WEST FARGO, N.D. – The West Fargo School District this week reinstated a 2014 North Dakota Teacher of the Year after an acquittal and mistrial on charges that he had a sexual relationship with a student in 2009.

The school board voted unanimously Monday to reinstate Aaron Knodel, 36, with a year of back pay and benefits dating to when the district suspended him last August amid a criminal investigation into his alleged misconduct with student Maggie Wilken, InForum.com reports.

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Knodel’s compensation for the last year, including his coaching and advising pay, comes to $57,651.

The 2014 North Dakota Teacher of the Year was charged with five felony counts of corruption or solicitation of a minor after Wilken went to police about an allegedly sexual relationship with Knodel while she was a 17-year-old senior at West Fargo High School in 2009.

The teen alleged the two had sex in her father’s car, Knodel’s home, and at the school. But the teacher denied all of the accusations, and held firm that he was simply helping a troubled student with life problems like relatives with drug issues, and failing classes, Valley News Live reports.

Prosecutors pointed mainly to call logs that showed the two spent more than 2,157 minutes on the phone from January through March 2009, including 23 calls after 10 p.m. and 46 calls made from Knodel to Wilken.

Knodel acknowledged the calls were excessive and said they affected his family life, but were strictly to help Wilken. The defense also relied on testimony from Knodel’s wife that conflicted with the victim’s accounts, and a disposition from another 2009 West Fargo student that alleged Wilken was a flirt in class while Knodel remained professional, according to the news site.

At the conclusion of a week-long trial in April, jurors acquitted Knodel on three counts, but a juror fell ill before the jury reached a verdict on the other two. That juror also admitted to sheriff’s deputies that she lied during jury selection when she said she wasn’t a victim of sexual abuse, and was the lone holdout in a not guilty verdict on all counts, the Grand Forks Herald reports.

The judge ultimately accepted the not guilty verdicts and agree with prosecutors’ motion to declare a mistrial on the remaining charges.

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About 50 people attended the West Fargo board meeting Monday, where superintendent David Flowers said that as far as the district is concerned, Knodel was exonerated, InForum reports.

The board’s vote to reinstate Knodel came as Wilken and others urged against it.

“I stand here today urging you not to reinstate Aaron Knodel,” said Wilken, who just recently shed her anonymity. “I won’t waste the board’s or my own time by trying to make you believe that there was a sexual relationship between him and me.”

The experience, she said, “made my life extremely difficult and at times a struggle to move forward.”

Parent Nicole Lo also begged board members to reconsider.

“Maybe he won’t do it again, but maybe he will,” she said.

Throughout the meeting, Knodel sat emotionless beside his wife, InForum reports.

Flowers told the news site that district officials conducted an extensive investigation into Knodel’s conduct to determine if he crossed any ethical boundaries, or violated student conduct codes.

The nearly 100 calls between Knodel and the student “were well intended on his part,” Flowers said, adding that district officials had previously asked teachers to mentor struggling students.

“Even though he expressed to us that he had been somewhat frustrated with the amount of time and energy he was devoting to his mentee, he had failed to set limits on when and for how long phone calls would be acceptable,” Flowers said, according to InForum.

“Though this was an error in professional judgement, it does not rise to the level of an adverse consequence relative to his employment or licensure in our opinion. It is a learning opportunity for the district and for the profession as well,” he said.

State officials told the news site they’re reviewing Knodel’s case for ethical or conduct violations, as well, but have not yet taken any action against his teaching license.

Knodel’s union attorney, Mike Geiermann, doesn’t think they will.

“I’m assuming tomorrow morning Aaron will start looking at his materials to get ready for school,” he said.