Former coach Joseph Kennedy will earn a whopping $1,775,000 (£1,450,973, AUD$2,651,865) settlement payment, with the Bremerton School District in Washington State voting overwhelmingly to accept the award.
They have also granted Kennedy permission to return as an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School for the 2023 season.
Kennedy will also get a stipend of $5,304 for his time working on the 2023 football season, according to a statement from the district.
They look forward to moving beyond the distraction of this almost eight-year legal struggle so that their school community can concentrate on what matters most: providing our students with the finest education possible, said school board president Alyson Rotter.
The agreed compensation is the coach’s second piece of good news after his dismissal from the institution.
In June, he caught his first taste of vindication when the Supreme Court decided 6-3 in his favor.
The court ruled that his constitutional right to kneel alongside student athletes and pray on the pitch after games was protected.
After the judgment, Kennedy expressed that it’s amazing to know he didn’t do anything wrong. All he accomplished was satisfactory.
He made a promise to God that he would thank him after every football game, win or lose. And that’s how he began off, he continued.
Kennedy started his coaching career in 2008 at Bremerton High School.
He began praying alone on the 50-yard line at the conclusion of games.
Students gradually started to join him. He also started giving a brief motivating speech with religious undertones and led pupils in locker room prayers.
Years passed without incident until 2015, when the school board heard allegations that some athletes felt compelled to participate.
So he came to a halt, yet continued to pray on the pitch after the game.
He was placed on paid vacation and was not rehired for the next season because he did not follow district rules.
THE COMEBACK COACH IS BACK! After a hard-fought, 7-year battle, and a precedent-setting Supreme Court victory, the final…
Posted by Support Coach Joe Kennedy on Tuesday, 15 November 2022
