School District Agrees To Pay $11M To Family Of Teen Who Drowned In Pool

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — A Riverside County school district has agreed to pay $11 million to the family of boy who died after being submerged in one of its pools more than two years ago.

The settlement between the family of 13-year-old Alex Pierce and the Murrieta Valley Unified High School District was announced Tuesday, which would have been the boy's birthday.

"Today is Alex's 16th birthday," Alex's mother Sabrina Pierce told reporters as she fought back tears. "And it's ironic that we're here doing a press conference for him.[...] No amount of money can replace the life of a child."

Alex died after being underwater for over two minutes at a pool party at Vista Murrieta High School in June 2016. Alex was pulled out out of the water, but student lifeguards failed to give him CPR. He fell into a coma and was taken off life support a month later.

The district released the following statement:

"We recognize that no amount of money will compensate the Pierce family for the loss of their son. In the aftermath of Alex's death, our district continues to examine our policies, procedures and protocols regarding school safety and civic use of our facilities to make sure we have the most effective practices and systems in place."

The agency did not admit any wrongdoing but agreed to update its safety measures and train all faculty in CPR.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)