The Madison School District on Friday reversed an earlier decision by former Superintendent Art Rainwater and went to court in its battle with the teachers union over the district's high school athletic directors.

A lawsuit filed by the district in Dane County Circuit Court asks a judge to overturn a May ruling from an arbitrator, Milo Flaten, who ordered the district to reinstate four athletic directors and compensate them for any financial loss.

The district, in a move to save $113,000, had consolidated the four positions into two during the 2007-08 school year, and then filled the openings with two officials hired from outside the district.

After Flaten issued his ruling, the district paid the four former athletic directors about $7,000 each for their financial losses during the 2007-08 school year and reinstated three — Rick Raatz, Boyce Hodge and Tim Ritchie — to their former positions.

The fourth, Jim Pliner, had accepted a job as an administrator at Sennett Middle School and declined an offer to return to his post as an athletic director.

However, the district then informed the three reinstated athletic directors that the work hours specified in their contracts "exceeded the 2008-09 staff requirements at their locations," according to the suit.

In June, the union, Madison Teachers Inc., challenged those moves by the district and filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC).

On June 19, Rainwater told the Wisconsin State Journal that the district wouldn't appeal Flaten's decision, saying, "The standard to overturn an arbitrator's ruling is just really, really high."

"It is," Bob Nadler, the district's executive director of human resources, agreed in an interview Friday.

The district, Nadler said, filed the suit because Friday was the deadline for filing a challenge to Flaten's decision, and the district needed to preserve that option in case ongoing talks break down.

The district and union will continue to negotiate, outside of court and the WERC, to seek a settlement, Nadler said. The next session is Tuesday.

Nadler said the suit shouldn't be viewed as a signal that Daniel Nerad, who succeeded Rainwater as superintendent on July 1, is taking a harder line with the union.

"I think this is just a very specific case that we feel we may have to challenge in the future," Nadler said.

But John Matthews, executive director of the teachers union, called the filing of the suit "a stupid waste of money because there's absolutely no way that they can succeed."

"It's not a thoughtful thing for them to do when they're asking for money for a referendum," Matthews said, referring to a measure the district will place on Nov. 4 ballots asking to phase in $13 million in property tax increases over three years.

Matthews said the district has engaged in unethical and illegal practices against the four former athletic directors, and now only Hodge wants to be reinstated. The others, Matthews said, have decided it's not worth the emotional and career risks.

Like Nadler, Matthews said he remains hopeful the dispute will be resolved through negotiations rather than the suit or WERC.

The next WERC hearing is set for Sept. 12.