Douglas school chief resigns; agrees not sue

Douglas County Superintendent Carol Lark resigned Tuesday after school board trustees agreed to pay her $135,000, plus $17,500 in accrued vacation.

The board voted 7-0 to accept an agreement in which she would promise not to sue. The district will issue the check in January. School board trustees are to discuss hiring an interim superintendent at a meeting next week.

Lark, who was an assistant superintendent in Clark County, was named superintendent in February 2006.

Her time in the position has been a stormy one, with challenges posed by parents over closing Kingsbury Middle School and budget cuts as a result of the state's economic crisis.

But a conflict between Lark and her district office staff erupted at Lark's evaluation in June. While the school board eventually extended her contract by a narrow vote, it was amended to include an improvement plan aimed at mending Lark's relationship with her staff.