CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Chicago Public Schools Inspector General report details the alleged embezzlement of more than a quarter of a million dollars by a former assistant principal.
Tracey Canty-Robinson was an assistant principal for 12 years at Skinner West Elementary School on the Near West Side before resigning in 2020.
Its alleged that over a period of several years she stole more than $273,000 in fees paid by parents for an after-school program- sometimes writing checks to family members from a PayPal account she created.
The investigation started in 2019. Robinson was charged last year in a 17-count indictment. She has denied wrong-doing.
Inspector General Will Fletcher wrote that there was “severe financial mismanagement and inattention by the school’s other administrators.”
He told the Chicago Sun- Times, “Not only did no one at the school notice”, but “the program was still somehow able to run.”
That, he said, raised questions about the fees paid by parents.
Canty-Robinson resigned during the OIG’s investigation in 2020, and a "Do Not Hire" designation was placed in her personnel file in 2021, according to the report.
Her attorney, Andre Grant, said, “We look forward to addressing this matter in court," according to the Sun-Times. Canty-Robinson's case is still pending at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
CPS' annual OIG annual report also revealed eight cases of adult-on-student sexual misconduct s as well as more than 77,000 electronic devices assigned to students and staff during the pandemic were either lost or stolen - at a cost of about $23 million.
Listen to our new podcast Looped In: Chicago
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!
Sign up and follow WBBM Newsradio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram