The news broke on Thursday that DeKalb County Superintendent Devon Horton was accused in a federal indictment of awarding contracts to his friends and accepting thousands of dollars in kickbacks in his last job. DeKalb leaders quickly put Horton on administrative leave and named an acting superintendent.
But some of the allegations about Horton have been public for years — some dating back to before he was hired to lead Georgia’s third-largest school system.
News outlets that cover the Evanston-Skokie School District 65 outside of Chicago and individuals there who reviewed public records have reported that Horton awarded no-bid contracts to his business partners and racked up unauthorized expenses on the district’s credit cards — allegations similar to the ones in the indictment filed in Illinois.
When Horton was hired as the DeKalb schools chief in 2023, hints of this alleged conduct were swirling around DeKalb. At least three people had contacted the district about the allegations that Horton awarded contracts to his friends, according to emails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2023.
“Googling is free,” read one of the messages, which was submitted to an email account created to accept questions and feedback about the superintendent search.
Then-board chair Diijon DaCosta told the AJC the board was aware of the criticism of Horton.
“Everything that the media, the public has perceived has been consulted with our attorneys,” DaCosta said in 2023. “And as far as we know at this point, those are just allegations.”
The federal indictment accuses Horton and three others of accepting kickbacks after hiring his friends; of accepting payment for services that were not provided; of funneling money through a sibling’s bank account to conceal the payments; and of evading taxes on the income.
“The allegations in Chicago relate to conduct that is several years old and have nothing whatsoever to do with (Horton’s) very successful work on behalf of the students, families, and teachers in DeKalb County,” said Horton’s attorney, Terence Campbell, in response to a request from the AJC to speak with Horton.
DeKalb school board Chair Deirdre Pierce said in a statement Thursday the board is “concerned” about the allegations. Horton is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.
Here’s what we knew, and when.
Credit: Photo courtesy DeKalb County School District
Credit: Photo courtesy DeKalb County School District
Contract confusion
The bulk of the indictment centers around instances where Horton allegedly hired his friends to do business with District 65, didn’t get the approval of the school board or falsified documents to obscure his involvement and accepted kickbacks.
The allegations about the kickbacks are new, but the issue of Horton hiring his friends has been online since March 2023 — before he was hired in DeKalb.
Tom Hayden, a parent and journalism professor in District 65 identified via public records requests that Horton had formed an LLC with people who were receiving no-bid contracts while he was superintendent. He reported the information on FOIA Gras, a Substack about governance in Evanston, on March 5, 2023.
Three of the friends and businesses identified on FOIA Gras were also named in the indictment: Antonio Ross, Samuel Ross and Alfonzo Lewis.
“Awarding no bid contracts to former or current business partners, in any fashion, is a conflict of interest,” wrote Tom Hayden, the person behind FOIA Gras. “Even if these consultants were the only people on Earth capable of providing such services, this remains a conflict of interest.”
The AJC reported some of the allegations about the contracts in April 2023. At the time, leaders in District 65 and DeKalb said it was no longer an issue because Horton had dissolved the LLC that tied him to the individuals.
But the indictment sheds new light on the issue: The three friends were allegedly given contracts totaling nearly $300,000 to do work for District 65; Horton allegedly received about $85,000 in kickbacks.
Hiring friends
At Horton’s first school board meeting at the helm of the DeKalb school district, the school board approved four new hires who worked with him in District 65.
One of those hires was Antonio Ross, who was also named in the federal indictment. He was principal of Hyde Park Academy in Chicago Public Schools, and was removed from the position in 2023 after an investigation substantiated undisclosed findings against him.
At the time, Ross was one of the people Horton had started an LLC with and who had received a no-bid contract from District 65 during Horton’s tenure, per FOIA Gras. The AJC and other news outlets in Georgia reported the connection.
In addition to the allegations about the contracts and kickbacks in District 65, the indictment accused Horton and Ross of defrauding Chicago Public Schools. As a principal, Ross hired a company Horton owned that used fraudulent information to receive a contract for about $10,000, according to the indictment. The duo concealed their connections to each other and to District 65, and charged for services that were not provided. FOIA Gras had also reported the CPS connection.
Ross ultimately did not accept the DeKalb position.
P-card problems
The indictment also accuses Horton of misusing his District 65 purchasing card for personal benefits — specifically, purchasing personal meals and gift cards and paying for personal travel expenses, according to the indictment.
Local reporting from Illinois in 2024 was more specific: Horton used his P-card in 2023 to pay for a trip to DeKalb County after he was hired. In a little over a week in late June and early July 2023, Horton put more than $10,000 in travel expenses on the card, according to records reviewed by FOIA Gras and the Evanston Roundtable.
District 65 told the Evanston Roundtable that several expenses were identified as “erroneous” and were immediately repaid.
Decaturish.com asked the DeKalb County School District about the allegations when they were published. A spokesperson said Horton “swiftly” repaid the money, and that the district is committed to “upholding fiscal responsibility and ethical conduct for all employees.”
The indictment states that in both 2022 and 2023, Horton “knowingly embezzled” more than $5,000” via his P-card.
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