Elgin family plans to file second suit against U-46

One of the five families accusing Elgin Area School District U-46 of racial bias plans to file another lawsuit against the district.

Daniel McFadden told the school board Monday night that he intends to sue U-46 over the expulsion of his son, Deonte, from Larkin High School.

Deonte, a senior, was suspended Oct. 8 for "verbally assaulting" a math teacher.

At a hearing before the school board 12 days later, Deonte was informed he'd been expelled from the high school for one year, but had the option of attending U-46's alternative program instead.

Deonte, a Royals varsity basketball player, was also told he could no longer play for the team.

With 31 credits, Deonte was on track for graduation and had a clean disciplinary record, his mother, Tracy McFadden, said.

"We do feel like it's unjust," she said. "He hasn't done anything to this extreme ... for him to be kicked out of school this last year of high school."

At a Nov. 3 school board meeting, McFaddens requested an appeal of the decision.

Superintendent Jose Torres also met with the family about the issue, informing them that his hands were tied.

"He told us that there was nothing he could do," Daniel McFadden said. "And we had to go to civil court to get an appeal."

Tony Sanders, spokesman for the district, said school board members are the only ones able to undo a decision like an expulsion.

District officials declined to comment further Tuesday, citing Illinois student privacy laws.

However, Sanders said, if the family does file a suit, the district would respond in open court.

If the expulsion stands, Deonte could be removed as a plaintiff from the racial bias lawsuit, Carol Ashley, an attorney representing the five Elgin families suing the district, said Nov. 4. The lawsuit, filed nearly four years ago, alleges that the district discriminated against its black and Latino students by sending them to older, more crowded schools, forcing them to ride buses farther and more often than their white peers, and providing them with inferior educational opportunities.

Daniel McFadden said the family's "next step" is to "go ahead and move forward with (the second suit)."

Deonte will be home schooled until a decision is reached.

"We're just trying to get him to graduate," Daniel McFadden said. "We want him to move on with his life."