U-46: No reason to talk

The positions of Elgin Area School District U-46 and the families accusing the district of racial discrimination are so far apart that discussing settlement would be a waste of time and money, U-46 lawyers wrote in a filing in federal court Monday.

The district was objecting to a motion by the families to force U-46 to participate in court-supervised settlement talks.

Carol Ashley of the Futterman and Howard law firm asked the judge to compel the settlement talks after forwarding the district her settlement terms.

Ashley agreed to produce the terms only after the district's outside counsel, Michael Hernandez of the Franczek and Sullivan law firm, indicated the district would be open to court-supervised talks if Ashley revealed her demands.

In Monday's filing, district attorneys said the school board had reviewed Ashley's settlement proposal and determined that it was "not remotely close to being a reasonable proposal."

Neither side has disclosed details of the proposed settlement, but at a court appearance in August, Ashley said her terms would include having a team of educational experts create and monitor a district improvement plan.

Monday's filing indicates the sides are no closer to settlement, despite 2½ years of costly legal wrangling, and despite calls from two federal judges to resolve the lawsuit before it saps even more resources.

"There is no chance that a settlement conference would be useful since the district has already thoroughly considered the plaintiffs' proposal and concluded that it is not anywhere close to what U-46 ever would find to be a reasonable resolution of this case," Monday's filing said.

In December 2005, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Gettleman denied the families' first bid to force a court-supervised settlement conference.

At the time, Gettleman said he thought settlement talks would be productive but only if both sides were willing to participate.

Filed in February 2005, the lawsuit claims U-46 violated the rights of black and Hispanic students by busing them farther and more often than white students; placing them in older, more crowded schools; and providing them with inferior educational opportunities.