More witnesses will be taking the stand in School District U-46’s racial bias trial.

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman on Thursday denied the Elgin-based school district’s request for him to rule before it put on a defense.

“I would rather be fully informed,” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said citing the importance of the case.

The long-running federal class-action lawsuit claims U-46’s boundary changes in 2004 intentionally discriminated against minority students and placed them in overcrowded schools.

In March, the plaintiffs called administrators and other experts to the stand to testify about issues including boundaries and the use of mobile classrooms, which they assert are inferior.

Following the testimony, U-46 attorneys said they didn’t feel the plaintiffs had proven their case and asked the judge to rule in the district’s favor.

On Thursday, attorneys for both sides spent about three hours summarizing their arguments for the judge.

Stewart Weltman, attorney for the plaintiffs, told Gettleman that most mobile classrooms are used in predominantly minority schools, and mobiles are inferior because they are disconnected from the schools and don’t have running water and bathrooms. Some in U-46 over the years also had maintenance problems.

He also pointed to empty seats in other schools and said the district could have drawn its boundaries differently to better utilize its available space.

Weltman said he believed U-46 administrators had “an evil motive.”

“They want to keep their white schools white as best as they can,” he said.

John W. Borkowski, attorney for U-46, argued the plaintiffs haven’t proven mobile classrooms were used due to the 2004 boundary changes and said they aren’t synonymous with overcrowding. In addition, he said the district has such a large minority population that it’s no surprise schools with mobile classrooms have a high number of minority students.

He also pointed out the number of mobile classrooms went down after the 2004 boundary changes, but Weltman replied the number should have gone down even more than it did because the district also added permanent classrooms at the same time.

Borkowski said plaintiffs haven’t proven use of mobile classrooms has harmed any students.

“An inconvenience is not a civil rights violation,” he said.

Gettleman said he has “serious questions” about the plaintiff’s case, but he also wants to hear more from the defense.

In addition, he wants to hear from the witnesses and experts who are part of two additional phases of the case related to English Language Learner and gifted programs. Those phases originally were scheduled to come after the first phase concerning boundaries had wrapped up.

Gettleman gave plaintiffs a week to get him a list of witnesses and copies of exhibits they will present related to the ELL and gifted programs and he will meet with both sides for an informal planning session Aug. 18.

U-46′s defense will include about 12 to 15 witnesses and experts, but it still has the option to again ask the judge to rule before those witnesses take the stand.

When testimony began in March, the school district already had spent more than $8.5 million in legal fees on the case.