A former Chicago Public Schools assistant principal was sentenced to two years probation on Tuesday after she pleaded guilty embezzling money from an elementary school.
In July of 2023, Tracey Canty-Robinson, 56, was charged in a 17-count indictment with stealing from Skinner West Elementary School on the Near West Side. The allegations were also highlighted in a report from the Office of Inspector General that noted multiple instances of waste and abuse in Chicago Public Schools, revealing financial losses at the resource-strapped district.
“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 earlier this year.
Canty-Robinson entered a plea before Cook County Judge Stanley Sacks on a felony count of continuing a financial crimes enterprise. In addition to her probation term, she was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, according to court records.
She altered checks over a multiyear period, according to the indictment. The inspector general’s report specified that she was accused of embezzling $274,000 in after-school program payments.
The inspector general’s office referred Canty-Robinson’s case to law enforcement after referencing the allegations in a 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 that have been raised by the inspector general’s office, including thousands of lost and stolen technology devices that the district reported to the Chicago Police Department.
But its 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.