Judge urges sides to consider mediator in U-46 lawsuit

Both federal judges overseeing the Elgin Area School District U-46 racial bias suit have urged settlement talks this month, chastising lawyers involved for the time and money spent on proceedings.

"This matter has been going on for more than (three) years," Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason said at a Wednesday hearing. "Fees have been run up by both sides."

Mason asked lawyers representing the district about their response to plaintiffs' latest settlement offer, received Aug. 1.

"We're working with clients and figuring out how to respond," said John Borkowski, an attorney with Hogan and Hartson, one of the firms representing the district.

"It's complicated."

One of the complications, Borkowski told the judge, is the district's concern that the settlement offer had been leaked by third-party sources to people in the community.

Another complication, Borkowski said, is that the offer doesn't contain "anything that suggests a reasonable proposal yet."

Carol Ashley of the Futterman Howard law firm, which represents the Elgin families suing, has said that plaintiffs' new settlement offer "would allow the district to maintain local control," and "talks about policies and procedures more than just adding on programs."

She declined to elaborate further.

The offer was first shared with school board members in mid-August. Lawyers sat down with the board again on Sept. 8.

A mediator from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Relations Service has volunteered to help facilitate settlement discussions between the two sides, an offer Judge Mason said parties should seriously consider.

Official settlement talks haven't occurred since 2004, before the lawsuit was filed.

According to figures released to the Daily Herald last week, U-46 has spent more than $5.9 million in defense of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges black and Hispanic students in U-46 attend older, more crowded schools; are bused farther and more often than white students; and receive inferior educational opportunities.

Borkowski said the sides were so far apart that interjecting a third-party mediator would be futile, and that he believed the most cost effective way to handle the case is to keep moving forward with court proceedings.

"What do you have to lose?" Mason asked.

Wednesday's hearing was the second since Judge Robert W. Gettleman granted the case class-action status Aug. 8.

Mason ordered both sides to appear before him again next Wednesday, asking the district's lawyers to talk to the school board about using a mediator in the interim.

At the hearing, "parties should be prepared to discuss their clients' views on partaking in a settlement conference or a mediation and proposed methods of settlement discussions," he wrote.

Mason also extended the deposition deadline by two weeks to Oct. 16.

Another hearing before Gettleman is set for next Friday.