Sides sparring over Metea siting agree to mediate dispute

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 and the parents group that filed a lawsuit against it agreed Friday to try mediation.

The two sides will meet May 13 to try to hash out their differences over where to build Metea Valley High School.

Site work already has begun on the land off Eola Road just south of Diehl Road in Aurora where the district plans to construct its third high school. But the grass-roots group Neighborhood Schools for Our Children is suing the district in an effort to force it to buy the Brach-Brodie site at 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora as it had originally planned.

The two sides agreed Friday with DuPage County Circuit Judge Kenneth Popejoy's suggestion to try mediation.

"I told the judge I thought it was a long shot that the parties would come to some agreement but given the gravity of the issues involved here mediation was something we should try," said Shawn Collins, attorney for the parents group.

On May 13, representatives from the district and parents group will meet with retired Judge Edward Duncan.

"Mediation is intended to get to the core motivations of parties," said Michael Scotti, attorney for the school district. "We thought hopefully Judge Duncan would find a way to address the plaintiff's issues short of the relief requested in their complaint."

The district switched gears on the Metea location after a jury set the price for the Brach-Brodie site at $31 million -- $17 million more than the district anticipated.

The district then attempted to buy land on Eola Road owned by Midwest Generation and St. John AME Church. That, too, fell through when Midwest Generation backed out of the deal due to public controversy.

The parents group had filed a lawsuit over environmental concerns at the site and accusations that the district promised to build on the Brach-Brodie site during its referendum campaign.

Last month, the district bought 84 acres solely owned by the church, but the parents group is pursuing its lawsuit.

Both sides said that while they agreed to mediation, they did not want it to cause a delay in the case. The district's motion to dismiss is still scheduled to be heard on May 23.

The 3,000-student Metea Valley High School is scheduled to open for freshmen and sophomores in August 2009. Officials have said it is needed to relieve overcrowding in the district that includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield.