CHAMPAIGN – The plaintiffs in the Champaign school district's consent-decree case have filed a second motion seeking to extend the consent decree, in the areas of special education and alternative education.

The motion was filed Monday afternoon, the day before the two sides in the case appear in federal district court in Peoria to argue on a previous motion to extend the decree.

The motion, filed by plaintiffs' attorney Carol Ashley, says the district has not made progress in the area of special education.

"No other area of the district's operations boasts such a comprehensive absence of progress over the course of the last seven years," it states. "The racial disparity in referral rates for special education has not budged over the life of the Decree."

The goal of the consent decree is to eliminate unwarranted disparities between black and white students in assignment to special education, along with achievement, discipline, attendance and enrollment in gifted and honors classes, among other things.

The motion states the district has adopted new policies with regard to special-education assignments, but there has been no "on the ground" implementation of the policies.

In the area of alternative education, the motion refers to Columbia Center – the district's alternative middle and high school program that was closed at the end of the fall semester – as a racially identifiable school and a "dumping ground for African-American students, particularly males, where these students were housed for the school day without necessary academic and behavioral supports."

It states the district doesn't yet have a permanent behavioral alternative placement, since the closure of Columbia.

Ashley filed a motion in February asking for an extension of the consent decree because the district has not yet added elementary seats in north Champaign. She also wanted oversight of how students were assigned to those seats once they are in place.

Ashley filed a second motion on Monday, seeking a hearing on the extensions and for a determination by the court on whether the district has complied in good faith with the consent decree. She said the decree should not automatically end on its scheduled expiration date of June 30 without such a hearing, and there needs to be a public accounting of the district's successes and failures.

Ashley asked that the court consolidate that hearing with the hearings on the two motions for extension of the consent decree and a hearing on the court monitor's final report.