CPS Watchdog Says CEO Forrest Claypool Should Be Fired

CHICAGO, IL — Chicago Public Schools Inspector General Nicholas Schuler said CPS CEO Forrest Claypool engaged in a cover-up by changing billing records during an ethics code violation investigation. Schuler said Claypool "repeatedly lied" during the investigation. The inspector general released a report Thursday that called for the district board to fire Claypool and discipline CPS General Counsel Ronald Marmer.

"At every turn in this matter, Claypool kept making matters worse. And it appears that his decisions were driven by a clear desire to keep information harmful to his narrative from the Board, the OIG and the public," the report states.

Schuler says Claypool lied to cover up the true purpose of a bill for legal advice, which the he asked for to avoid an investigation by the district's watchdog. Schuler says Claypool lied about asking a labor attorney to change the bill.

"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.

Mayor Rahm 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."

Schuler says Claypool tried to keep humiliating and harmful information from the public.

"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.

Claypool released a statement saying he made a mistake, and "misread" the situation.

"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 will send a formal recommendation for Claypool to be fired to the school board, which will make its decision.

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press