The Moreno Valley (California) Unified School Board has fired its superintendent.

KTLA-TV reports that the board voted 3-2 to dismiss Martinrex Kedziora after the district agreed earlier this month to pay a $27 million settlement to the family of a middle school student who died in 2019 after he was assaulted by classmates.

Kedziora had served as the superintendent of the district since 2017. Officials would not say whether the settlement prompted his firing.

Diego Stolz, 13, was an eighth-grader at Landmark Middle School when he died.

His family sued the school district, alleging the school was aware of the ongoing harassment he was facing regularly but did nothing to prevent it.

Some community members agreed with Kedziora’s firing, but others believed the board was only looking for someone to blame.

An interim superintendent has been appointed as the search for a new superintendent begins.