CPS rips inspector's report, reinstates Cook Co. Jail school principal

Chicago Public Schools officials have reinstated the principal accused by the district's top watchdog of falsifying student data at the alternative high school she runs inside Cook County Jail.

In the latest butting of heads between CPS CEO Forrest Claypool and Inspector General Nicholas Schuler, the district announced Sharnette Sims would return to the helm of York Alternative High School - less than two months after she was banned from the jail amid Schuler's findings that the principal faked student attendance and credits to boost the school's reputation.

The district also released its own report lambasting the scathing audit that Schuler submitted to the Chicago Board of Education in June and made public in September, with CPS lawyers dismissing the inspector's report as "unsubstantiated and unfounded."

"Principal Sims is owed our thanks for her efforts at York, as well as a sincere apology for the blight on her reputation," Claypool said in a statement.

Schuler stood by the findings of his office's yearlong investigation. He said it was "unprecedented" for CPS officials to counter an inspector general's investigation with their own probe.

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