The insurance

company for the Coweta County School System has settled a lawsuit with

former school system bus driver Desiree Jackson.

The United

National Insurance Company has agreed to settle the case for $33,000,

following an Oct. 24 mediation session before a federal magistrate. The

trial was scheduled for Nov. 13. The lawsuit has been dismissed with prejudice

as a part of the settlement.

The issue of

settlement was left to the insurer, and settlement negotiations were headed

of the insurance policy covering the claim, and not from school system

funds.

The Coweta

County School System has denied and continues to deny any liability to

Jackson.

As part of

any settlement, Jackson had asked to be reinstated to her former position,

but the school system declined to reinstate her.

Jackson was

a former bus driver for the Coweta County School System who filed the

lawsuit in federal court in 1999, claiming she had been terminated from

her position because of her opposition to the special purpose local option

sales tax vote in March 1997, and claiming that her First Amendment rights

had been thus violated.

Jackson was

dismissed from her employment in October 1997, and school system officials

say the termination stemmed from a well-documented case of insubordination

unrelated to her claims.

She is currently

a bus driver for the Fayette County School System.