The school district accused of spying on students at home via laptop webcam has agreed to settle two student lawsuits for a total of $610,000. The Lower Merion School District board of directors released a statement Tuesday morning, saying that it decided to settle in order to move on and "protect the interests of our taxpayers," even if that meant not being able to share its own side of the story.

The webcam issue first came to light in February when high school student Blake J. Robbins was disciplined by his assistant principal for engaging in "improper behavior" while at home—the evidence for which was apparently a photograph from the built-in webcam on his school-issued laptop. Once the Robbins family filed its class-action lawsuit against the district, the FBI began investigating the case as well to see whether the school had broken any federal wiretap laws.

Following a court order to preserve the webcam images from the district's 2,300 student-issued laptops, the Robbins' updated their claims, saying that the school took more than 400 photos of Blake in his room (some while he was "partially undressed"). Additionally, they said the school took "thousands" more pictures of other students in their homes, or in some case screenshots of private IM conversations.

Even worse, the IT staff responsible for monitoring the student laptops seemingly viewed the whole thing as entertainment, with one admin telling another via e-mail that the photos were "like a little [Lower Merion School District] soap opera." Another responded with, "I know. I love it!"

Despite this evidence, federal authorities announced in August that they found no criminal intent in the alleged surveillance.

"That was an important moment for us," the school board said. "The District acknowledged and apologized for any mistakes and addressed them immediately. We revised our policies and procedures, reaffirmed our commitment to technology and put safeguards into place to ensure the privacy of our students, staff and school families."

The school district came to an agreement with its insurance carrier to cover more than $1.2 million in legal fees, and part of that agreement involves paying $175,000 to a trust fund for Blake Robbins, $10,000 to another student, Jalil Hassan, and $425,000 to the two students' legal counsel. The board said that dragging the case out would have cost valuable taxpayer dollars that could otherwise be put towards education.

Still, the statement hinted that there were parts to the story that the public never heard, but left it at that. "Although we would have valued the opportunity to finally share an important, untold story in the courtroom, we recognize that in this case, a lengthy, costly trial would benefit no one," the board said.