Lawyer wants experts to look at U-46

For the first time, the lawyer for the families suing Elgin Area School District U-46 for bias publicly stated some of her criteria for settling the long-running, costly lawsuit.

U-46 officials say they have been asking for these terms for more than two years.

In a court appearance Wednesday, Carol Ashley of the Futterman and Howard law firm told Judge Michael Mason that her settlement terms would include negotiations with a team of educational experts.

The experts, Ashley said, would assess the district and help formulate an improvement plan that would guide the settlement terms.

"We've done this in other cases," Ashley said, "and it's been highly successful."

Lawyers for U-46 said Wednesday they couldn't say whether they would accept including a team of education experts in settlement talks.

"We have our clients, we don't need experts for that purpose," said Mike Hernandez of Franczek Sullivan, the district's outside law firm.

Futterman and Howard's record in other school districts is one factor that has made U-46 wary of settlement, said Pattie Whitten of Franczek and Sullivan.

In addition to U-46, Franczek and Sullivan represents Champaign public schools, which Futterman and Howard accused in 1998 of violating the Constitutional rights of black students.

Before a lawsuit was filed, district officials signed a consent decree that required the district to take certain steps to even the playing field for white and black students.

As part of the agreement, Champaign administrators each month brief a group of attorneys, parents, community members and a court-appointed monitor on their progress.

Champaign public schools have paid Futterman and Howard $1.9 million since the 2000-2001 school year, according to records provided by the district.

Last school year, five years after the consent decree was signed, Champaign paid Futterman and Howard nearly $500,000 in legal fees, the highest one-year total in seven years.

"They've had lots and lots of disputes, even though there's supposed to be a settlement and a consent decree" Whitten said.

In addition to Futterman and Howard, Champaign school must pay its own legal team and a court monitor. Those costs were unavailable Wednesday.