Wauconda District 118 releases details from $22,500 settlement agreement ˗ five years later

Nearly five years after the Daily Herald requested documents detailing a $22,500 payout from Wauconda Unit School District 118 to a student’s family, the district has released a copy of the settlement that’s less censored than what was originally delivered.

The disclosure was prompted by a Dec. 15 opinion from the Illinois attorney general’s office, which oversees appeals of denied Freedom of Information Act requests. It said releasing more of the agreement, with some personal information still redacted, wouldn’t improperly invade the student’s privacy.

The state office also said district officials, who had refused to say why the district was paying the family or why special training for some employees was ordered, didn’t demonstrate the information was exempt from disclosure under state law.

The latest version of the eight-page settlement revealed the dispute concerned “special education evaluations, related services, supplementary aids and services, programs and placements” for a student with a disability. The student’s parent intended to take some kind of legal action against the district, the settlement reads.

The pact, approved by the school board in May 2019, called for the district to make a one-time payment of $12,500 for “compensatory education services of any nature” for the student, including but not limited to “private executive functioning tutoring or coaching, a culinary arts class (and) private counseling services.” Additionally, the district was to pay the student’s parent $10,000 toward attorney’s fees and costs associated with the case, the latest copy of the document revealed.

The agreement also mandated training to Wauconda High School employees “on professionalism related to communicating with and about students with disabilities and their parents.” It said district officials could determine who would receive such training, when it would occur and how it would occur.

As part of the settlement, the district admitted no wrongdoing or liability. Additionally, the parent agreed not to pursue legal action against the district in the matter.

District 118 Superintendent David Wilm on Tuesday said his staff would have no additional comment.