A jury in California awarded $5.6 million to the family of a girl who was sexually abused by a teacher at school her high school.
On Tuesday, the jury ordered the Chino Valley Unified School to cover 60 percent of the damage award, while former high school science teacher John Hirsch was ordered to pay the balance.
According to court testimony, the abuse continued even after the girl’s parents told school officials about inappropriate emails between Hirsch and their daughter, then 14.
Although the girl was pulled out of Hirsch’s class and he was ordered to cease all contact with her, she began having lunch with him in his classroom on a regular basis.
School officials never followed up on the matter, and the abuse continued.
An attorney for the family commented that the jury was “outraged” by the negligent conduct of the school principal and other school officials.
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