Rosemead School District has agreed to pay $185,000 to El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona, a former Muscatel Middle School principal, to settle a lawsuit alleging the district’s leadership harassed and demoted Ancona for refusing to back down from the suspension of a school board member’s nephew.

The district’s board approved the settlement during a closed session meeting in August, according to meeting minutes. Board trustee John Quintanilla, whose nephew was the suspended student, abstained from the vote.

Neither Ancona, nor the school district, responded to requests to comment.

The settlement agreement includes a confidentiality clause barring Ancona from responding to inquiries about the settlement agreement with anything other than “the matter was resolved.”

Under the terms, Ancona w

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