The family of a student with developmental disabilities who was sexually assaulted by a school aide at McKinley High School in 2007 and 2008 has reached a $250,000 settlement agreement with the state Department of Education.

The family filed suit, alleging that McKinley High and the department failed to follow their own procedures after the educational assistant, Gregory Keau, was arrested in 2003 in an unrelated incident off campus and later convicted of third-degree assault.

An attorney for the family said Keau was arrested on school property for the 2003 assault, and yet McKinley officials never looked into the arrest, which should have triggered an investigation to determine whether it was safe for Keau to work with minors.

In agreeing to the settlement, the DOE made no admission of wrongdoing.

But DOE officials have pledged to review their background check procedures.

In a statement, DOE spokeswoman Sandy Goya said the department has "enhanced its procedures to include a more robust suitability process." She added that if the department hears that a school employee was arrested, "we would immediately initiate a suitability check … and take the necessary steps."

Goya also said the DOE is "working to ensure that background checks occur periodically rather than only when an individual is initially employed, as required by law. Our goal is to implement this process in the very near future."

Dennis Potts, attorney for the special-education student, said the tragedy is that the sexual assault could have been prevented if rules already on the books had been followed.

"If they had done the investigation, they would have found this is the last kind of person you want working in your special ed class," Potts said.

Keau pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the student in 2007 and 2008. He was sentenced in October 2008 to 10 years in prison.

Keau was caught in May 2008 when a co-worker entered a storage room and witnessed him sexually assaulting the student, who was 17 at the time.

Potts said the 2003 assault conviction showed Keau had a "violent streak."

He also said McKinley failed to protect the student when it did not investigate Keau’s arrest, which Potts said the school should have been aware of because Keau was taken into custody on school grounds. "They need to follow their own rules," Potts said.

Keau was 30 when he was sentenced in 2008.

He got the job at McKinley with help from his mother, also an educational assistant there. He had several previous jobs, but that was his first with the DOE.

The settlement amount is subject to approval of the state Legislature.

Once the money is released, a conservatorship will be established for the student.