From last week's decision in Hamson v. Foothills Christian Academy Soc'y of Backus, MN, decided by Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge JaPaul Harris, joined by Judges Francis Connolly and Jon Schmidt:
The following facts derive from the evidence in the summary-judgment record and are framed in the light most favorable to [Hamson] as the nonmoving [party].
Hamson was enrolled as a student at Foothills, a private school, for the 2021-2022 academic year. At that time, Foothills used a password-protected computer grading system to track student assignments and grades. Some teachers and administrators could only unlock assignments, review student progress, and grade work, while other teachers and administrators could also change or override grades.
During the school year, a teacher's aide learned that students were logging into the system using a teacher's credentials and changing their grades. Hamson's former teacher also noticed that Hamson's assignments were being modified in the system. The teacher's aide "conducted an in-depth investigation on every student within [the] high school classroom" to discover when the grades were being overridden, and by whom. This investigation took place on April 4, 9, and 11, 2022. During this investigation, the teacher's aide gathered "strong evidence" that several students, including Hamson, used a former teacher's account to access the system and change their grades. Ecker confronted Hamson, and she admitted that she altered her grades.
