Elgin families preparing response to U-46's counteroffer in bias suit
The families accusing Elgin Area School District U-46 of racial bias plan to give a written response to a settlement counteroffer by next Tuesday, their lawyers revealed Thursday.
The counteroffer, delivered to the plaintiffs last Friday, came in response to an Aug. 1 settlement proposal asking U-46 to change a number of its policies and practices.
The district's lawyers called that plan unreasonable.
Both sides have stressed that the terms of the most recent proposal are confidential.
But the plaintiffs have looked at the counteroffer and "are in a position to comment," said plaintiffs attorney Carol Ashley.
"We would be fine going forward with settlement discussions," she told Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason.
The two sides are in the midst of pretrial discovery, with depositions of key witnesses to be completed by Oct. 16. Mason has ordered each side to take no more than 35 depositions.
The district has almost finished taking their depositions, which include the main plaintiffs in the case, district attorney Michael Hernandez said.
Ashley said lawyers from her firm, Futterman Howard, have 11 depositions to go.
The depositions the plaintiffs' attorneys have taken so far include those from Channing Elementary Principal Luis Cabrera, Special Education Director Pamela Harris, Bilingual Coordinator Gina Crespo and Director of Transportation Andy Martin. Chief Financial Officer John Prince, Assistant Superintendent Lalo Ponce, and former Superintendent Connie Neale have also been deposed.
Both Mason and Judge Robert W. Gettleman have urged settlement in recent weeks, suggesting the two sides work with a mediator from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Relations Service.
Sparked by 2004 boundary changes, the suit 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.
Now a class-action case, more than 25,000 current and former U-46 students would receive remedies if the plaintiffs prevail. The suit already has cost the district more than $5.9 million in legal fees.
If the sides agree to settlement talks, Mason said he plans to bring in all seven members of the U-46 school board to participate.
"Alert the trustees that I may have them come in here," he told Hernandez.
Ashley said she would bring it at least one plaintiff family representative.
The parties will report to Gettleman, and immediately afterward to Mason, on Oct. 15.
"Keep talking, please," Mason said.
Lawsuit: District has paid almost $6 million in legal fees
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