A Minneapolis charter school that did not perform due diligence in hiring a teacher who had been dismissed from a previous school over reports of sexual abuse can now be held liable for the hiring decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled.

A former Harvest Best Academy student and survivor of sexual abuse sued the school over the hiring of his abuser, physical education teacher and basketball coach Aaron Hjermstad, who is now serving a 12-year prison sentence for multiple sexual abuse convictions.

Lower courts had ruled that Harvest Best Academy was shielded from liability because the decision to hire an employee was a “planning-level policy decision.”

The high court on Wednesday reversed those previous rulings, opening the door for other schools to be sued for hiring staff who sexually abuse students.

Attorney Jeff Anderson, whose law firm represented the plaintiff in this case, celebrated the ruling and proclaimed, “In Minnesota, the kids are safer today.”

“And it’s not about this school, Best Academy, and their choices to protect this offender,” Anderson said during a news conference Wednesday morning. “This now applies across the board to all public schools in Minnesota. So administrators, principals and school districts beware: There is a peril and a danger that you have ignored.”

In a statement, Harvest Best Academy said, “We disagree with the court’s decision” and added it is “saddened and heartbroken for the victims of Aaron Hjermstad.”

“Harvest Best Academy is focused on providing the highest quality learning experience for all of our students and takes very seriously the process of hiring staff and employees. We are committed to ensuring that our learning environment remains safe, supportive, and conducive to the success of all our students and staff members,” the school said.

Hiring Hjermstad

Mastery School hired Hjermstad as a physical education teacher in 2016. He was also picked to coach a joint basketball team of students at Mastery and another charter school under the same network, Harvest Best Academy.

Mastery School merged with Harvest Best Academy in 2021 and no longer exists.

Before his hiring at Mastery, Hjermstad was let go from another charter school — Excell Academy in Brooklyn Park — after a 12-year-old student reported that Hjermstad had sexually abused him. The case did not result in criminal prosecution, but the school decided not to renew Hjermstad’s contract.

Hjermstad was also a volunteer basketball coach with Hospitality House and was known to have players sleep over at his house.

During the hiring process at Mastery, Hjermstad did not answer questions on the application asking why he left his past job and if the school could contact his previous employer. Hjermstad was asked to provide three letters of recommendation but only gave contact information for references, none of whom were supervisors. These references, however, were never contacted, court records state.

“Instead of checking with his former employer, Excell Academy — where reports of his abuse had been made and ignored, where he had been reprimanded … for sexual abuse and boundary violations with kids — they hired him,” Anderson said.

Lawyers also raised concerns about Harvest Best Academy’s lack of policies to protect students from grooming or sexually inappropriate behavior by staff members. The school allegedly knew Hjermstad had students sleep over at his home but had no policy in place against the practice.

Criminal cases

Hjermstad was convicted in four separate cases of sexual abuse in 2021.

All victims were under 13 at the time of the crime and included the Excell student who reported being abused in 2015, a Harvest Best student who was abused in 2017 or 2018, and a student who came forward in 2020.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crimes, but before that sentencing took place, he was stopped in Idaho for a traffic violation. During that stop, thousands of videos were uncovered of Hjermstad sexually assaulting minors.

Last year, a Hennepin County grand jury returned a 12-count indictment over assaults of minors from 2013-21. That case is still pending.

Hjermstad isn’t the only Harvest Best Academy employee accused of sexual abuse.

Former Minnesota Teacher of the Year Abdul Wright was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct last year in connection with alleged assaults on a female student from 2016-17, including some incidents that occurred on school property.