ANDERSONVILLE — Supporters of Lyman Trumbull Elementary School who filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools arguing that students with disabilities suffered discrimination during the school's closing process received unwelcome news this week.
On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed the Friends of Trumbull's case.
Judge Gary Feinerman ruled that the community group lacked standing to sue CPS. Initially, two Trumbull students with disabilities, their mothers and Friends of Trumbull were all plaintiffs in the suit.
But all of the other plaintiffs reached a settlement with the Chicago Board of Education and voluntarily dismissed their claims, leaving Friends of Trumbull as the only remaining plaintiff, according to court documents.
The judge ruled that because Friends of Trumbull was not directly impacted by the closure, the community group had no right to sue the school board.
Attorneys for Friends of Trumbull had argued that because the group was associated with students with disabilities impacted by the closure, it had a right to sue.
Feinerman called that a "breathtaking proposition."
"If correct, it would mean that virtually anyone could file a [lawsuit]. ... So for example, Andersonville shops or restaurants that were patronized by Trumbull parents and students, and whose businesses suffered as a result of Trumbull’s closure ... could sue the Board as well. That cannot be right," Fienerman wrote in his order.
Friends of Trumbull founder Mark Emmler said in an email that the ruling showed how "distressingly disconnected judges, politicians and CPS are from the people they are supposed to serve."
"It's a sad day for the Trumbull community," Emmler said. "This shows the judge's fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. Many affected parents did not join the lawsuit because they were scared of CPS retaliation or otherwise lacked access to the court system."
He went on to say that Friends of Trumbull was formed to represent those affected people.
Trumbull was one of 50 "underutilized" schools the Chicago Board of Education voted to close to cut costs.
Friends of Trumbull filed the three-count discrimination lawsuit against the school district in June 2013. In it, the group attacks the formula Chicago Public Schools used to decide if schools were "underutilized" and therefore vulnerable to closure.
It accuses school officials of violating federal laws that prohibit recipients of federal money and public entities from discriminating on the basis of disability.
Friends of Trumbull "has not alleged that it was denied any services whatsoever; as noted, its only claim is that the school's closure would result in the denial of services to students," the court document reads. "The Board never provided any 'services, programs, or activities' to Friends, and Friends does not allege that, as an entity, it was even entitled to request any services from the Board."
The Chicago Board of Education said Trumbull closed because it had only 389 students but had space for about twice as many, according to court documents.
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