DES MOINES, Iowa — The jury’s verdict in the Safris vs. Urbandale Schools lawsuit has been published, with both the family and Urbandale Schools releasing statements.

The Safris family filed a lawsuit claiming that failure to follow policy and negligence in the classroom led to their daughter being assaulted by a classmate, eventually causing her to become suicidal. The incidents began in 2018 after she shared nude photos with a male classmate, who then began sharing those photos with others and assaulting her in class after she refused to go out with him.

After nine days of evidence and testimonies the jury was released to deliberate at the end of court on Thursday the 7th and reconvened at 9 a.m. on Friday morning. According to court documents, they reached a decision around 3:59 p.m., just over five hours after deliberation began.

The jury found the Urbandale School District guilty of negligence, but did not rule that they were a proximate cause of the damages done to the victim. This means that Urbandale Schools will not have to pay damages to the victim or the Safris family.

WHO 13 reached out to Urbandale Schools regarding the lawsuit and their reaction to the verdict, we received this statement from the superintendent.

The Urbandale Community School District is pleased with the outcome of the trial and the jury’s determination Urbandale Community School District was not the proximate cause of any damages to (the victim).

Dr. Rosalie Daca, Superintendent of Urbandale Schools

The Safris family also commented on the verdict saying that it was never about the money for them, and they are satisfied with the verdict.

“It’s going to help her heal, she still has a long way to go, she does in fact have a lifetime that she’ll be dealing with this,” said Jodi Safris, the mother of the victim. “But to be believed, to have this jury say they were negligent, you were not safe in that room means everything to her and so it means everything to me.”

The family says the victim was happy to hear that the jury believes her and held the school accountable, but that she wants to keep fighting so that this never happens to another student again.

“What we have is a young woman who wants to fight, and she wants to hold her perpetrator accountable,” said Safris, “She’s asked us to work with the Board of Education Examiners on it, which we are doing.”