CORRUPTION CPS: SUPES deal was just one of many corrupt actions by the Board of Education as we protested on June 26, 2013... How much did the public know about the SUPES deal at the time of the June 2013 Chicago Board of Education meeting?
Like hundreds of others, I was at the June 26, 2013 Chicago Board of Education meeting where the $20 million SUPES contract was voted on. There was a protest that morning, but we did not know this at the 9 a.m. protest. As we later learned, the SUPES deal was buried deeply in the Board of Education's 300-page public agenda (it was the 51st of 52 items under "Purchasing"), and it was not discussed by any of the Board members during the meeting itself.
Newly appointed Board of Education member Deborah Quazzo and Barbara Byrd Bennett pledging during the Board meeting of June 26, 2013. Clearly in retrospect, Board critics note, Barbara Byrd Bennett buried the infamous "SUPES" contract at the bottom of the lengthy (52 item) "Purchasing" section of the Board's 300-page agenda. Protests that day cited the Board's corrupt variable rate bond deals with Bank of America and other banks, while also demanding that the city not waste TIF money on the DePaul project near McCormick Place. Substance photo by David Vance.We were protesting the variable rate bond deals that are now making front page news (Chicago Sun-Times, April 19, 2015) because they might end up costing Chicago a quarter billion dollars.
Before the Board of Ed meeting started there was a march to the nearest Bank of America. Over 100 parents, students and teachers were demanding the Bank renegotiate the high interest variable rate bonds it had with CPS.
In the 9:AM protest of June 26, 2013, there were also signs and speeches to stop $55 million of our public (TIF) tax money going into the DePaul Basketball stadium. It wasn't needed, no one was demanding it except business interests.
Many people talked about the priorities of Rahm�s CPS Board. It was not about education but closing schools and creating privately run charters with our public money. 49 public schools were voted closed by the Chicago Board of Education just one month earlier.
Little did the public school supporters know that later in the day that Barbara Byrd Bennett�s principal training program (SUPES) would receive $20,000,000. in a no bid contract. And while the 20 million was reported and questioned, I forget about it.
During the June 26, 2013 protests, protesters pointed out that Mayor Rahm emanuel and the Board of Education have their priorities for our money -- and it means starving the public schools for funds. And while our demands to hold our public school officials accountable may have seemed hopeless at the time, the protests continue. At the time, protests noted that our school money was being wasted on closing schools. It was being given to banks with high interest payments. Our Tax Increment Finance (TIF)money was controlled by Rahm Emanuel and going to his projects like the DePaul deal -- and not what was needed in the neighborhoods.
And, all of this continues in 2015 -- except that Barbara Byrd Bennett has been dumped by Rahm, and now has to answer under federal law on one small question of "Where did the money go?"
What does Rahm Emanuel have to say about his education CEO, Barbara Byrd Bennett, now that he is safely re-elected. Byrd Bennett was making $250,000 a year at CPS. The election is over, he doesn't have to say anything to the public about where the $20 million SUPES money went. Could it be that in private he will thank the Feds for waiting until after the election -- or did he know the investigation was going on before the election, and work with his White House friends to make sure it didn't leak out until after April 7, 2015?
By: Theresa D. Daniels
Reporter Vance raises question re suppression of news
Good question, Dave. How much power did Rahm have to have the news of CPS scandals suppressed until after the election? And a federal investigation at that. And of so many CPS employees. B3, as Rahm calls her, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, is only the tip of the iceberg. It's wonderful, Dave, how steadily you work at all this.