace College Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

John Carroll University John Carroll University is a private Jesuit university in University Heights, Ohio. It is primarily an undergraduate, liberal arts institution accompanied by the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business. John Carroll has an enrollment of 3, ...

and the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

Federal criminal investigations and conviction

Detroit Public Schools

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. The deal was similar to a later one in Chicago in that both involved companies for which Byrd-Bennett had previously worked. 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. She resigned in June 2015 and had been on paid leave since April. In October 2015, a federal grand jury in Illinois returned a 23-count indictment against Byrd-Bennett and two co-conspirators. 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, 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." She had pushed parties aggressively to secure the corrupt deals. 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. On April 28, 2017, she was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison. On August 28, 2017, Byrd-Bennett began serving her sentence at

, nicknamed "Camp Cupcake," in West Virginia. In May 2020, Byrd-Bennett was released from prison and was placed on home confinement.Seidel, Jon.
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, crooked ex-CPS CEO, leaves prison
, ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''. May 6, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.

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. Byrd-Bennett divorced Franklin in 1977. Byrd-Bennett has been married to Bruce Bennett since 1988. Byrd-Bennett's daughter currently serves as the

Cuyahoga County, Ohio Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 U ...

Clerk of Courts.Cuyahoga County's clerk of courts paid more than counterparts, but county says $150,858 salary is justified - Updated Jan 30, 2019; Posted Jan 24, 2018
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References