As her inner circle draws federal heat, CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett steps down

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Federal investigators are looking into the inner circle of advisers Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett brought with her to Chicago, as well as a no-bid, $20.5 million principal-training contract to a company that once employed her, wide-ranging subpoenas released Friday show.

And as Byrd-Bennett stepped aside Friday pending the outcome of the federal probe, replaced by the Board of Education’s vice president Jesse Ruiz, sources told the Sun-Times that FBI agents have searched Byrd-Bennett’s homes in Chicago and a Cleveland suburb.

The deepening scandal — just days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s run-off re-election — sees Ruiz take over as CPS’s fifth leader since 2010.

Federal subpoenas released by CPS, dated April 13 and 14, extended to a close corps of Byrd-Bennett loyalists who worked with her in Cleveland and Detroit before taking six-figure jobs at CPS. Sherry Ulery, the CEO’s $175,000-a-year chief of staff and Rosemary Herpel, a $140,000-a-year “executive director of leadership development” in CPS’ HR department, are due before a federal grand jury on Tuesday.

It's for the children.