A former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) principal and network chief reportedly pleaded guilty to participating in a fraudulent billing scheme that cost the district at least $88,500.
That’s according to the Fiscal Year 2025 annual report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Chicago Board of Education.
That report, issued by Inspector General for the Chicago Board of Education Philip Wagenknecht, summarizes cases drawn from more than 1,200 complaints filed between July 2024 and June 2025 in Chicago Public Schools.
The report identifies Brian Metcalf, who served as a CPS principal and later as a network chief, as having submitted false invoices for services that were never provided. The conduct occurred between November 2012 and November 2017 and involved invoices for professional development and grant-writing training, the report said.
According to the OIG, the scheme took place at two CPS schools where Metcalf held leadership roles. Procurement records showed that Kimberly Maddox, a CPS vendor involved in the billing, lacked the professional qualifications to perform the services listed on the invoices.
Investigators also cited internal emails showing Metcalf expedited payments to Maddox and maintained a personal relationship with her outside of work.
In December 2023, federal prosecutors in Illinois indicted Metcalf, Maddox and another individual on multiple wire fraud charges tied to schemes involving organizations Metcalf worked for after leaving CPS. Those organizations included a nonprofit and a school system in another state.
As part of a plea agreement, Metcalf admitted to creating and submitting fraudulent invoices from 2018 to 2022 for goods and services that were never provided. Federal prosecutors said he ensured the invoices were paid and shared proceeds with co-conspirators, defrauding his post-CPS employers of $1,010,700.
Chalkbeat Indiana previously reported that Metcalf pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud for submitting nearly $1 million in false invoices while serving as CEO of the Tindley charter school network in Indianapolis from 2019 to 2022.
Metcalf received a “Do Not Hire” designation from CPS in April 2018 following an unrelated investigation. The OIG recommended that findings from Case No. 22-002282 be added to that designation.
In October 2025, CPS permanently barred both Metcalf and Maddox from doing business with the district and issued Maddox her own “Do Not Hire” designation.
The Office of Inspector General, led by Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht, serves as an independent oversight body for roughly 635 CPS district-run, contract and charter schools. Established under the Illinois School Code in 1996, the office investigates waste, fraud, financial mismanagement, employee misconduct, contractor or vendor misconduct, and sexual misconduct by CPS-affiliated adults involving students or minors.
