A Minnesota charter school can be held liable for its hiring practices after failing to protect students from sexual assault by a staff member, Minnesota’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The case involved 45-year-old Aaron Hjermstad, a teacher who was hired at Best Academy in Minneapolis in 2016 and assaulted multiple students during his time at the school. 

Hjermstad is currently serving a prison term for sexually assaulting minors. He has subsequently been indicted for assaulting 12 victims, all under the age of 13, between 2013 and 2021 in a case Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called “horrific.”

One of the children Hjermstad assaulted at Best Academy filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming negligent hiring practices. A district court and appellate court both ruled in favor of Best Academy in the cases. The Supreme Court reversed those decisions, sending the case back to the lower courts for reconsideration. 

Court documents show Best Academy failed to follow its own hiring procedures when it brought Hjermstad on staff. Neither school staff nor the human resources firm the school worked with called Hjermstad’s references from his previous place of employment. 

Before joining Best Academy, children from Hjermstad’s previous place of employment had reported the teacher sexually assaulted them. The school reported the claims to law enforcement, investigated the incident and eventually decided not to renew Hjermstad’s contract. References listed by Hjermstad on his Best Academy application form would have known about the investigation. 

Lawyers arguing for the school said the hiring was a “policy-level decision,” which would have exempted them from tort liability under state statute. But the Supreme Court ruled the school was unable to do so. 

The high court did not rule on whether the school was negligent in its hiring practices but said “at the very least, it seems just as likely that a day-to-day operational decision was made to hire Hjermstad without following the otherwise required step of obtaining reference letters.”

MPR News reached out to Best Academy for comment on the decision.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, who argued the case on behalf of one of the students Hjermstad assaulted, praised the decision. 

“The Minnesota Supreme Court, finally, has determined that we have chosen to protect the kids in the schools instead of the predators,” Anderson said.

A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.