Legal expenses for former superintendent well below former cap
The DeKalb County school system has spent nothing in more than three months defending former Superintendent Crawford Lewis against a lawsuit, records show.
Last week, the school board removed a $100,000 cap on Lewis’ costs in the lawsuit by terminated construction program manager Heery/Mitchell. This week, in response to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution open records request, school officials revealed $66,268 in expenses so far for Lewis in that case — the same amount that had been spent as of June 30, according to an earlier tally provided in response to a prior records request.
Last week’s 5-3 vote reversed a school board decision last year to cap payments for Lewis to the Goodman, McGuffey, Lindsey & Johnson law firm. His expenses are a small portion of the total in the Heery/Mitchell court case, which had cost taxpayers $19.5 million by June 30.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
