DES MOINES, Iowa — The jury has come to a verdict following the two-week-long court case of the Safris family vs. Urbandale Schools.

The lawsuit was filed by the Safris family alleging that negligence and ignorance of policy led to their daughter being assaulted by a male classmate during her middle school English class, eventually causing her to become suicidal.

Their daughter had sent nudes to a male classmate in the fall of 2018, he later began assaulting her and sharing the nudes with others in the school after she refused to go out with him.

The jury has been tasked with determining if the school was negligent in its supervision of the classroom and reporting the incident. They have also been asked to determine if the alleged assault has permanently affected the girl, resulting in lifelong consequences.

The Safris family alleges that because the photos were reportedly spread throughout the school and several students were aware of them, administrators and teachers should have also noticed something and opened an investigation.

“He spread her nude photographs around that school, to his friends, to other boys, and they saw them, and they displayed them. They made fun of her; they slut shamed her,” said plaintiff attorney Cory Gourley. “The kids know this is going on, the boys are doing this, (the victim) is experiencing it, not a single teacher sees any of this; don’t know, don’t recall, didn’t see it.”

The defense argues that nobody ever reported the issues, not even the victim or students, so they weren’t aware. They also explained their in-depth policy, ensuring that if they had been aware of the issue they would have acted swiftly and made sure the issue was addressed.

“She never reported any bullying or harassment related to the nude photographs. She never reported any of the sexual assaults to anybody at Urbandale. Urbandale Community School district did not know about the exhibition or distribution of the nude photographs, and they did not know about the sexual assaults. We also know that her parents didn’t even know about the nude photographs until much later,” said Janice Thomas, the defense attorney.

The jury heard testimonies from teachers and students in the school, each providing different perspectives on whether they knew about the photos and if they knew there were issues surrounding the victim and the male classmate. They also heard from several administrators who laid out their clear policy and all the steps they took. Finally, psychologists were asked to give their perspectives on the issue and the lasting effect of the incident on the victim.

The jury was also presented with evidence proving the existence of policies and procedures that were in place to keep the students safe. They also saw messages that were exchanged between administrators and the family. The court also presented the jury with a detailed outline of the sequence of events beginning with the fall of 2018 until the present day.

The jury was released to deliberate at the end of court Thursday, they reconvened at 9 a.m. on Friday where they remained sequestered until a verdict was reached.

A verdict has been reached but the full report will not be made public until Monday or Tuesday, due to the Veteran’s Day holiday.