U-46 suit loses another plaintiff to graduation

High school graduation has forced another student to withdraw from the lawsuit accusing Elgin Area School District U-46 of racial bias.

Lawyers on Tuesday will ask a federal Judge to remove Ambry Ivy from the lawsuit. Ivy graduated from Larkin High School in May.

Ivy is the fourth plaintiff to have graduated from high school since the lawsuit was first filed in February 2005.

Last June, siblings Eduardo and Grisella Burciaga removed their names after graduating from Elgin High.

Ambry's sister, Ashley, also broke with the lawsuit after graduation in 2006.

Because they are no longer able to receive any of the remedies the lawsuit seeks, plaintiffs who graduate from U-46 high schools cannot continue as part of the lawsuit, said Carol Ashley, an attorney with Futterman and Howard, the law firm representing the Elgin families.

These families want the court to mandate and oversee a plan that ends discriminatory policies and practices.

Sparked from 2004 school boundary changes, the lawsuit claims U-46 violated the rights of black and Latino students by placing them in older, more crowded schools; forcing them to ride buses longer and more often than their white peers; and providing them with inferior educational opportunities.

With the withdrawal of Ambry and Ashley Ivy, one Ivy child, still in elementary school, remains a plaintiff.

Despite a reduction in the number of plaintiffs, all five families suing the district remain on board, Ashley said.

No family stands in any immediate danger of having all of their children graduate from the district.

Lawyers from Franczek Sullivan and Hogan and Hartson, the two firms representing the district, have yet to oppose any motions to remove plaintiffs from the lawsuit.