Former CPS assistant principal whose case was highlighted in IG report appears in court on embezzlement charges
A former Chicago Public Schools assistant principal appeared before a judge Tuesday for the first time since an inspector general’s report highlighted allegations she stole more than a quarter-million dollars from an elementary school.
The annual report from the Office of Inspector General noted multiple instances of waste and abuse in Chicago Public Schools, revealing financial losses at the resource-strapped district. The report also urged CPS to adopt new training protocols for volunteers and vendors as part of its ongoing efforts to address adult-on-student sexual misconduct.
The report made public accusations that Tracey Canty-Robinson, 55, embezzled $274,000 in after-school program payments.
She was not named in the document, but records show Canty-Robinson was named in a 17-count indictment with stealing from Skinner West Elementary School on the Near West Side.
“How is it that somebody could take more than $200,000 from a school-based after-school program, and no one at the school notices that the money is gone? And then further, how is it possible that that much money could be stolen and the program could manage to run unabated?” Inspector General Will Fletcher told the Tribune last week.
Canty-Robinson appeared before Judge Stanley Sacks Tuesday morning at the Leighton Criminal Court Building with her attorney, who told the judge that evidence discovery in the case amounts to “thousands of pages.”
The indictment alleges that she altered checks over a multiyear period. A report from the Office of the Inspector General specified that she is accused of embezzling $274,000 in after-school program payments.
Canty-Robinson faces counts, including theft from a school or place of worship, forgery and continuing a financial crimes enterprise. Three of the charges are class X felonies.
She entered a plea of not guilty and was released on a personal recognizance bond in July.
In a statement, her attorney, Andre Grant, said she is “entitled to the presumption of innocence.”
The inspector general’s office referred Canty-Robinson’s case to law enforcement after referencing the allegations in a 2021 annual report.
Canty-Robinson resigned March 12, 2020, after the OIG requested to interview her about its investigation, according to CPS. She then was placed on a “do not hire” list in July 2021, upon CPS’ receipt of the OIG report.
The allegations against Canty-Robinson were among a number of financial concerns raised in the inspector general’s report, including thousands of lost and stolen technology devices that the district reported to the Chicago Police Department.
But the report noted that district didn’t take advantage of services — for which CPS had already paid $2.6 million — capable of freezing, geotracking and potentially recovering the devices.
In another case, the OIG found that a school clerk stole $150,000 through a combination of skimming from cash collected at school and false requests for extra pay.
Chicago Tribune’s Alysa Guffey contributed.
