updated 9:33 a.m. ET Nov. 20, 2006

CHICAGO - A civil rights lawsuit alleging that racism led more than two dozen high schools to pull out of a suburban Chicago athletic league and create predominantly white leagues has been settled, an attorney said.

The 33-team South Inter-Conference Association was one of Illinois’ largest high school leagues when some of its members decided in 2004 to realign.

Officials in those districts denied race played a role in the decision. The federal lawsuit, however, claimed the breakup created “separate and segregated conferences” and amounted to “white flight.”

The settlement announced this week averts a trial that would have pitted predominantly black schools against predominantly white ones. Under its terms, five of the predominantly black schools will join two conferences that formed after SICA broke up, said attorney Burt Odelson, who represents several of the defendants.

“It’s been just a long hard process, but all the superintendents and school boards from day one wanted it settled out of court,” Odelson said Wednesday. “The bottom line at all times was what would be the best for the kids in the district.”

The settlement must be approved by each school board, Odelson said. After that, both sides will ask a federal judge to dismiss the case.