DeKalb School Superintendent Indicted On Federal Charges In IL

EVANSTON, IL — DeKalb County School Superintendent Dr. Devon Horton has been federally indicted on unknown charges in Illinois, the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 said.

The charges were filed Thursday by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, the district said, not detailing the nature of the charges but adding the indictment relates to "acts he allegedly committed while serving as superintendent of District 65."

The district's board leaders said they are maintaining confidentiality during the investigation.

"We are deeply troubled and angered by these allegations. Now that the federal government has formally indicted, the district is reviewing the specific details of the indictment with the district’s legal counsel. A more detailed statement will be forthcoming after we have had an opportunity to review the details of the indictment," board leaders said in a news release.

The DeKalb County School District told Patch school officials were aware of the indictment and have no further comment at this time.

The leader of Georgia's third-largest school district, Horton has oversaw DCSD since 2023, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

According to his school biography, Horton came to DeKalb after first serving as superintendent of the Evanston/Skokie district, chief of schools for Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky, deputy superintendent for East St. Louis School District 189 in Illinois and principal and assistant principal for Chicago Public Schools. Prior, he taught for a decade.

Chiefs for Change, an education-based organization, said Horton implemented Academic Skills Centers that supported the reading and math skills of Black and Latino students on Evanston/Skokie campuses while also a teacher residency program.

Horton's biography stated he lives by the motto: “Students do not fail; it’s the systems that we create as adults that fail our students.”