Gross v. Hatboro-Horsham Sch. Dist.

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STEWART J. GROSS Plaintiff v. HATBORO-HORSHAM SCHOOL DISTRICT Defendant

Civil Action No. 23-0633

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania

July 31, 2023

MEMORANDUM OPINION

NITZA I. QUINONES ALEJANDRO, J.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Stewart J. Gross (“Plaintiff”) filed this employment discrimination action against his former employer Defendant Hatboro-Horsham School District (“Defendant” or “Hatboro-Horsham”) under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (the “ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq.; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (the “ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq.; and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (the “PHRA”), 43 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 951 et seq. [ECF 1]. Plaintiff's claims of disparate treatment and hostile work environment are premised on allegations that upon his return from a year-long medical leave, the principals, assistant principals, and staff at Keith Valley Middle School within the Hatboro-Horsham School District treated him differently than they treated the younger, nondisabled teachers, and created such intolerable working conditions that caused him to retire.

Before this Court is Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint in its entirety. [ECF 5]. Plaintiff opposes the motion. [ECF 8]. For the reasons set forth Defendant's motion is denied.

BACKGROUND

When ruling on a motion to dismiss, this Court must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint and construe the facts alleged in the light most favorable to the non-moving party-here, Plaintiff. Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203, 210-11 (3d Cir. 2009) (citing Ashcroft v Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 677 (2009)). The facts relevant^[1] to the underlying motion are as follows:

Plaintiff, who is currently sixty-two years old, was employed as a teacher for thirty-five years by Defendant. Prior to his 2023 retirement, Plaintiff worked at Keith Valley Middle School (“KVMS”) as a seventh-grade English Language Arts teacher. During all relevant time, Plaintiff was over the age of forty and suffered various medical conditions, including a heart condition, high blood pressure, and dysautonomia, a neurological condition.

For the 2014-15 school year, Plaintiff was on medical leave due to a “serious health condition.” (Compl. Ex. A, ECF 1-1, at p. 1). When he returned to work for the 2015-16 school year, Plaintiff was the subject of derisive comments and conduct from teachers and administrators at KVMS, false accusations from assistant principals at KVMS, an unsubstantiated disciplinary hearing, and various instances of being singled out by school administrators, described more fully infra. Plaintiff alleges that younger and nondisabled teachers were not subject to similar treatment. This treatment persisted continuously until Plaintiff's second medical leave, which began in February 2022.

Disparaging Comments and Treatment

Plaintiff alleges that upon his return to work in 2015, KVMS Principal Jonathan Kircher “sarcastically remarked [to Plaintiff], ‘Now I know all about your health, just like my dad.'” (Compl. Ex. A, ECF 1-1, ¶ a). Principal Kircher told Plaintiff that Kircher's father was retired because of medical conditions similar to Plaintiff's and that Plaintiff's condition was worse than that of Kircher's father. During that same school year, teacher Wendy King “repeatedly inquired” as to when Plaintiff planned to retire from teaching. (Id. ¶ b).

In October of 2016, Assistant Principal John Ewerth asked how many years he had left before retiring. When Plaintiff asked Assistant Principal Ewerth why he wanted to know, Assistant Principal Ewerth told Plaintiff, “I'm thinking you're getting ready to retire.” (Id. ¶ c). In April of 2017, Assistant Principal Ewerth shouted down the hallway, in front of Plaintiff and KVMS teacher Jim Iaia, that everything Plaintiff did was “like a pussy.” (Id. ¶ e).

In March of 2018, a police cruiser followed Plaintiff around the school parking lot. An unnamed building support staff employee told Plaintiff she “overheard [Principal] Kircher and [Guidance Counselor Andy] Osborne talking about ‘having some fun with Stewart Gross.'” (Id. ¶ h).

False Accusations

As to the false accusations, Plaintiff contends that Principal Kircher and three assistant principals also levied false accusations against Plaintiff after his return from his first medical leave. In February of 2018, Principal Kircher falsely accused Plaintiff of sleeping in class and having drugs in his classroom. In February of 2019, Principal Kircher falsely accused Plaintiff of using the N-word in his classroom and threatened disciplinary action. Principal Kircher never followed through with the threatened discipline.

In October 2017, Assistant Principal Ewerth accused Plaintiff of not being prepared for “PSA test[ing]” based on a pile of books lying face-down in Plaintiff's classroom, which could “give kids ideas” during the testing. (Id. ¶ d). Plaintiff alleges that other teachers had posters and books in view of students in their classrooms, but Ewerth accused only Plaintiff of being unprepared.

In September 2020, Assistant Principal Kai-Morris Coleman falsely accused Plaintiff of not instructing students properly during remote learning. In February 2021, Plaintiff was given a mediocre rating in an employee evaluation by another assistant principal based on a false accusation that students were not participating during remote learning.

Differential Treatment

As for the differential treatment, Plaintiff alleges that his classroom was “subjected to drug test[ing] more frequently than other teachers' rooms [] in a manner that [was] not ‘random.'” (Id. ¶ f). During Spring of 2018, Guidance Counselor Osborne, a good friend of Principal Kircher, repeatedly disturbed Plaintiff's classroom by “oddly peek[ing]” into Plaintiff's classroom at least a dozen times during the semester. (Id. ¶ g). Other younger, nondisabled teachers were not subjected to this treatment. At the time, none of Plaintiff's students was assigned to Osborne for guidance counseling purposes. In October of 2018, Osborne disturbed Plaintiff's classroom again. When Plaintiff confronted Osborne about the behavior, Osborne walked away silently.

Plaintiff also alleges that he received “glowing classroom walk-through observations,” coached two sports programs at KVMS, and supervised a student project for which his students won an award. Notwithstanding his efforts, commendations, and achievements, Plaintiff received only an “average proficient” rating in his employee evaluation that did not mention of the glowing walk-through observations. (Id. ¶ k). Upon review of his employee file, Plaintiff noticed that one of the most glowing observations was not included in the file.

Plaintiff was also assigned an “inordinate amount” of students with behavioral issues in the 2021-22 school year. (Id. ¶ h). The eight students who, according to the sixth-grade teachers, had the most issues with academics, behavior, and truancy were all assigned to Plaintiff's classroom for the 2021-22 school year. KVMS administrators did not subject younger, nondisabled teachers to similar treatment.

Disciplinary Hearing

On December 7, 2021, Plaintiff had a “major behavioral incident” with one of his students. (Id. ¶ o). Plaintiff wrote an email to Principal Kircher about the student, indicating he did not want the student to return to his class until there was a meeting between Plaintiff, the student, and Principal Kircher. Instead of the meeting that Plaintiff had requested before bringing the student back into the classroom, Principal Kircher and Assistant Principal Coleman met with Plaintiff alone on December 8, 2021. During the meeting, Principal Kircher and Assistant Principal Coleman accused Plaintiff of writing a negative email about the student and stated that a disciplinary hearing against Plaintiff would soon follow “to go over ‘every line of [Plaintiff's] letter.'” (Id. ¶ p).

On December 14, 2021, Plaintiff met with Principal Kircher and Hatboro-Horsham Education Association (“HHEA”) President Bryan Moore, as well as the Hatboro-Horsham solicitor, the HHEA human resources director, and the Pennsylvania State Education Association Mideastern Region Uniserve representative. During that meeting, Principal Kircher questioned Plaintiff about his “conduct,” but not about the student's behavior or the issues that precipitated the email. (Id. ¶ q). After the meeting, Plaintiff never received any follow-up communication from Principal Kircher or anyone else who attended the meeting.

Second Medical Leave and Retirement

Plaintiff contracted COVID-19 and was out sick between January 4, 2022, and January 14, 2022. On January 18, 2022, Plaintiff was “told for the first time” by an unnamed person that he would be deposed regarding a lawsuit involving a student and Hatboro-Horsham.^[2] (Id. ¶ s). Plaintiff was the only seventh-grade teacher required to give a deposition.

On January 21, 2022, Plaintiff attempted to review the student guidance files, including the file of the student involved in the lawsuit. When Guidance Counselor Osborne saw Plaintiff looking at the files, Osborne “yelled at” Plaintiff and took the files back. (Id. ¶ t). Plaintiff then asked HHEA President Moore whether he could review the files, and Moore told Plaintiff that he “had every right to review the files.” (Id. ¶ a).

On February 3, 2022, Plaintiff returned home from work and took his blood pressure, which registered as high. The following day, Plaintiff met with his cardiologist, who administered an electrocardiogram (EKG) and echocardiogram, which were abnormal. Plaintiff's cardiologist removed Plaintiff from work indefinitely. Plaintiff notified Defendant of his retirement about a year later, on February 6, 2023.

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