A state appeals panel has thrown out the claims of a student and his mother that the New York City school system was negligent by employing a teacher’s aide who later sexually abused the student. The Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed a lower court to hold that S.C. and his mother could not prevail on negligent hiring, retention and supervision claims in connection with sexual abuse the then-ninth grader suffered by a Queens middle school teacher’s aide.
During S.C.’s three years in middle school, there was no sexual contact between him and the aide, Elmer Hammond, though the two began regularly eating lunch in the chorus room, according to the decision. Nevertheless, the two were directed not to contact each other after S.C. ran away from home and ended up in Hammond’s house for several hours unbeknownst to his mother. In S.C.’s freshman year, he again ran away and stayed at Hammond’s home for about two months. Hammond sexually abused S.C. during this time. Hammond pleaded guilty to third-degree sodomy in January 2010 and was sentenced to time served and 10 years probation, said a Queens District Attorney spokesman.
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