CHICAGO _ The families of six girls who claimed that Barrington High School officials defamed them over a photo tagged "KKK" withdrew their lawsuit against the district Monday.
Darcy Kriha, an attorney for the school district, said the teens' lawyer voluntarily dropped the suit against Barrington Community Unit School District 220 in federal court, and that there was no settlement.
"The district is pleased that the matter is resolved," she said.
Thomas Lidbury, the families' attorney, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The lawsuit, filed in August, claimed the school had subjected the teens to "unconstitutional discipline" after a photo featuring the girls provoked a social media tempest.
The photo showed eight grinning girls dressed in white, raising their hands above their heads in a gesture some interpreted as mimicking Ku Klux Klan hoods. The photo was labeled "KKK."
The image spread rapidly across the internet in July, leading commenters to demand that the school discipline the girls. Superintendent Brian Harris said at the time that the district "does not condone the actions of the students in the photo" and was investigating.
According to the lawsuit, the imaged portrayed nothing sinister: The students were at a party, attended by guests of various races, where everyone dressed in white; the hand gestures had nothing to do with the Klan; and the photo's label referred to the initials of the party's host.
But the lawsuit claimed the district asked the girls to submit to questioning by the "co-curricular committee," and threatened to ban them from extracurricular activities if they didn't _ a violation of their right to free speech.
It also said that Harris and Principal Steve McWilliams, who told a small band of protesters that the photo "burns me to my core," defamed the teens by implying they had associated themselves with the Klan.
The district denied those claims in its legal filings, and said none of the girls had been disciplined.
