Paul Vallas receives endorsement from former CPS board head Gery Chico

CHICAGO - Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas received a key endorsement Friday morning. 

Gery Chico, once chief of staff to former Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his support for Vallas. Chico is also a former Chicago Public Schools board president and worked with Vallas for six years.

He said Vallas is perhaps the most prepared, qualified, and dedicated person to lead the city.

"We invested across the board mostly in neighborhood schools that's where the vast majority of the money's went," Chico said. "But what we did, which I thought was very clever on [Vallas'] part, was put exciting programs within those schools like the international baccalaureate program at Hubbard High School, a neighborhood high school on the Southwest Side. I mean, you cannot just do one thing and not listen to parents. You can't take the approach which I think is being taken today by the teachers union, saying, here's what you're going to get and you're going to like it. The people vote with their feet."

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Chico said the health of the schools is directly related to the health of the city.

Vallas's opponent in the runoff, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson is back on the campaign trail 

Johnson spent Thursday greeting commuters at a Red Line train station before meeting with Bronzeville seniors at the Paul G. Steward apartments.

The mayoral candidate said his focus will remain on investments in the people of Chicago.