Maybe people should vote next time there is an election. Sadly, no one will run for school board because this town is bullshit. It’s actually easier to move your kids to one of the many private options. And then you don’t have to be angry all the time. Just hope that 202 stays reasonably stable and count the days until you can get there. I’m not encouraged what lies ahead though, if 65 can’t send prepared kids to 202. It’s an alarming problem yet d65 does not seem to be doing much to change things. There’s no point in getting rid of Horton if he hand picks his own successor.
Wait until you see what D202 is up to, they’re about 4 years behind D65 on all this stuff. Hiring the same consultants and everything. More to come on this.
Karl - I moved my kids out of D65 during Covid and elected not to go to D202 when they hit high school (they will be in 9th and 11th grades this year at Loyola Academy) bc upon further look, I saw a lot of the same shit happening in D202 and don't want to risk my kids not being prepared for college. That said, many of my friends who have kids of the same age are thrilled with D202 but when I hear about their dumbing down or their offering math classes based on race I am happy about my decision. Next up - get the hell out of Evanston so I can stop paying the insane property taxes for nothing. Sadly, the will of the people in Evanston is to let the schools slide further and further down the tubes with no end in sight.
I submitted a comment to Evanton Now telling them to give Foia Gras some credit for breaking this story a week ago. Comment was kind - just a request. They would not post my comment - first time it’s ever happened. I think you have the makings of another column: The folly of the press here in Evanston.
The Roundtable folks are great but Bill Smith @ Evanston Now doesn't like me very much.
I used to comment on his blog until he emailed me to call me a "pest" because I wasn't specifically supporting his political arguments, so I told him to fuck off. I suppose that might explain it.
Someone did an ‘exit interview’ with Horton. I didn’t watch it, but the post advertising it says it features a recounting of the time when ‘a racist parent showed up at his home with a gun threatening his life.’
What’s the story here? After the way they spun the suv window smash story to be a response to the Deemar lawsuit that hadn’t even been filed yet, I would have expected Horton to have a field day with this one!
If you watch the video he doesn't actually talk about it, all the gun stuff comes from the woman interviewing him. She does most of the talking for him during this interview. One thing with Horton is that he doesn't ever really say much at all, he lets the interviewer (or school board) project onto him whatever politics they happen to have.
Anyway, I don't want to write about this because it's arguably subjective whether the parent in question here was threatening Dr. Horton or not. I personally think it was threatening even though there was no gun involved, as far as I am aware. Some level of security was certainly warranted and there is a restraining order issued against that parent, although 24/7/365 security for a year was overkill.
That interviewer is a piece of work. She did a forum for D65 school board candidates and spent most of the time talking and throwing in weird asides instead of letting the candidates voices be prominent in the conversation.
Interviewing is really hard but the interviewer should not be putting words into the person's mouth in the way she does. Also, I suspect he wouldn't even have done the interview if he hadn't expected a friendly platform. He'd never do an interview with me even if I paid him.
This goes back to the half million dollars of private security he grifted from Evanston taxpayers. He's lying about the gun: there was no gun in any police report submitted by him or District 65 regarding any alleged harassment that wasn’t just hurt feelings from parents who disagree with him. He’s a fragile person who’s looking for sympathy from someone who’ll help spin and republish his narrative.
Once he’s gone, hopefully his legacy can be undone quickly and allow us to heal the damage he and his ilk have hurt D65 with.
He's not the one who brings up the gun in the video and as far as I can tell, he doesn't once mention it in the video. It comes from the interviewer. People, especially those with strong political narratives project onto him whatever they want and he happily accepts it because it personally enriches him. Can't knock the hustle, I guess.
9:34 mark to start. Horton says it not the interviewer. Horton mentions a gun.
“The media did not cover this - it’s ok, but a parent showed up at my house threatening me with a gun”. Then mentioned something about them losing their license ?
"In the corporate world, it is relatively common to see contracts that have “non-solicitation” clauses them. I’ve had these in my own contracts. They generally prohibit the contracted employee from recruiting away employees. I wanted to see if such a clause existed in Dr. Horton’s contract.
I FOIA’ed a copy of his contract. You can read it here. 2
First, there is no such non-solicitation clause. "
Oh yeah, I don't know about the education business. I didnt mean to imply got special treatment (altho he may have). Its also possible that non-solicits might be illegal in public hiring (dont know!!)
I do think there are some other interesting terms in the contract though. Check out the performance standards - why werent these made public??
Someone please provide me with authorities to send this too. Have you gone to the Evanston police department to file a police report ? How can we pay someone to go do that ?
Can you help please clarify and elaborate on how does it work? Laws are being broken possible financial ties that’s what police do investigate. Someone needs to file a report. Conflicts of interest contract breaches improper donations. There are articles on if all black classes are illegal. There has been proof of illegality. These are public government employees
I’m not a lawyer but you have to consider (1) what does it mean for something to be illegal vs improper? (2) who has jurisdiction over the specific violations of statues? (3) what are the consequences for the violations of statutes? You can call the EPD and FBI until you’re blue in the face but if a prosecutor won’t pick up the case - who cares? Most of the things I write about here are ethical violations (such as what I’m documented here) which are entirely within the scope of the law. The role of the media is to expose these stories and the role of the voters is to vote the people responsible out of office.
Everyone’s excitement to enact criminal punishments on people they don’t like really gives me the ick.
Maybe people should vote next time there is an election. Sadly, no one will run for school board because this town is bullshit. It’s actually easier to move your kids to one of the many private options. And then you don’t have to be angry all the time. Just hope that 202 stays reasonably stable and count the days until you can get there. I’m not encouraged what lies ahead though, if 65 can’t send prepared kids to 202. It’s an alarming problem yet d65 does not seem to be doing much to change things. There’s no point in getting rid of Horton if he hand picks his own successor.
Wait until you see what D202 is up to, they’re about 4 years behind D65 on all this stuff. Hiring the same consultants and everything. More to come on this.
Karl - I moved my kids out of D65 during Covid and elected not to go to D202 when they hit high school (they will be in 9th and 11th grades this year at Loyola Academy) bc upon further look, I saw a lot of the same shit happening in D202 and don't want to risk my kids not being prepared for college. That said, many of my friends who have kids of the same age are thrilled with D202 but when I hear about their dumbing down or their offering math classes based on race I am happy about my decision. Next up - get the hell out of Evanston so I can stop paying the insane property taxes for nothing. Sadly, the will of the people in Evanston is to let the schools slide further and further down the tubes with no end in sight.
Waiting for the market to improve and to decide where to land next. Considering Regina for high school in 9 years. Yep- thinking ahead.
I submitted a comment to Evanton Now telling them to give Foia Gras some credit for breaking this story a week ago. Comment was kind - just a request. They would not post my comment - first time it’s ever happened. I think you have the makings of another column: The folly of the press here in Evanston.
The Roundtable folks are great but Bill Smith @ Evanston Now doesn't like me very much.
I used to comment on his blog until he emailed me to call me a "pest" because I wasn't specifically supporting his political arguments, so I told him to fuck off. I suppose that might explain it.
Someone did an ‘exit interview’ with Horton. I didn’t watch it, but the post advertising it says it features a recounting of the time when ‘a racist parent showed up at his home with a gun threatening his life.’
What’s the story here? After the way they spun the suv window smash story to be a response to the Deemar lawsuit that hadn’t even been filed yet, I would have expected Horton to have a field day with this one!
https://youtu.be/7dBQf4tunFM
If you watch the video he doesn't actually talk about it, all the gun stuff comes from the woman interviewing him. She does most of the talking for him during this interview. One thing with Horton is that he doesn't ever really say much at all, he lets the interviewer (or school board) project onto him whatever politics they happen to have.
Anyway, I don't want to write about this because it's arguably subjective whether the parent in question here was threatening Dr. Horton or not. I personally think it was threatening even though there was no gun involved, as far as I am aware. Some level of security was certainly warranted and there is a restraining order issued against that parent, although 24/7/365 security for a year was overkill.
Update: I FOIA'ed a copy of the police report related to this and I will publish it.
That interviewer is a piece of work. She did a forum for D65 school board candidates and spent most of the time talking and throwing in weird asides instead of letting the candidates voices be prominent in the conversation.
Interviewing is really hard but the interviewer should not be putting words into the person's mouth in the way she does. Also, I suspect he wouldn't even have done the interview if he hadn't expected a friendly platform. He'd never do an interview with me even if I paid him.
This goes back to the half million dollars of private security he grifted from Evanston taxpayers. He's lying about the gun: there was no gun in any police report submitted by him or District 65 regarding any alleged harassment that wasn’t just hurt feelings from parents who disagree with him. He’s a fragile person who’s looking for sympathy from someone who’ll help spin and republish his narrative.
Once he’s gone, hopefully his legacy can be undone quickly and allow us to heal the damage he and his ilk have hurt D65 with.
He's not the one who brings up the gun in the video and as far as I can tell, he doesn't once mention it in the video. It comes from the interviewer. People, especially those with strong political narratives project onto him whatever they want and he happily accepts it because it personally enriches him. Can't knock the hustle, I guess.
9:34 mark to start. Horton says it not the interviewer. Horton mentions a gun.
“The media did not cover this - it’s ok, but a parent showed up at my house threatening me with a gun”. Then mentioned something about them losing their license ?
Thank you. I will FOIA this police report.
Editx2 just to make sure
"In the corporate world, it is relatively common to see contracts that have “non-solicitation” clauses them. I’ve had these in my own contracts. They generally prohibit the contracted employee from recruiting away employees. I wanted to see if such a clause existed in Dr. Horton’s contract.
I FOIA’ed a copy of his contract. You can read it here. 2
First, there is no such non-solicitation clause. "
Isn't this unusual to not have?
Curious - what here is nonstandard?
Made some edits : isn't it unusual to see this lack of non solicitation clause
Oh yeah, I don't know about the education business. I didnt mean to imply got special treatment (altho he may have). Its also possible that non-solicits might be illegal in public hiring (dont know!!)
I do think there are some other interesting terms in the contract though. Check out the performance standards - why werent these made public??
RoundTable story on performance standards: https://evanstonroundtable.com/2022/03/23/district-65-board-extends-superintendent-devon-hortons-contract-through-2026%EF%BF%BC/
THANK YOU!!
I stand corrected. Much appreciated.
Someone please provide me with authorities to send this too. Have you gone to the Evanston police department to file a police report ? How can we pay someone to go do that ?
No, thats not how this works at all.
Can you help please clarify and elaborate on how does it work? Laws are being broken possible financial ties that’s what police do investigate. Someone needs to file a report. Conflicts of interest contract breaches improper donations. There are articles on if all black classes are illegal. There has been proof of illegality. These are public government employees
I’m not a lawyer but you have to consider (1) what does it mean for something to be illegal vs improper? (2) who has jurisdiction over the specific violations of statues? (3) what are the consequences for the violations of statutes? You can call the EPD and FBI until you’re blue in the face but if a prosecutor won’t pick up the case - who cares? Most of the things I write about here are ethical violations (such as what I’m documented here) which are entirely within the scope of the law. The role of the media is to expose these stories and the role of the voters is to vote the people responsible out of office.
Everyone’s excitement to enact criminal punishments on people they don’t like really gives me the ick.
submitted a number of these articles with clear violations of broken laws to fbi. Someone needs to take these to the Evanston police.