Gay Chicago Schools CEO Leaving

Ron Huberman, the first openly gay CEO of the Chicago public school system, has confirmed he’s leaving the post, the Chicago Tribunereports.

Media outlets reported last month that Huberman was stepping down, but he denied that his departure was imminent. He announced Wednesday, however, that November 29 will be his last day.

Huberman, who oversaw reforms as well as teacher layoffs in the time he headed the nation’s third-largest school district, said he did not wish to serve under a new mayoral administration. Mayor Richard M. Daley has decided not to seek reelection in 2011 after having been in office since 1989.

“Ron expressed to the mayor his desire not to work for another administration, and they discussed an appropriate time for Ron to step down,” Daley spokeswoman Jodi Kawada told the Tribune. Daley will appoint a replacement before Huberman’s last day, she said.

Huberman, a former police officer and head of the Chicago Transit Authority, became schools CEO early in 2009 when his predecessor, Arne Duncan, was named President Obama’s secretary of education.