Post by title1parent on Apr 22, 2010 5:04:40 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=375022&src=
U-46 should settle bias lawsuit now
4/22/2010 DH
Sun Tzu wrote in "The Art of War" that he who wishes to fight must first count the cost.
The ancient Chinese general was the grandfather of modern warfare but a pragmatist as well. He knew the peril of fighting battles on many fronts and advocated alliances and diplomacy when possible.
Elgin Area School District U-46 should take a page from his book.
The 41,000-student district is embroiled in battles on many fronts: shrinking state aid and the resulting loss of hundreds of teachers; a Sisyphean struggle against the increasing requirements of No Child Left Behind; and a class-action lawsuit claiming the district in 2004 drew boundary changes that violated the rights of black and Latino students by putting them in older, crowded schools, forcing them to ride buses farther than their white counterparts and robbing them of educational opportunities.
In the five years since the lawsuit was filed, the two sides haven't even gotten through the pretrial exchange of evidence yet.
To this point, U-46 has run up a tab of $8.7 million for lawyers.
Taxpayers are starting to do the math to figure out how many teachers that would buy back.
Judge Robert Gettleman has lost patience.
"It seems that they're a distressed school district. I don't understand why this case is still kicking around. It would seem to me that they have better things to spend their money on than litigation," Gettleman remarked at a hearing last week. "... I don't understand why sane minds don't try to wrap themselves around this problem and resolve this case."
The plaintiffs in the case have a settlement offer on the table. Back in 2008 a settlement conference failed after 31/2 hours.
Without knowing what the offer is - and we won't until it goes to trial or there is a handshake - it is impossible to assess its equity. But we do know it's time to talk seriously about ending this. This is one matter in which the district can help control the bleeding. Before it goes to trial. Before the high costs engulf the school district.
In gauging the ultimate cost in this lawsuit, leaders have to know the odds of the district being deemed completely in the right are slim. If the district loses, U-46 will wind up paying for remedies of more than 17,000 minority students, and likely a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees.
Judging by past comments, district officials are primarily distressed about the possibility of losing the board's sovereignty - the court by decree could appoint an eighth member to the board to advocate for the class, as happens sometimes in these cases.
Is that really the worst possible outcome? We have to wonder.
Look what happened in Rockford, where a similar suit in the late 1990s stretched 15 years, cost taxpayers $250 million, divided the city, and sent droves of kids to private schools.
How could an already hobbled U-46 survive that?
U-46 should settle bias lawsuit now
4/22/2010 DH
Sun Tzu wrote in "The Art of War" that he who wishes to fight must first count the cost.
The ancient Chinese general was the grandfather of modern warfare but a pragmatist as well. He knew the peril of fighting battles on many fronts and advocated alliances and diplomacy when possible.
Elgin Area School District U-46 should take a page from his book.
The 41,000-student district is embroiled in battles on many fronts: shrinking state aid and the resulting loss of hundreds of teachers; a Sisyphean struggle against the increasing requirements of No Child Left Behind; and a class-action lawsuit claiming the district in 2004 drew boundary changes that violated the rights of black and Latino students by putting them in older, crowded schools, forcing them to ride buses farther than their white counterparts and robbing them of educational opportunities.
In the five years since the lawsuit was filed, the two sides haven't even gotten through the pretrial exchange of evidence yet.
To this point, U-46 has run up a tab of $8.7 million for lawyers.
Taxpayers are starting to do the math to figure out how many teachers that would buy back.
Judge Robert Gettleman has lost patience.
"It seems that they're a distressed school district. I don't understand why this case is still kicking around. It would seem to me that they have better things to spend their money on than litigation," Gettleman remarked at a hearing last week. "... I don't understand why sane minds don't try to wrap themselves around this problem and resolve this case."
The plaintiffs in the case have a settlement offer on the table. Back in 2008 a settlement conference failed after 31/2 hours.
Without knowing what the offer is - and we won't until it goes to trial or there is a handshake - it is impossible to assess its equity. But we do know it's time to talk seriously about ending this. This is one matter in which the district can help control the bleeding. Before it goes to trial. Before the high costs engulf the school district.
In gauging the ultimate cost in this lawsuit, leaders have to know the odds of the district being deemed completely in the right are slim. If the district loses, U-46 will wind up paying for remedies of more than 17,000 minority students, and likely a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees.
Judging by past comments, district officials are primarily distressed about the possibility of losing the board's sovereignty - the court by decree could appoint an eighth member to the board to advocate for the class, as happens sometimes in these cases.
Is that really the worst possible outcome? We have to wonder.
Look what happened in Rockford, where a similar suit in the late 1990s stretched 15 years, cost taxpayers $250 million, divided the city, and sent droves of kids to private schools.
How could an already hobbled U-46 survive that?