The top education official in Chicago Public Schools is leaving the district.

Barbara Eason-Watkins heads up the education side of the school district, so CEO Ron Huberman can focus on running other aspects of CPS. 

Eason-Watkins is often credited with progress made in elementary schools over the last nine years. Penny Sebring is with the Consortium on Chicago School Research.

SEBRING: She’s just an enormously talented educator and leader, and she was a very effective champion for focusing on instruction and pushing for high quality instruction.

Eason-Watkins began in the system as a substitute teacher some 35 years ago. She became a stand-out principal at a tough school on the South Side.

Her departure comes as CPS is laying off hundreds of central office workers and contemplating larger class sizes to plug a huge deficit. 

She’s leaving the nation’s third largest district to become superintendent in Michigan City, Indiana—which has just 15 schools and 7,000 students.

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