The former Yellow Springs teacher and the Yellow Springs School District are headed to mediation in an attempt to avoid a trial by jury.

The lawsuit was filed by the district against former physical education teacher Angela Bussey after Bussey filed her own suit in 2014 against the district claiming she was bullied and harassed by the school’s principal, Tim Krier.

Bussey’s harassment case was settled in 2015 under a confidential agreement that resulted in Bussey receive $20,000 and a cleansing of her personnel file of any negative reviews.  The settlement also required the school include in Bussey’s file a letter of recommendation form a district administrator.  No other details were supposed to have been made public under the settlement.

Despite the settlement, in May 2018, the Yellow Springs district filed a civil lawsuit against Bussey claiming she disclosed details of the agreement despite agreeing to keeping the details confidential.  According to the suit, Bussey made comments online under a pseudonym.

The district is seeking $25,000 in damages.

Bussey’s attorney filed a counterclaim on her behalf in response to the district’s lawsuit.  The countersuit claims the district had already disclosed the details of the settlement Bussey spoke of in her posts online.  According to the suit, the details were made public in an article published in the Yellow Springs News in 2015.  Bussey’s attorney also claims the district did not comply with the settlement because her personnel file still included negative reviews and the letter of recommendation was never added to the file.