ST. CLOUD — The St. Cloud school district expects to spend about $37,000 on legal fees to defend itself in a federal discrimination investigation that ended in a settlement.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations lodged a complaint in 2010 with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

The group said Somali students were harassed and discriminated against and the district did little to prevent it.

In October, the school board approved an agreement that ended the investigation. The district has denied it committed any civil rights violations, but agreed to take steps to ensure students were not subjected to a hostile environment.

Board member Jerry Von Korff said one of the reasons he supported settling was to reduce the legal fees.