Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced his support behind the head of Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) proposal to dismiss the schools' chief of food service.
CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard issued a recommendation early Saturday that CPS Director of Nutrition Support, Louise Esaian, immediately be terminated from her position for violating the District's Code of Ethics.
"It is Chicago’s children‐‐the very people we are charged to protect‐‐who get hurt when someone in the public service abuses their position for private benefit," Emanuel said in statement sent out on Saturday.
Esaian and two of her staff members are accused of accepting at least $86,000 in gifts from the district's two largest food vendors, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
In the report, Esaian told CPS Inspector General James Sullivan she did not believe the gifts crossed the lines or influenced her decisions.
While she is not accused of criminal wrong doing in the report, CPS says it will not tolerate any breach of their code of ethics in a release.
"CPS employees have an obligation to the students, families and taxpayers of this District to hold themselves to the highest ethical standards," said CPS Chief Communication Officer Becky Carroll. "We simply cannot, and will not, allow any employee to break the trust that parents and children of this District place in us every day."
See the Chicago Tribune report for more information on this story.
