The Westbrook schools’ former athletic director, who resigned last year after a controversy about the overturned suspensions of student-athletes, will receive more than $125,000 in a settlement agreement reached Monday with the school department.

Marc Sawyer stepped down last spring, after less than two years on the job, citing “the incestuous culture of the community.”

The settlement agreement says Sawyer made workers’ compensation claims that the school department denied.

In addition to a $125,364 payment to Sawyer, the department and its insurer, MEMIC, agreed to pay $35,637 to the law firm representing him, Troubh Heisler.

Sawyer’s attorney, Jonathan Goodman, declined to comment on the agreement, which bars Sawyer from making any “derogatory or defamatory statement” about the Westbrook School Department, its employees or school officials. Any violation of that provision entitles the school department to collect $5,000 from Sawyer.

Sawyer’s resignation came at the end of a year of turmoil for the school department, starting with the suspension of about 30 student-athletes who attended a party with alcohol in the fall of 2013.

Because administrators differed in their interpretation of the school’s alcohol policy, the suspensions were overturned. That enabled several members of the football team to play in a playoff game, which triggered accusations of favoritism from the community.

An investigator hired to look into how the discipline was handled found the high school administrators lacked experience, confidence in their decisions and support from their superiors and parents.

In the spring, police broke up another underage drinking party attended by Westbrook student-athletes, who were suspended from their teams. Soon thereafter, Sawyer, who had planned to step down at the end of the school year, went on leave and decided not to return because “personal challenges have hampered his ability to fulfill (his) duties” as athletic director, a staff memo said at the time.

Goodman said Sawyer has found other employment, but declined to be specific other than to say he does not work for a school department.

A 1991 Westbrook High School graduate, Sawyer worked as a health and physical education teacher and baseball coach at Bonny Eagle High School before he was hired as Westbrook’s athletic director in 2012.

Westbrook Superintendent Marc Gousse said Monday he had no comment on the specifics of the settlement.

“The matter has been resolved by mutual consent of all parties involved,” he said.

The agreement is subject to approval by the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board.