St. Joseph School Board of Education voted Thursday night during an executive sessions to approve a settlement offer in a lawsuit with Chief Financial Officer Beau Musser.

Board Secretary Debbie Consolver said the district’s attorney came out of closed session last night to say that the board has come to an agreement on the settlement but that no further information of the agreement will be released until all parties sign.

The settlement was approved by a vote of 5-0 with board member Dennis Snethen abstaining.

In the suit Musser filed last May against the district he named Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka, Human Resources Director Doug Flowers, and School Board Member Dennis Snethen specifically.

Musser claimed he was placed on leave for continuing to question the practice of handing out stipends to administrators without the knowledge or approval of the school board.

Musser was asked to come back to work in November last year after being on leave for more than seven months.

A state audit report released last month gave the St. Joseph School District and overall rating of “poor” and was critical of the district’s practices in a number of areas, including compensation, payroll procedures record-keeping and policies, summer school funding, the district’s financial condition, bonds, procurement procedures and construction projects.

In fact, the audit found that a staggering $25 million in stipends were paid over the last eight years that were “either unapproved, unauthorized or improper.” He estimated that total to be in excess of $40 million dating back to 2001. $3.8 million in stipends were paid in 2013-2014.