Former CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett wants 3 1/2 years in prison; feds seek more than 7

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett believes she deserves far less prison time for an audacious kickback scheme than the seven-plus years the government is seeking, asking the judge she’ll soon face for three and a half years tops.

Justice could be served by a shorter prison term, her attorney wrote Friday, if accompanied by “very substantial community service that would harness her unique expertise at school districts and private consulting companies alike for the benefit of public education everywhere.

“Barbara wants to help others learn from her mistakes,” defense attorney Michael Scudder wrote in a 27-page sentencing memo published Friday. “She believes that superintendents and school districts across the nation need to redouble their efforts to avoid conflicts of interest with consultants and providers.”

And, laying out her storied history as an educator, he said she’s in a “position to uniquely reach such officials,” and to “help sound the alarm of the necessity for caution and transparency.”

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