Horton Co-Defendant Seeks Trial Delay, his Attorney Running for CPS Board President
Judge denies request for delay
First a few random updates on prior stories:
The 602 launched a new Evanston-centric podcast this week. You can follow them on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. I am the guest on tomorrow’s episode, where you can listen to all my hot takes on Evanston, District 65, Cornelia Lunt, Frances Willard, superintendent crime, and so much more. I can’t listen to my own voice, so someone tell me how it went.
A City that Works wrote critically about the upcoming Chicago Public Schools budget. One theme I’ve written about on this blog is the explosion in educational expenses and headcount while enrollment drops: “district staff has grown significantly since 2019 - up around 10,000 (or 26%) - while enrollment has fallen by over 45,000 students (or 12%)” - Sounds familiar to D65 and Roycemore.
i-Ready, District 65’s math curriculum and technology platform, has some new research out on the technology. Back in May, I read every piece of research about i-Ready and wrote a critique. The overall findings mostly hold: i-Ready’s technology platform is an effective tool in cases where students are either (1) English language learners or (2) significantly behind grade level. The research continues to show that for those students, it’s a digital tutor to catch up. For everyone else, I still believe it is about as effective as watching YouTube. More lawyers are piling into litigation against i-Ready for their marketing claims.
Governor Pritzker signed into law a statewide mobile device ban in Illinois public schools. District 65 and ETHS already had bans in place last year. You can read the law: SB2427.
Instructure, the company responsible for Northwestern’s learning management system outage is now a defendant in class action lawsuits related to the hack. Details on the ETHS hack from June are still not public, I’ve FOIA’ed a copy of the ransom note, ETHS denied my request and I’m requesting resolution from the Attorney General PAC office.
Back in October 2025, Devon Horton, the former District 65 superintendent, was indicted alongside Antonio Ross, Samuel Ross, and Alfonzo Lewis. You can read the indictment here. The 17 counts of wire fraud, tax fraud, and embezzlement, stem from an alleged kickback scheme worth more than $85,000. The three week trial is set for Oct. 21, 2026.
On July 23 2026, Antonio Ross's lead attorney, Victor Henderson of Henderson Parks, LLC, asked the judge to push the trial to early 2027. The rationale: Henderson is one of five candidates running for President of the Chicago Board of Education, a race in which he's already loaned his campaign $500,000. The general election is Nov. 3, 2026, which falls in the middle of the trial.
You can read Henderson’s motion here. In the motion, Henderson claimed he would have filed sooner; however, his ballot nomination papers were challenged, requiring him to wait for that to be resolved first. WBEZ reported his challenge was withdrawn in late July and Mr. Henderson will appear on the ballot.
Notably, Henderson himself won't be the one trying the case. A court filing shows fellow Henderson Parks attorney David K. Katahira entered his appearance for Ross on May 25, 2026, checking "No" to acting as lead counsel but "Yes" to the question, "If this case reaches trial, will you act as the trial attorney?"
Henderson’s client, Antonio Ross, spent a decade as principal of Chicago Public Schools' Hyde Park Academy. CPS removed him from that post in March 2023, citing an Inspector General investigation. In October 2024, the ISBE published findings from a hearing, which laid out the allegations: that Ross committed public benefits fraud by obtaining a $20,832 Paycheck Protection Program loan and its forgiveness in 2021, while drawing a CPS salary. According to the hearing, his business appeared to be connecting undocumented labor with contractors:
When asked about his PPP loan application, Respondent changed his answer and stated that he did have a construction business in which he acted as the middleman, arranging handyman jobs, home improvement work, and residential jobs. Respondent stated that this business did not have any online or physical presence, and did not advertise, but instead relied on word-of-mouth referrals. During this interview, Respondent explained that general contractors paid him, and he then hired cheap, undocumented day-laborers.
The ISBE hearing officer found that the charges met the “preponderance of the evidence” standard and Ross was formally terminated from CPS.
In addition to this business, Ross owned Connecting the Dots Leadership Initiative, LLC, which in October 2021, signed a contract for $94,500 with District 65 (and an extension in 2022). The scope of work included doing analysis and reporting on the student behavior response continuum (SBRC), a component of the District’s discipline and restorative practices policies. Between 2021-2023, Mr. Ross was paid $139,500 for this work.
The indictment alleges that the services had not been rendered and Dr. Horton received $41,900 in kickbacks:
20. It was further part of the scheme that ANTONIO ROSS and Connecting the Dots submitted invoices to District 65 that were false in that they purported to provided certain professionals to District 65 when ANTONIO ROSS knew that those services had not been provided.
21. It was further part of the scheme that, after HORTON approved and caused the approval of invoices that ANTONIO ROSS and Connecting the Dots submitted to District 65 and District 65 paid those invoices, ANTONIO ROSS withdrew and caused to be withdrawn money from Connecting the Dots’ bank account or ANTONIO ROSS’s bank account and paid kickbacks totaling approximately $41,900 directly and indirectly to HORTON, including by funneling payments to HORTON through Individual A.
Separately, in July 2023, after Dr. Horton moved to Georgia, the DeKalb school board approved hiring Ross as Director of Leadership and Development (update: this story previously had an incorrect job title for Mr. Ross in DCSD, this has been corrected). Ross never actually started. Decaturish reported that within days of the board's vote, DeKalb announced he had "declined his appointment, citing personal reasons."
Judge Denies Motion - Trial Set
On July 27, four days after Henderson’s motion to move the trial was filed, the court held a telephone conference and denied Henderson’s request to delay. The minute entry is a line: "For the reasons stated on the record, Antonio Ross's motion to continue trial [58] is denied." No other public documents are available.
The trial is set to begin on Oct. 21, 2026.