Family of student suing Latin School over son’s death by suicide say school is blocking access to student’s records
Parents of a boy who died by suicide — which the parents attribute to bullying at Chicago’s prestigious Latin School — have filed a new lawsuit against the school over what they allege is an improper denial of access to their children’s academic records.
Robert and Rose Bronstein have already sued the school in connection with their son’s death Jan. 13, 2022. The April 2022 lawsuit sought $100 million in damages based on accusations the school failed to intervene in extensive cyberbullying — text message and Snapchat threads — and said officials didn’t do enough to address concerns raised while their son was still alive.
The complaint cited the school’s student-family handbook and specifically its section titled “Parental Access to School Files,” which reads: “The school keeps cumulative files on all students while they attend Latin. The files contain copies of all grade reports, progress reports, standardized test scores, correspondence involving the student, the original copy of the student’s application, notes from teachers, the student’s disciplinary records and other miscellaneous records and papers. Parents/guardians who wish to examine their child’s folder should call the division director for an appointment…”
The Bronsteins alleged other families were able to access records under what they labeled an “express, unconditional agreement” but cited an email chain in which Mike Trucco, of the Chicago firm Stamos & Trucco, explained the school’s contention it’s under no obligation to make the requested disclosures to guardians of former students.
On May 31, Trucco wrote that Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Ehrlich stayed all discovery in the Bronsteins’ wrongful death suit and called the request that prompted the current litigation an attempt to avoid that stay without allowing the school equivalent discovery. He further said any suit — such as the one filed June 1 — “would be blatant judge shopping to obtain … relief from the order staying discovery and from the order granting your cleints’ request to extend the time to file a second amended complaint.”
The Bronsteins said they amended their wrongful death lawsuit in November and are “working to resolve the matter with individual defendants, including predominantly minor defendants, prior to filing another amended complaint.” They further argued the original “litigation has no bearing” on their entitlement to student records.
“There are no conditions or limits on the providing of access to these school files stated anywhere in the handbook,” the Bronsteins wrote. “For example, access does not depend on whether the child is a current student, whether the child is deceased, the passage of time, or whether the parents are engaged in a separate legal dispute with the school. Access also does not depend on why the files are requested or what the parents might do with the files — there are no conditions.”
Although they claim they aren’t required to provide a reason to access the files, the Bronsteins said one purpose is for their daughter to obtain proof of her CPR certification to work as a camp counselor. The school did release that certificate, but refused the request for other documents. The family said although it does “need certain documents urgently,” they don’t “want to depend on Latin for each piecemeal document they may have a more urgent need for. They simply want the documents they were promised access to regarding their own children. What they need them for and how they will use such documents – relating to their children — are their prerogative, not subject to unstated conditions Latin may seek to impose after the fact.”
The family said it requested the documents more than seven weeks ago, offered to pay for the cost of producing paperwork and only sought judicial intervention after the school asserted the family lacks “an enforceable right” to the files.
The Latin School of Chicago is a selective private school in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. The school boasts prominent alumni, led by former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The school is heavily populated by children from some of Chicago’s most prominent families including at different times the children of both of Illinois’ most recent governors, millionaire Republican Bruce Rauner and billionaire Democrat JB Pritzker. Latin’s board of trustees is filled with leaders and top executives from Chicago’s spheres of industry, education, finance, charities and government, among others.
According to the school, the child, a sophomore, met with a dean on Dec. 13, 2021, specifically regarding Snapchat and junior varsity basketball teammates being upset with the child’s post indicating they would lose to Francis W. Parker School, where he spent his freshman year. The Dec. 13 meeting covered posts from other students, including one minor named as a defendant, but the school said the complaint doesn’t include those messages or allege the boy raised concerns to his parents or school staff.
“The complaint’s 28 exhibits quote multiple emails exchanged with the school, but none show that Mrs. Bronstein ever reported (her son) was bullied or requested the school investigate any claim of bullying,” according to the school’s October 2022 motion to dismiss, which noted the son had already withdrawn from enrollment nearly a month before his death and was scheduled to re-enroll at Parker following winter break.
Although it said “grief is understandable,” the school argued such emotion “does not justify lashing out against minor children and dedicated educators with a complaint that is rife with unsupported conclusions, mischaracterizations, critical omissions, inaccuracies and is dominated by inflammatory rhetoric that has no relevance to the claims asserted.”
The Bronstein family is represented in its wrongful death lawsuit by attorneys John Sullivan and Michael D. Weaver, of Punkett Cooney, of Chicago, and Todd F. Flood of Flood Law, of Detroit. The family also had been notably represented by attorney Peter J. Flowers, of Meyers & Flowers, of St. Charles. However, according to recent court docket entries, the court allowed Flowers and his firm to withdraw from representing the family.
