Geneva Unit District 304 and its insurer agreed to pay $60,000 to settle a federal lawsuit that claimed the district ignored relentless bullying of a seventh grader with special needs, according to the agreement released following a Freedom of Information Act request.
In June, the school board approved a settlement agreement with the student’s family. However, officials did not release the terms or cost of the deal at that time.
The boy’s father accepted the settlement offer on July 3, according to the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The agreement required judicial approval because it involved a minor, and the court sealed the record.
The agreement states that both parties chose to settle to avoid the cost of further litigation.
The father sued in 2022, also naming as defendants Geneva Middle School South Principal Terry Bleau and Assistant Principal Daniel Jones. The father alleged they did not follow the district’s code of conduct and bullying policies.
The defendants all “do not admit any of the allegations in the lawsuit,” according to the agreement.
The plaintiffs also agreed to dismiss the lawsuit — with prejudice — with both sides bearing their own costs, according to the settlement.
“With prejudice” means the case is permanently dismissed and cannot be brought back.
When the district approved a settlement, Superintendent Andy Barrett said it would “avoid further litigation regarding a complaint filed in federal court alleging that the district did not follow its code of conduct and bullying policies.”
Edwin Hull III, the attorney representing the family, said in an email that the family’s decision to end the case “was based on doing what was best for their child.”
“They did not want their child to have to relive the past while being subject to all of the anxiety and stress that the litigation process can bring,” Hull wrote.