CHICAGO _ Gary Solomon, the education consultant cast by prosecutors as the "mastermind" of a bribery scandal that upended the financially stressed Chicago Public Schools system, was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison by a federal judge.
In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang said public corruption was "a blight on our city and our state."
"It breaks the public trust in government, and there are grave consequences when that trust is broken," the judge said.
Chang went on to say that corruption involving education was particularly egregious because "no public mission is more important than educating our children."
Solomon apologized to the Chicago Public Schools as well as the teachers and students he let down.
"Being an educator is tough, and in an urban environment, it's probably the toughest job in the world," Solomon said before the sentence was handed down. "And if my actions made their lives more difficult ... I deeply apologize."
Following the sentencing, Solomon and his attorneys declined to comment and would not commit to a potential appeal.
"We're going to think it over," said Shelly Kulwin, one of Solomon's lawyers.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys expressed starkly different views about the prison term Solomon should face.
Solomon's attorneys have contested the level of his involvement in a plot to steer lucrative CPS contracts to his SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates firms with help from former SUPES employee and school district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett.
Those attorneys have argued Solomon cooperated with prosecutors, has shown remorse, faced "very public humiliation, guilt and remorse every day" and should face no more than 18 months of incarceration.
Prosecutors said Solomon lived a life of privilege with millions of dollars gained while he and co-owner Thomas Vranas sold the firms' services to city school districts with struggling schools that served disadvantaged children.
Solomon, prosecutors said, made more money than anyone else involved in the scheme and should face a nine-year sentence.
"It involved the highest-level public official at CPS," prosecutors said of the case in a court filing earlier this month. "It involved defrauding a victim that struggles to find and provide the financial resources to fully educate inner-city students. It involved a corrupt process from beginning to end."
The SUPES and Synesi companies were charged as part of an original 23-count indictment leveled against Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas in 2015.
Byrd-Bennett's sentencing is scheduled for next month, a year and a half after she pleaded guilty and staged a tearful apology to the school system in the lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. Prosecutors have said they expect to ask that she be sentenced to 7 { years in prison.
Solomon's career in education had its roots in the Chicago suburbs and dates to 1992 when he taught at Niles West High School in Skokie. He became an administrator at Niles West, but in 1999 the district suspended him with pay after he was accused of sending sexually explicit emails to students and other inappropriate behavior.
Solomon resigned but was never criminally charged in the matter. He fought the district over his suspension, and the district agreed to pay him $50,000 to settle the case.
By February 2011, Solomon had played a role in recruiting Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first schools CEO, Jean-Claude Brizard, at the request of the mayor-elect's transition team. By the middle of July 2012, prosecutors said, "Brizard was floundering, and Solomon saw an opportunity."
Solomon went on to recommend Byrd-Bennett, who was the lead trainer at SUPES when CPS hired her as chief education officer in April 2012.
Solomon promoted Byrd-Bennett's interest in a bigger role at the district to City Hall, writing to one Emanuel aide that Byrd-Bennett "just sees that the ship is sinking fast and she wants to help." By the end of July 2012 _ three months before she officially took over _ Solomon sent Byrd-Bennett an email that said: "Congrats, Madam CEO!!!"
Prosecutors said Byrd-Bennett then began "strong-arming" CPS procurement officials to award a no-bid training contract to SUPES. Solomon also was "well aware of the inner workings of CPS," federal authorities said, as Byrd-Bennett forwarded internal district emails to him.
On the day the Chicago Board of Education signed off on Byrd-Bennett's hiring as CEO in October 2012, it also approved an initial $2.1 million contract for SUPES, expanding its early work training administrators to training principals. A six-figure payment and a $20.5 million no-bid contract followed.
Prosecutors said Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas expected the then-CEO would get a cut of each of those contracts in exchange for her role in ushering those details through the district.
Solomon pleaded guilty last year to a single count of wire fraud and admitted his role in a scheme to bribe Byrd-Bennett with a percentage of the value of contracts she helped secure for his firms.
