Overview
- The OIG’s FY2025 annual report, released Wednesday, summarizes more than 1,200 complaints spanning July 2024 to June 2025 and documents widespread fraud, waste, and misconduct across Chicago Public Schools.
- CPS agreed to repay about $1.19 million by October 2026 after years of inflated Native American enrollment counts; the program manager was fired and placed on a do‑not‑hire list as the district adopts stricter tribal‑documentation verification and skipped this year’s grant application.
- Former CPS principal and network chief Brian Metcalf and vendor Kimberly Maddox admitted to a fake‑invoicing scheme that took about $88,500 from CPS and nearly $1 million from an Indiana charter network, with restitution agreed and Metcalf’s sentencing set for April.
- The Sexual Allegations Unit closed 335 cases with 55 substantiated findings, including multiple abuses on one shared high‑school campus and an ex‑dean’s 22‑year prison sentence, alongside additional cases involving staff, vendors, and volunteers.
- Investigators detailed pandemic‑relief abuses and operational lapses, including a principal’s forgiven $41,000 in PPP loans, surging travel costs that prompted a temporary freeze, residency violations, a 74% overtime increase, and tens of thousands of lost or stolen devices.