Chicago public schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett resigned last week amid a federal probe of a $20.5 million no-bid contract the school district granted to a company that previously employed her, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In a letter to the school board president, Ms. Byrd-Bennett wrote that she will “always be thankful for the opportunity to serve the children of Chicago.”
The letter did not list reasons for her departure as head of the nation’s third-largest school district, the Tribune reported. Her current contract, which pays her $250,000 per year, doesn’t expire until June 2016.
Interim CEO Jesse Ruiz will continue to lead the district.
She was appointed to the city’s top schools job by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012.
