Ousted Chicago principal blasts CPS: It's 'corrupt and corruption breeds incompetence'

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Troy Laraviere was ousted as principal and is now gearing up to fight charges that CPS has leveled against him.

On Thursday, popular Blaine Elementary School principal Troy Laraviere talked about what led to his removal.

Laraviere is currently on home duty. A hearing has been scheduled by CPS who will decide whether or not to suspend the award winning principal without pay.

“Today, I'm here to respond to the politically motivated charges that they've assembled as a false justification for that removal,” Laraviere said.

Three weeks ago, Laraviere got the letter telling him he was no longer the principal of Blaine Elementary. The reason? Alleged acts of misconduct.

“If you value responsible management of tax dollars, you're supposed to commend people who identify waste and fraud, not punish them. But punish me they did,” Laraviere said.

“We were, to say the least, stunned that he was let go...or reassigned as they called it,” said parent Betsy Melton.

CPS has charged Laraviere with insubordination, dereliction of duty and ethics violations. The latter, the principal says, coming from his highly publicized support of Rahm Emanuel’s former rival Chuy Garcia and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Laraviere had the following to say about the CPS administration.

“It is inherently corrupt and corruption breeds incompetence,” Laraviere said.

Whether or not CPS decides to suspend him will have no impact, he says, on his run for the president of the Chicago Principal's and Administrators Association.

It’s the only race he's focused on right now.

“When I was a lone voice, the administration tolerated it, but when faced with the prospect of an organized group of education leaders, speaking as one on behalf of our students, they moved with haste and reckless abandon to prevent that from happening,” Laraviere said.

Laraviere says after he was told to leave, cps changed the locks at Blaine Elementary, which is an unnecessary 2-thousand dollar expense, he says.

CPS issued the following statement after Thursday’s morning's press conference:

"Mr. LaRaviere has made public the charges that CPS provided to him on April 25, 2016. Those charges set forth the bases for CPS' decision to remove him as a principal. An independent arbitrator will hear evidence concerning those charges and make a recommendation concerning Mr. LaRaviere's employment."