A former Highland Park High School assistant principal, who was demoted in 2019, allegedly in retaliation for exposing administrative misconduct in her school district, will get paid $270,000 and keep a teaching position under a settlement agreement ending her lawsuit against Township High School District 113.
According to the settlement agreement, District 113 will pay $500,000 in total to settle the litigation against Amy Burnetti.
The settlement total included $230,000 to pay Burnetti's attorneys.
According to court documents, the settlement was entered in court in late November 2024, and approved by a federal judge in December.
The lawsuit landed in Chicago federal court in the spring of 2021.
Along with District 113, which operates Highland Park and Deerfield high schools, Burnetti named individual defendants, including HPHS Principal Deborah Finn; former interim District 113 superintendents Linda Yonke and Ben Martindale; and former District 113 Board of Education members Elizabeth Garlovsky and Debbie Hymen.
According to her complaint, Burnetti was promoted to assistant principal at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year while District 113 was under investigation by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office for allegations of improper destruction and deletion of paper and digital records, including materials involved in litigation. Burnetti said she “provided evidence and testimony” to assist with the county’s criminal investigation and alleged that cooperation was material in two subsequent demotions.
In addition to the records destruction, Burnetti accused then-Superintendent Chris Dignam of allegedly tasking her with telling a student’s mother the student’s father could no longer be on campus owing to his status as a sex offender. She said Garlovsky and Hymen, who also opposed the documents investigation, also bristled at “the sex-offender parent from campus,” and participated in efforts to reverse the decision.
In court, Burnetti asserted she didn’t begin to suspect retaliation until 2019, when she alleged Garlovsky and Hymen urged parents to complain about the new administration.
In December 2019, Burnetti was demoted a second time after she resumed serving as a department chairwoman. According to court docments, she was then reassigned to a teaching position, allegedly despite exemplary personnel evaluations.
Burnetti's lawsuit accused District 113 of illegal retaliation and violation of the Illinois Whistleblower Act.
Burnetti's lawsuit largely survived an attempt by District 113 to dismiss the action in 2023.
After more than 18 months of further proceedings in court, the parties agreed to settle the case.
Under the settlement, District 113 agreed to pay Burnetti and her lawyers a total of $500,000.
Burnetti herself would receive $270,000 in direct payments, including back pay, compensatory damages and lump sums for the current school year and the next two school years.
According to the settlement, Burnetti would continue to work in District 113 as a teacher until the end of the 2026-27 school year, when she would retire.
She would also receive full pension credit and retirement incentives for all of the years during which her lawsuit was pending, according to the settlement agreement, equal to the amount she would have received if she had remained employed as assistant principal.
According to the agreement, Burnetti would receive all of the payments and pension credits and incentives owed her under the agreement, even if she were to be fired for another reason before her intended retirement date.
The settlement included a confidentiality provision. However, the settlement agreement was obtained by The Record from the court docket, where it was posted online.
In court documents concerning the settlement, District 113 noted the settlement is not an admission of liability.
Rather, the district said the parties had agreed the settlement was necessary "to avoid the potential expense, inconvenience, delay and uncertainty of continued litigation."
Burnetti was represented in the case by attorneys Noelle C. Brennan and Amanda Burns, of the Noelle Brennan & Associates firm, of Chicago.
District 113 and the individual defendants were represented by attorneys William Pokorny and Caroline K. Kane, of Franczek P.C., of Chicago.
Scott Holland contributed to this report.