The San Francisco Unified School District has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle with two former George Washington High School students who alleged they were abused on campus by the school’s former athletic director, according to a copy of the settlement agreement obtained by the Chronicle Friday.

One of the students alleged the athletic director at the time raped her multiple times, according to their lawsuit. The other alleged he fondled her and forced her to perform oral sex.

Their lawsuit alleged that the director, Lawrence Young-Yet Chan, groomed the girls between 2012 and 2016 by buying them lunch and gifts, driving them to and from school, letting them drive his car and “stretching their bodies (including their legs and thighs)” while touching them. 

One of the former students alleged another teacher should have recognized his grooming behavior because the other teacher allowed Chan to pull the student out of class to spend time with him. 

In the lawsuit, one of the students alleged she reported Chan’s behavior to police in 2017 and that he was arrested but released because of a lack of evidence.

Her lawyer, Lauren Cerri, said Chan was never charged with any crimes.

The former students allege the athletic director was then allowed to “quietly resign” via a confidential settlement that effectively allowed him to seek future jobs where he could continue to work with children. The lawsuit was initially filed by one of the former students, and later amended to include the second. Both sued using “Jane Doe” pseudonyms.

The women agreed to drop their claims against the district as part of the settlement agreement. The district did not accept any liability or responsibility for any harm they suffered, according to the agreement, which was signed earlier this month.

“Had this case gone to trial, we were confident that a jury would likely return a verdict greater than the settlement amount,” Cerri wrote in a statement announcing the settlement. “But in agreeing to the settlement, the two women were spared having to retell their stories and can now move forward and start to rebuild their lives.”

In court filings, lawyers for the district denied the former students’ claims, saying they responded appropriately once they learned about Chan’s misconduct by placing him on leave. Chan, through his lawyer, also denied the former students’ claims when the Chronicle contacted him last year.

A spokesperson for the district did not immediately respond to an email with questions about the settlement.

The women sued the school in 2022 as part of a wave of lawsuits prompted by a 2019 state law that expanded the amount of time survivors have to sue over sexual abuse they experienced as children. The lawsuit was one of four sexual misconduct lawsuits the school district was hit with during the last six months of 2022, according to an investigation published last year by the Chronicle.

The Chronicle investigation found that schools’ insurance costs have increased because of the influx of lawsuits as schools brace for potential costly settlements and judgments.

Reach Sophia Bollag: sophia.bollag@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @SophiaBollag