On Friday, February 15, Daniel Lilley, attorney for Fred Lewis, a former Boothbay Region High School (BRHS) industrial arts teacher, reported that his client had negotiated a settlement with the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Combined School District and its insurers for $320,000. Lewis had sued the school district for their actions following a false accusation that he had engaged in sexual acts with a student.

In July 2007, a Lincoln County Superior Court jury found in favor of Lewis, and in November, Superior Court Justice S. Kirk Studstrup denied the school district's appeal of the court decision. At that time, the school district indicated that they would appeal this decision to a higher court.

The crux of Lewis's lawsuit was that he was wrongly accused of having a sexual relationship with a student and that actions by school administrators forced his premature resignation. Lewis claimed that the defendants defamed him, intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon him, wrongfully interfered with his teaching contract, denied him due process, and placed him in a false light.

The jury in the case awarded Lewis damages of $345,000, as well as court costs and pre and post verdict interest. At the time of the settlement, Lewis was due to receive $491,000.

Lilley reported that although he did not expect the school district to prevail in its appeal, Lewis chose to settle the case because he "felt it was time to stop the bleeding." Lilley stated that the major stumbling block in the negotiations was that Lewis wanted the defendants, former superintendent Mark Keegan and BRHS Principal Jack Tourtillotte, to pay something for their actions.

Since the school district and insurers will cover the court assessment against the defendants, Lewis agreed to accept a written apology from Keegan and Tourtillotte.

Their letter to Lewis states, "We received erroneous information from chief of police Steven Clark that when you were a shop teacher at BRHS you had been sexually active with a student many years before. We put you on administrative leave and found out three days later that this information was not true. We should have told you but we did not. We apologize for our conduct and regret the damage to your career and reputation that has resulted."

When asked why the school district had chosen to settle rather than continue its appeal. Superintendent Eileen King replied, "The cost of going to appeal, including legal fees and potential accrued interest posed to be an insurmountable gamble for the taxpayers in our community. While I am sure that the District would have prevailed on appeal, there was no guarantee… The decision to settle was an extremely difficult decision, but it was time to put this issue behind us and minimize any added expense to the taxpayers in our community."

Lilley reported, and King confirmed, that $100,000 of the settlement was paid directly by the school district, while the remainder was paid by the school district's insurance companies.

King said the school district would "over expend our legal fees line to make the payment. The district budget will be monitored closely throughout the spring to determine what our year-end balance may be, what funds may be used to offset the pay off, and what, if any, funds will need to be secured through a loan to support this payment."

Scrutiny of the school budget reveals that as of January the district had already spent over $15,000 in legal fees, about $9,000 over this year's legal expense budget. According to King, most of this overage was attributable to the Lewis lawsuit as well.

Although the school district may wish to put this case behind them, the taxpayers, who will be picking up the bill for its administrators' transgressions, may be less willing to put this issue to rest. It is definitely poor timing for the school district, which for the first time this year will have its school budget approved by secret ballot. It may be time for the district and its administrators to offer an apology to the taxpayers, as well.

As for Lewis's plans, Lilley is recommending that Lewis run for the vacant CSD school committee position.