No settlement reached after first talks in U-46 suit

Despite three and a half hours of talks, the parties in the Elgin Area School District U-46 racial bias suit failed to come to a settlement agreement Monday.

The private conference, held at Chicago's Everett Dirksen Federal Building, was the first since the lawsuit was filed in February 2005.

Those present included representatives from the five Elgin families suing, a Spanish interpreter, the U-46 school board, Superintendent Jose Torres and district legal counsel Pat Broncato.

At recent hearings, Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason repeatedly has warned that what happens during settlement talks is confidential.

Lawyers from both sides declined to comment on specifics of the settlement conference Monday afternoon, citing the judge's orders.

During the conference, the two sides were separated, with Mason going back and forth to discuss terms of a potential settlement.

Anything said by one side could not be divulged by the judge to the other without authorization.

"These are confidential, and if you will, secret negotiations," Mason said last week. "So be prepared and prepare your clients because it can be a little frustrating."

Sparked by 2004 boundary changes, the families claim U-46 violated the rights of black and Latino students by placing them in older, more crowded schools; forcing them to ride buses farther and more often than their white peers; and giving them inferior educational opportunities.

Now a class-action case, the suit could force U-46 to implement districtwide changes in the treatment of its 17,000 minority students.

According to figures released to the Daily Herald Thursday, U-46 has spent $6.7 million in defense of the suit.

Mason has yet to set a date for another settlement conference.