Nov. 21--Mayor Rahm Emanuel made another move in the ongoing revamp of his education team on Friday, shifting the Chicago Board of Education's vice president to a top post at the Park District.
Jesse Ruiz, one of Emanuel's original appointments to the school board, will take over as president of the Chicago Park District's Board of Commissioners from Bryan Traubert, who is stepping down at the end of the year.
"Jesse's leadership is ideal to build on the incredible progress made during (Traubert's) tenure," Emanuel said in a statement. "Jesse is the perfect choice to lead the Park District Board as it moves forward under the long-term plan for our parks that I will outline later this year."
Ruiz declined to comment. He is joining the Park District as Emanuel prepares a "major parks initiative in December," the City Hall statement said.
The Emanuel administration did not say who would take his place on the seven-member school board. An attorney, Ruiz was the lone Latino member on a board that oversees a district with a student population that is 45 percent Latino.
"Hopefully, he'll be replaced with another Latino so we can make democracy work for everyone," said Carlos Azcoitia, who had been the board's second Latino but was not reappointed to another term earlier this year. "We want quality in representation and we have that responsibility in our system, to bring equity."
Ruiz's departure is the latest change in Emanuel's overhaul of district leadership, an effort the mayor has cast as "the next chapter" for CPS.
The mayor this summer installed five new board members, led by retired ComEd executive Frank Clark. He named Forrest Claypool as district CEO, and Claypool has enlisted a group of colleagues from his tenure as head of the Chicago Transit Authority.
Ruiz, also a former chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, was appointed the district's interim CEO after Barbara Byrd-Bennett took a leave of absence amid a federal bribery probe.
He was among members who voted 6-0 in 2013 to approve a $20.5 million contract to the SUPES Academy training organization, a deal that eventually prompted Byrd-Bennett to plead guilty to corruption charges.
In a rare break in ranks for a board that regularly votes in lockstep, Ruiz joined board member Dominique Jordan Turner in October to oppose the appointment of one of Claypool's political allies to serve as the school system's top attorney.
Traubert, whose wife is U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, oversaw the Park District's execution of a $10 lakefront lease for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The district also agreed to transfer approximately 20 acres of land in either Washington Park or Jackson Park to make room for the planned Obama Presidential Center.
jjperez@tribpub.com
