Pauline Thames v. Board Education City

The Honorable Justice GORDON delivered the opinion of the court: This interlocutory appeal, brought pursuant to leave granted under Supreme Court Rule 308 (134 Ill. 2d R. 308), is taken
from the trial court's denial of Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's personal injury action. The Plaintiff, Pauline
Thames, instituted the instant action on behalf of her minor daughter, Roshawn Thames, for injuries Roshawn sustained as a
result of the discharge of a handgun concealed in the book bag of a fellow high school student who was seated in front of
her in a classroom at Orr High School. Liability was alleged against the Board of Education of the City of Chicago (the Board)
and Ted C. Kimbrough, the General Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, for failing to install metal detectors or
to adopt other means of weapons interdiction despite knowledge that guns and other weapons had been brought into some of the
Board's schools, including Orr High School, on a number of previous occasions.