During the Era of Emanuel, Brizard is expanding the bureaucracy... 'Chiefs' at CPS are doing very well, while the 'Indians' are being slaughtered...
Since June 15, 2011, when the Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously to refuse to honor the fifth year of the contractual raises of unionized CPS workers because the Board claimed it had a "fiscal crisis," the Board has been voting every month to increase the ranks of people (usually from outside the school system and with no teaching experience) who are being give the title of "Chiefs" of various things and departments. Since July 2011, the Board has appointed more than 25 "Chiefs," rangingsfrom "Chiefs of Schools" (at salaries of $151,000 per year) to a new "Chief Portfolio Officer" at a salary of $162,500 per year.
At the September 28, 2011, meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, Chicago's $200,000 per year "Chief Talent Development Officer" Alicia Winckler (above left) was seated next to the newly hired "Chief Portfolio Officer" (at $162,500 per year) Oliver Sicat. Prior to the Brizard era, Winckler was known as the "Chief Human Capital Officer," but the new administration ordered that the office she heads be "rebranded." Winckler and Sicat are among the many highly paid Chicago Public Schools officials who have no teaching or administrative experience in Chicago's public schools. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The ability of Brizard to find millions of dollars to expand the bureaucracy he wants to appoint while claiming that he doesn't have the money to pay teacher raises has been generally ignored by the corporate media in Chicago, despite the fact that the information has been slowly going on to the public record since Brizard told the seven members of the Board of Education the lurid story of the latest "deficit" on June 15, 2011, the first time they all met after being appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Here is a sampling:
August 24, 2011. The Chicago Board of Education votes to appoint Oliver Sicat, a "new employee", to the position of "Chief Portfolio Officer" at an annual salary of $162,500 per year.
August 24, 2011. The Chicago Board of Education votes to appoint Jamilo Rose, a "new employee", to the position of "Chief Community and Family Engagement Officer" at an annual salary of $152,000 per year.
August 24, 2011. The Chicago Board of Education votes to appoint Steve Gering, a "new employee", to the position of "Chief of Leadership Development" at an annual salary of $175,000 per year. The "Chief of Leadership Development" is not to be confused with the "Chief Talent Officer" (Alicia Winckler) who is currently being paid more than $200,000 per year.
Above, the latest "Chief Administrative Officer" of Chicago's public schools, Tim Cawley (left) chats with the new "Chief Community and Family Engagement Officer" Jamiko Rose (above right) prior to the September 28, 2011 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, while the Acting Chief Financial Officer Melanie Shaker (center) reads. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt. August 24, 2011. The Chicago Board of Education votes to appoint Robert Runcie, whose most recent position had been as a "Chief Area Officer", to the position of "Chief of Staff, Office of the Board" at an annual salary of $179,166.67 per year. (One month later, at the Board's September 28, 2011 meeting, the Board voted to honor Runcie, who was just hired to become General Superintendent of the Broward County Public Schools in Florida. The Board has not yet hired a replacement "Chief of Staff, Office of the Board", at least according to publicly available records).
