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On Monday afternoon, the attorneys for Dr. Tony Parker and the ISD settled the civil suit brought by Parker after he lost his job as superintendent in 2006.

"Basically, there was a negotiated settlement," said Dr. Tim Edwards, ISD superintendent.

The settlement was reached the day before the four to five day circuit court trial was set to open.

Parker will be paid $90,000 under the agreement, said Edwards.

The settlement concluded several months of negotiations. Parker originally wanted $1.2 million when the parties started talking, said Edwards. Then, a mediation panel of three independent attorneys reviewed the case and recommended a settlement of $300,000. Finally, on Monday, the ISD's insurance company advised, "if you can settle for less than $100,000 they would agree with that," said Edwards.

"The board was not going to settle for $300,000 and neither was the insurance company," said board President Brian Mellstead. "At $90,000, it may not have been the right thing to do, but it was the appropriate thing to do to get it all behind us."

He added, "things are so much better at the ISD now, having this case hang out there, it didn't seem the right thing to do. We had a very strong case, we were confident we were going to win the case. We didn't want to pay him anymore money, but we wanted to be done with it."

Parker held the post of superintendent for eight years, until an investigation by Mellstead led to his suspension in May 2006. He was fired in September 2006 on a 5-2 vote of the board, following a six-hour public hearing.

The allegations for firing Parker included failing to report over $57,000 of income to the IRS, financial mismanagement, undermining the district's bid and quotation process, discouraging participation in school matters, and disrespectful treatment of board members and staff.

An order for dismissal of the lawsuit will be entered in circuit court.