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A lawsuit accusing the Utah Board of Education of violating teachers' rights could be put to rest this week.

The board is scheduled to discuss a settlement agreement during its Friday meeting. If approved, the agreement would settle challenges raised by the Utah Education Association over the way teachers are judged and disciplined for misconduct.

"We have been working with the state board on reaching an amicable agreement and we hope to have that resolved soon," UEA spokesman Mike Kelley said.

The UEA sued the state school board in December, claiming that new educator licensing rules for the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission, or UPPAC, denied teachers suspected of misconduct the ability to review accusations against them or cross-examine their accusers.

The lawsuit also claimed those rules were adopted in violation of state laws requiring public hearings.

A draft settlement agreement was posted Wednesday as part of the board's agenda materials for Friday's meeting.

The agreement denies wrongdoing by the board, saying UEA's claims were "vigorously contested, denied and disputed," while committing board members to repeal the contested licensing rules and adopt new UPPAC procedures.

In exchange, the UEA waives procedural challenges to the adoption of new rules.

"This Settlement Agreement reflects a compromise to resolve UEA's claims, which the Board disputes are valid," the agreement states, "and this Settlement Agreement shall not be construed as an admission by the Board."

The settlement agreement also includes disciplinary actions for six educators who the UEA believes "may be or were" harmed by the UPPAC rules.

Those actions include a letter of reprimand for a teacher with three convictions of driving under the influence of alcohol, a warning letter for a teacher accused of inappropriate interactions with a student, three cases of revoked or voluntarily surrendered licenses for "unprofessional conduct," and the lifting of a stay that halted disciplinary proceedings in one case.

A lawyer for the Utah Board of Education could not be reached for comment.

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