U-46 lawsuit in court for first time in months

Sides in the lawsuit accusing Elgin Area School District U-46 of racial bias appeared in court together for the first time in several months Wednesday in a pre-trial hearing at the Everett Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason checked that the parties would be able to comply with several approaching deadlines in expert discovery, the final phase of the costly pretrial exchange of evidence leading up to trial.

Documents from expert witnesses for both the Elgin families suing and the district are to be produced by June 19. Expert depositions are to be completed by July 26.

In a prior hearing, Judge Robert W. Gettleman, who oversees the case, said he plans July 7 to order the parties to begin preparing for trial, if they fail to come to a settlement agreement before then.

Though no trial date has yet been set, Mason remarked Wednesday that "Judge Gettleman wants this to move quickly."

The lawsuit, arising out of U-46's 2004 decision to redraw attendance boundaries, turned four years old on Feb. 7. Plaintiffs charge that the new boundaries violated the constitutional rights of black and Hispanic students by placing them in crowded, older schools; busing them farther and more often than white students; and providing them inferior educational opportunities.

Now a class-action case, more than 17,000 U-46 students would be affected if the plaintiffs prevail. The suit, according to figures released to the Daily Herald last week, already has cost the U-46 $7.8 million in legal fees.

The two sides are scheduled to appear before Mason again on June 24.