A Boca Raton principal who was fired after his controversial remarks about the Holocaust sparked a national outrage will be reinstated to a new position, a divided Palm Beach County School Board decided Wednesday.

The board voted 4 to 3 to rehire William Latson, former principal of Spanish River High, after an administrative law judge ruled in August the school district failed to prove he “engaged in misconduct in office, incompetence, or gross insubordination by a preponderance of the evidence."

Board members Barbara McQuinn, Chuck Shaw, Marcia Andrews and Debra Robinson all voted to in favor of rehiring Latson despite thousands of emails sent to the board from town residents opposing his rehire.

Under the terms of the settlement, Latson’s suspension and subsequent termination will be rescinded. He will be awarded more than $152,000 in lost wages, according to WPEC and will be reassigned to a position in the school district that is "commensurate with his qualifications,” the school board said.

The decision to reinstate Latson followed expressions of anger from School Board members and 90 minutes of recorded voicemails from Holocaust survivors, family members and others who urged the district to not rehire him.

In 2018, Latson told a parent in an email, “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee." Superintendent Donald Fennoy didn’t discipline him until it hit the media a year later.