DeKalb school board makes Sauce its permanent superintendent

Norman Sauce has served as DeKalb’s interim superintendent for the last year, after Devon Horton was indicted and resigned.

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DeKalb County School District Superintendent Norman Sauce III speaks on Sept. 23, 2026, on the school district’s role in the Education to Empowerment violence prevention plan (Ben Hendren for the AJC)

By Cassidy Alexander and Martha Dalton

1 hour ago

The DeKalb County school board swore in Norman C. Sauce III as the district’s new superintendent on Monday.

Sauce was confirmed in a 4-1-1 vote, where four board members voted for his nomination, one voted against it, another member abstained and one was absent.

Sauce, who was named the sole finalist for the position two weeks ago, said on Monday that he was honored to accept the job.

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“Today I stand before you with profound gratitude, with deep humility and unwavering optimism,” he said. “I’m honored by the trust placed in me to serve as superintendent of DeKalb County School District, and I accept this responsibility, understanding what’s at stake.”

Sauce was promoted to the interim superintendent role in November after former Superintendent Devon Horton was indicted on federal charges related to an alleged kickback scheme at his old job in Illinois and resigned.

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The school board was split about whether to name Sauce the sole finalist. Three board members — Diijon DaCosta, Awet Eyasu and Tiffany Hogan — said they supported Sauce but wanted to do a formal search and interview process for superintendent candidates. The other four members felt that Sauce’s one year as interim superintendent was an in-depth interview and he’d done enough to get the job.

On Monday, Hogan voted against Sauce’s nomination, Eyasu abstained and DaCosta was not present. Speaking before the vote, both Hogan and Eyasu made it clear they were objecting to the process and not Sauce himself.

“I will do everything that I can to make sure that Dr. Sauce is successful, with or without my vote,” Eyasu said.

“Even though I don’t vote ‘yes’ for him today, it does not mean that I am not in support of him,” Hogan said. “That is two different things. I can support someone and not vote for something.”

Sauce is the district’s 10th leader since 2010.

The DeKalb County School District has had a revolving door of superintendents since 2010. Nine people have served in that position — including one person who served twice. (Photo illustration by Cassidy Alexander)

Former DeKalb teacher and principal Crawford Lewis was hired as superintendent in October 2004. In 2010, he was fired around the time he was indicted in a school construction corruption case. Lewis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor obstruction charge. (AJC File)

Ramona Tyson, who began her three decades-plus career in DeKalb as a teacher, was named interim superintendent in February 2010 after Crawford Lewis was fired. (AJC File)

Cheryl Atkinson led the DeKalb school district from September 2011 until the school board agreed to part ways with Atkinson in February 2013. She acknowledged many parents had “trust issues” with her. (AJC File)

Michael Thurmond, the former state labor commissioner, was hired as the leader of DeKalb schools in February 2013 and agreed to stay until a permanent replacement was hired. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)

Steve Green was hired as DeKalb's superintendent in May 2015 after leaving the superintendent’s post in Kansas City, Missouri. He agreed to leave DeKalb amid concerns about staff turnover and teacher retention. (AJC File)

Ramona Tyson was tapped to lead DeKalb schools for a second time from November 2019 until her retirement in June 2020. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Cheryl Watson-Harris was the first deputy chancellor for New York City’s board of education before being hired as DeKalb's superintendent. She led the district from July 2020 until she was fired in April 2022. (Steve Schaffer/AJC)

Vasanne Tinsley served as interim superintendent of DeKalb schools from April 2022 to 2023. Tinsley came out of retirement to serve in that role. (Ben Gray for the AJC)

Devon Horton was hired in 2023. He resigned in 2025, after he was indicted on federal charges in Illinois related to an alleged kickback scheme in his old job. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Norman C. Sauce III was appointed acting superintendent in 2025 after Devon Horton resigned. (Courtesy DeKalb County School District)

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The DeKalb County School District has had a revolving door of superintendents since 2010. Nine people have served in that position — including one person who served twice. (Photo illustration by Cassidy Alexander) (Cassidy Alexander)

DeKalb is Georgia’s third-largest school district, with about 90,000 students.

Sauce has previously served as a principal, administrator and area superintendent. Most recently, he was the district’s chief of student services.

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Sauce has been leading the district through the student assignment planning process — the major effort that could include closing some schools, changing attendance boundaries and adding or subtracting academic programming. The district recently celebrated a record-high graduation rate and improvements in state test scores. But Sauce said he’s most proud of the district’s resilience.

“We have not veered off course, even in the midst of some unexpected transition that everyone’s aware of, we have not let that be any sort of stumbling block,” he said in a meeting last week. “We have continued to celebrate, and uplift, and acknowledge and focus on the needs of nearly 90,000 scholars, more than 14,000 employees and each of our stakeholders that support, love and represent those employees and scholars.”