Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool Resigns

CHICAGO, IL — Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool has resigned after a CPS watchdog called for his firing. Claypool has been under fire after CPS Inspector General Nicholas Schuler said the CEO engaged in a cover-up by changing billing records during an ethics code violation investigation. Schuler said Claypool "repeatedly lied" during the investigation.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised Claypool at a news conference Friday.

"He has always gone to work with his sleeves rolled up," Emanuel said at the conference. "He can walk with his head held high because he did a job well and he will always be my friend."

CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson will replace Claypool, the mayor said. Jackson is a CPS graduate who began her career as a social studies teacher at South Shore Community Academy High School. She then went on to become a principal at Al Raby High School on the West Side and then Westinghouse College Prep.

Schuler called for Claypool to be fired after the inspector general said the CEO tried to keep humiliating and harmful information from the public.

"The decision by Claypool to alter billing records while the OIG investigation was ongoing — and after Claypool told the public that he was happy to 'walk the OIG through the process' — escalated this to a full-blown cover-up and, thus, a termination case for him," the report states.

Schuler released a report Thursday that called for the district board to fire Claypool.

"What kind of signal would it send to CPS employees, parents and children if the CEO was allowed to change records as part of a cover up and keep his job? Why should CPS employees tell the truth in other investigations — as required under Board Rules — if repeated lies by the head of the administration are not decisively punished?" Schuler wrote in the report.

Emanuel defended Claypool Thursday in City Hall. He said Claypool "deserves the right to be heard."

"He acknowledged where he was wrong and took responsibility for it," Emanuel said. "That is a sign of character. And he did it in a very public way."

Claypool released a statement saying he made a mistake, and regrets his actions.

"I can't put my mind back in that high pressure place – when we were negotiating with the CTU and fighting to keep schools funded and open in the final days of the legislative session. But I look at the facts today and see that I misread the situation, and made mistakes in judgment, and I apologize for this," Claypool said the statement.

Schuler sent a formal recommendation for Claypool to be fired to the school board. Sources told the Chicago Tribune that Claypool met with members of the Chicago Board of Education on Thursday and they did not offer him full support.

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press