U-46 plaintiffs want their own inspections of programs
The plaintiffs in the Elgin Area School District U-46 racial bias suit have filed a motion seeking to allow experts to conduct on-site inspections of the district's bilingual and gifted and academy programs.
The inspections, the plaintiffs claim, are necessary for preparing their expert reports, the next pretrial phase of the suit.
Overcrowding in heavily minority-populated schools and inadequate bilingual services are two major claims of the suit that stemmed out of district boundary changes. It was filed by five Elgin families in February 2005.
Donna Ford, a professor at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, is the plaintiffs' designated expert for U-46's gifted and talented services.
Alba Ortiz, a professor in the University of Texas at Austin's department of special education, is the plaintiffs' expert for the district's English Language Learners program.
The request comes two weeks after another expert inspected the district's 98 mobile classrooms Dec. 1-3.
Ford and Ortiz, according to the plaintiffs, would not spend more than one hour in any district classroom.
In a filing last week, lawyers for the district called the plaintiffs' request "untimely," "vague" and "wide ranging," claiming that the inspections should be considered a component of fact discovery, an earlier pretrial phase that ended in mid-October.
The motion was filed just days before settlement discussions began between the two sides.
The parties met for more than three hours Monday, failing to reach an agreement.
The judge has yet to set a date for another settlement conference.
The suit, to date, has cost U-46 $6.7 million.
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