Dist. 204 reaches settlement in middle school assault case

Indian Prairie leaders say a settlement has been reached in a high-profile case in which two Gregory Middle School students were accused of sexually assaulting a classmate.

Unit District 204 officials on Friday said the agreement was reached among the families involved in the 6-month-old case, the school district and the Will County state's attorney's office.

According to the settlement, the victim of the alleged attack will continue to attend Gregory Middle School in Naperville for two more years and then attend Neuqua Valley High School. One of the students alleged to have been involved in the assault will move to Still Middle School for the next two years and then attend Waubonsie Valley High School.

A second student alleged to have been involved in the assault already has transferred to Naperville Unit District 203.

"The family of the remaining student accused in this incident has requested their child be transferred to another school," Superintendent Stephen Dasechner said in a written statement. "I am honoring that request for the benefit of all students involved and transferring the student to Still Middle School starting next year. The attendance area change will be for a minimum of two years."

Some terms still are being worked out but school board Vice President Alka Tyle said the accused student will be on a probationary status while at Still Middle School and will have to meet monthly with Will County officials to monitor his progress.

Two boys - a 12-year-old and an 11-year-old, both from Naperville - have been charged with felony counts of criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault against another boy stemming from a November incident at a home on the city's south side. The 11-year-old also faces a misdemeanor count of battery in a separate incident involving the same alleged victim - this time in the halls of Gregory.

The 12-year-old transferred out of District 204 in February to Lincoln Junior High School.

According to Will County civil court records, the two boys are accused of tying up their 11-year-old classmate and sexually assaulting him in the unsupervised home of one of the students.

Tyle praised the families for working together to reach an agreement.

"I believe the arrangement is a good compromise that allows both the district and the families involved to put this incident behind us and move forward," Tyle said Friday. "This resolution worked because both families put their differences aside and sat down to work together for the best interest of their children," Tyle said. "Not everyone got exactly what they wanted in the beginning, but that's what compromise is."

Board member Susan Rasmus said it's time for healing to begin.

"I want these families to move on and do what's best for these children to move on with their lives. At the end of the day that is by far what is most important," Rasmus said. "These are families in crisis, all three of them, the one that moved out of the district and two that are left here. I hope these families have the time over the summer to get their lives back on track."

The parents of the alleged victim and some other district parents have long criticized the district for not removing the two other boys from Gregory. New board member Dawn DeSart agrees that the move should have been made in November, shortly after the alleged assault occurred.

"This resolution should have happened six months ago, not on the last day of school," she said. "I'm satisfied with the outcome but I'm livid that it took so long."

Tyle, who was in early negotiations with the families, agreed but said the process had to run its course.

"The resolution obviously took much longer than any of us would have liked but that was only because there were so many different players involved at first," Tyle said, "Also, in the beginning, not all of the facts were clear and we were dealing with a lot of gray matter in between."

Board member Cathy Piehl said she anticipates the next year will "start fresh" and the district will be free of similar incidents in the future.

"We now have the policy in place that we worked on because of this case so that hopefully things like this don't get tossed around in public before it gets addressed by the school the way it needs to be addressed."

Calls placed to the alleged victim's father Friday were not returned.