Charges filed against Chicago schools ex-chief over $20.5 million no-bid contract

The former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, has been criminally charged in connection with allegedly steering a $20.5 million no-bid CPS contract to her former employer, authorities said Thursday.

Byrd-Bennett - Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked choice - becomes CPS' first CEO to face criminal charges in connection with her job. Federal authorities have been investigating the contract - the largest no-bid CPS deal in recent memory - for more than a year.

Receiving the contract in 2013 to train principals was The SUPES Academy, owned by former Niles Township High School dean Gary Solomon and his former student Thomas Vranas.

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