U-46 settles lawsuit filed by family of injured South Elgin boy

The family of a South Elgin boy who suffered brain trauma during a beating by a Kenyon Woods Middle School classmate in 2017 has settled its lawsuit against the school district.

The Elgin Area School District U-46 school board on Monday unanimously approved a settlement agreement in the 2017 lawsuit filed by the family of Henry Sembdner, who was 12 years old and a Kenyon Woods seventh-grader at the time of the attack that left him unconscious. Officials did not release details of the settlement amount or any other provisions of the agreement.

School board President Sue Kerr declined to comment on it. "We are over with it," she said Tuesday.

The agreement will be reviewed by a judge at a status hearing in court next Tuesday.

Sembdner family attorney Lance Northcutt confirmed "the matter has been resolved" but would not comment further.

"The family's focus is on Henry and moving forward," Northcutt said. He added that Henry, now 15, is a sophomore at South Elgin High School.

In the February 2017 attack, Henry was assaulted in a school hallway where there were no security cameras after he and his attacker bumped into each other. The attacker picked Henry up and slammed him to the ground headfirst, rendering him unconscious and putting him in a coma for five days.

The Sembdner's lawsuit alleges district officials knew the attacker, who was 14 at the time, posed a danger and had a "lengthy history of behavioral infractions, including prior violent attacks against other students." The staff at the South Elgin school also failed to provide adequate and responsive care after Henry was injured, the suit claims.

The school nurse initially called Henry's mom, Karen Sembdner, instead of 911, saying he had a bloody nose and broken tooth. The nurse did not reveal the full extent of Henry's injuries or that he was knocked unconscious, when in reality he "sustained severe trauma to his brain and multiple fractures to his face and skull," the suit alleges.

The 14-year-old who attacked Henry pleaded guilty to battery in July 2017. He was sentenced in juvenile court to 12 months of probation and was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. He also was subject to random drug testing, had to undergo counseling and had to write an apology letter to Henry.