By guest author Darcy Kriha, Partner at Kriha Boucek
B.S. v. Downers Grove Grade School District 58, 125 LRP 16063 (N.D. Ill. 2025)
Federal court Judge Andrea Wood dismissed parents’ lawsuit against a public school district in Illinois because during the course of the litigation, the family enrolled their son in a different public school in a neighboring state (Wisconsin). Since parents were no longer seeking educational services or reimbursement from the Illinois school district, the court determined there was no active case or controversy to resolve. Article III of the U.S. Constitution gives federal courts jurisdiction to decide cases only in situations where there is an actual injury that can be redressed by a favorable decision. In legal terms, the case was determined “moot” since the court could not offer a remedy to the family that would impact the student’s current education.
The outcome may have been different if parents had asked for compensatory education services either during the underlying special education due process hearing or in their multiple court filings. Surprisingly, parents failed to request compensatory education at any point during the dispute. Testimony from school district personnel clearly established they worked diligently over many months to locate a therapeutic day school placement that would accept the student. Parents refused to enroll their son in at least one therapeutic day school that the school district was able to locate.
Parents also sought a ‘declaratory judgment’ from the court that the school district’s actions were illegal, but the court noted that even declaratory judgments must resolve an active dispute. Because the student was no longer affected by the school district’s decisions, the court ruled that issuing a declaratory judgment would be advisory in nature, which federal courts are not permitted to do.
For educators, this case underscores the importance of actively searching for and tracking the availability of placements recommended by the IEP team, especially when parents stop sending their child to school or unilaterally place their child in another school district (whether in or out of state). The well documented steps that school personnel took in this case were highlighted in the written opinion and likely factored into the court’s decision.