Plainfield School District 202 approves settlement in football hazing lawsuit

The Plainfield School District 202 board approved a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit case that alleged two former student athletes were subjected to hazing and sexual assault.

No details about the settlement were available Wednesday as neither District 202 Superintendent Glenn Wood nor Community Relations Director Linda Taylor would comment on it.

At Wednesday’s school board meeting, the board voted 6-0 to approve the settlement agreement in a lawsuit case filed in 2021 by the anonymous parents of two former Plainfield Central High School football players known only as Doe Child A and Doe Child B.

Board Secretary Toni Galan was absent for the vote. None of the six board members at the meeting asked any questions or made any comment about the settlement before the vote.

Attorneys in the 2021 hazing lawsuit case said in court filings that they finalized the terms of the settlement agreement and it was scheduled for approval at Wednesday’s board meeting.

The federal lawsuit alleged Doe Child A and Doe Child B were sexually assaulted with broomsticks by other football players in a locker room in 2019 at Plainfield Central High School as part of “long-standing and prevalent hazing rituals and traditions” known as “Code Blue.”

Doe Child A and Doe Child B claim that district officials made no effort to prevent them from being subjected to bullying, harassment and threats by their peers after the alleged sexual assaults.

Attorneys for district officials have denied that the district or any of its employees caused any hazing, harassment, bullying, abuse or other unlawful treatment of the two student football players.

The attorneys also denied that “Code Blue” was known to its coaches or that it is a “long-standing hazing ritual.”