Geography bee cheating allegations center of upcoming trial
Accusations rocked Oak Brook district nearly 4 years ago
Nearly four years after geography bee cheating allegations rocked an Oak Brook school district, the long and costly litigation that followed is set to culminate with a federal trial scheduled to begin Monday in Chicago.
Dr. Rahul Julka, a DuPage County surgeon, and his wife Komal Julka are seeking millions of dollars from the Butler School District 53 in the west suburb, alleging that the school district destroyed their reputations with unfounded accusations of cheating in the geography bee in which their sons, then 9 and 11, were set to compete in January 2016.
The school district, though, has maintained that it took appropriate action after, it says, Komal Julka registered as a “fraudulent” home school provider to purchase the geography bee questions from the company that administered the bee. She was also accused of sharing the questions with at least one other family.
The trial is scheduled to be held in front of U.S. District Judge MatthewKennelly at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in the Loop. Kennelly previously dismissed some counts of the lawsuit, but allowed two to go forward: that the school district intentionally caused the family emotional distress and that the school conducted an improper investigation and retaliated against the older boy when the family filed a grievance against the school by inserting negative records into his file.
The cheating allegations spawned multiple lawsuits after the school sanctioned the Julka boys and another student who was accused of obtaining the questions. The Julka family has said they obtained the test material unintentionally and that the school’s process of issuing punishment was secretive and unfair.
Neither the school district nor its attorneys responded to requests for comment. In the past, former district Superintendent Heidi Wennstrom said the lawsuit was frivolous and would drain resources from the schools.
In a statement sent to the Tribune, Komal Julka wrote that the family looks forward to telling their story in court.
“The acts done by the former school principal, former superintendent and former board president have caused significant grief to my family,” she wrote.
In 2016, Julka’s sons, then in fourth and fifth grades, were scheduled to participate in a preliminary round of the National Geographic Bee, an annual contest that the boys’ school, Brook Forest Elementary School, was participating in that year.
In the federal suit, the Julka family says the boys’ uncle, who was helping them study, went to the geography bee’s website and purchased what the family thought were study materials to prepare for the contest. The uncle purchased the material with the mother’s credit card, the suit says. He gave his home address and the National Geographic Society did a background check.
A few days before the geography bee, Komal Julka offered to share the materials with the mother of classmates of her sons. That woman reported the alleged cheating to the school.
Komal Julka also went to “selfreport” the incident to school administrators, and she and her husband decided to withdraw the boys from the competition, the suit said.
The school district banned the boys from all academic competitions in District 53 and added sanctions to their student records. The district handed down the same sanctions for the third student who was accused of also obtaining the material.
The Julka family first filed a lawsuit in DuPage County courts that was later dismissed. The school district lifted the penalties and removed the student file notes. Later, in April 2017, the family filed a federal lawsuit, saying the litigation wasn’t about the money but was meant to bring attention to the issue.
The Julkas’ complaint originally asked for an award of $50 million. Their attorney, Dan Herbert, said they are asking for “millions” but are no longer asking for $50 million.