Kibbons v. Taft Sch. Dist. 90

563 F.Supp.3d 798

Pamela KIBBONS, Plaintiff,

v.TAFT SCHOOL DISTRICT 90, et al., Defendants.

No. 19-cv-01468

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

Signed September 25, 2021

John P. DeRose, John P. DeRose and Associates, Hinsdale, IL, for Plaintiff.

James Richard Dougherty, Brian R. Bare, Whitt Law LLC, Aurora, IL, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Andrea R. Wood, United States District Judge

Plaintiff Pamela Kibbons served as the superintendent of Defendant Taft School District 90 ("Taft") in Lockport, Illinois, for two years. Defendant Anthony Peloso was the president of Taft's School Board ("Board") during the same time. During Kibbons's tenure as superintendent, she had a series of encounters with Peloso that she found uncomfortable, inappropriate, and threatening. Kibbons complained about Peloso, and the Board subsequently gave Kibbons negative performance evaluations. Kibbons ultimately resigned from her position. She has now sued Taft and Peloso, asserting claims for hostile work environment and constructive discharge under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. , as well as state-law claims for breach of contract, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Defendants have moved to dismiss Kibbons's Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (Dkt. No. 8.) For the reasons stated below, Defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

For the purposes of Defendants’ motion to dismiss, the Court accepts as true the well-pleaded facts in the Complaint and views them in the light most favorable to Kibbons as the non-moving party. See Firestone Fin. Corp. v. Meyer , 796 F.3d 822, 826–27 (7th Cir. 2015). The Complaint alleges as follows.

Kibbons, who has a doctorate in education, works in the administration of elementary education. (Compl. ¶ 7, Dkt. No. 1.) In June 2016, she started in the position of school district superintendent for Taft. (Id. ¶ 6.) In that position, she administered and managed the district's schools, developed administrative policies, implemented Board policy, and delegated responsibility to other employees. (Id. ¶ 11.)

Kibbons and Taft agreed that the Board had to evaluate her performance at least once a year using standards developed by Kibbons and the Board. (Id. ¶ 13.) In January 2017, the members of the Board prepared their final performance ratings for Kibbons's first year as superintendent. (Id. ¶ 17.) When asked to rate aspects of her performance, six of the seven Board members ranked her as either proficient or distinguished in each category. (Id. ¶ 18.) Six of the Board members also wrote reviews of Kibbons's performance that were positive or mostly positive. (Id. ¶¶ 21–26.) The seventh member did not rate Kibbons as distinguished in any category and authored a written review that was mostly critical. (Id. ¶ 27.) The reviews did not identify Board members by name. (Id. ¶ 19.)

During her time at Taft, Kibbons endured what she describes as a hostile work environment. (Id. ¶ 29.) On several occasions between September 2016 and November 2016, Peloso asked Kibbons after business hours if she would like to go across the street to a cemetery and drink alcohol. (Id. ¶¶ 30–31.) Kibbons said no and told Peloso she was going home to her husband. (Id. ¶ 32.) Several times between September 2016 and June 2017, Peloso came into Kibbons's office for a long time to sit and watch her work. (Id. ¶ 33.) On two occasions, Peloso directed Kibbons to climb a ladder from the mechanical room to the rooftop so that she could see possible problems with the roof. (Id. ¶ 34.) Both times, Kibbons was wearing a skirt and high heels, and Peloso directed her to climb the ladder first. (Id. ¶¶ 36–37.)

Kibbons experienced additional behavior from Peloso that she considered harassing or demeaning. In October 2017, Peloso told Kibbons during a phone call, "You are just like all the rest of them with your big fancy degrees." (Id. ¶ 38.) Kibbons describes Peloso's tone, volume, and demeanor as hostile and aggressive. (Id. ¶ 39.) On several other occasions, Peloso would correct Kibbons and then emphasize that he, unlike Kibbons, did not have a Ph.D. (Id. ¶ 41.) Peloso regularly emailed Kibbons after 8:00 p.m. or on weekends and demanded a response by the close of business the following day, even though the issues were not urgent. (Id. ¶ 42.) Peloso's harassing behavior—and the frequent comments from Board members and staff acknowledging that behavior—had a significant impact on Kibbons's health and marriage. (Id. ¶ 40.)

At a Board meeting in July 2017, Kibbons informed the Board that Taft's financial books and records had not balanced since 2001. (Id. ¶ 43.) She said that the Board should have been aware of this problem because Peloso had served on the Board throughout that time. (Id. ¶ 44.) Kibbons proposed to have a staff member begin reconciling Taft's books and records. (Id. ¶ 45.) After Kibbons made that presentation to the Board, Peloso's demeanor toward Kibbons became more aggressive and hostile. (Id. ¶ 47.) He began to email requests to Kibbons that were time consuming and impossible to complete in the time frame he requested. (Id. ¶ 48.)

At a Board meeting in September 2017, Kibbons told the Board that she felt Peloso was attacking her through constant emails and interactions. (Id. ¶ 50.) One Board member spoke up in Kibbons's favor. (Id. ¶¶ 51–52.) At another Board meeting in November 2017, Kibbons told the Board that technicians had repaired the boiler system in a Taft school at her direction. (Id. ¶ 53.) Peloso became irate that Kibbons had not sought approval for this expense. (Id. ¶ 54.) He lost his temper, raised his voice, and began yelling that Kibbons had to get prior approval for expenses. (Id. ¶ 55.) While pounding the table, Peloso asked Kibbons, "Do you get that through your head? Jesus Christ." (Id. ) Kibbons, who was sitting close to Peloso, feared for her safety. (Id. ¶ 57.) She stood up, said she was not feeling well, and left the room. (Id. ¶ 58.) Once out of the room, Kibbons began to cry and felt physically ill and unsafe. (Id. ¶ 59.) Soon after, Kibbons returned to the meeting, which continued as if nothing had happened. (Id. ¶¶ 60–61.)

Shortly after that Board meeting, several Board members contacted or visited Kibbons to ask if she was alright. (Id. ¶ 62.) One Board member emailed the rest of the Board an article about successful school board meetings. (Id. ¶ 63.) Someone also brought the meeting to the attention of the Board's attorney. (Id. ¶ 64.) Kibbons contacted the legal counsel at the Illinois Association of School Administrators ("IASA"), of which she is a member. (Id. ¶¶ 65, 67.) She told the legal counsel that she did not feel safe sitting next to or being alone with Peloso and that she would not meet with him alone in the future. (Id. ¶ 67.) At a December 2017 Board meeting, after Kibbons was dismissed from the meeting, Peloso apologized for his behavior at the previous month's meeting. (Id. ¶ 68.) But he never apologized to Kibbons. (Id. ¶ 69.) Shortly after that Board meeting, IASA's legal counsel registered a formal complaint with the Board's counsel on Kibbons's behalf. (Id. ¶ 70.) A few weeks later, IASA's legal counsel contacted the Board's counsel again to complain about Peloso's behavior toward Kibbons. (Id. ¶ 78.) The Board's counsel said he would address the problem with Peloso immediately. (Id. ¶ 79.)

Kibbons also alleges that she saw Peloso violate state laws on open meetings and freedom of information. (Id. ¶ 74.) On numerous occasions throughout her tenure, Peloso turned off the recording device during a closed session while the Board discussed topics that were not appropriate for a closed session. (Id. ) After the Board finished discussing those topics, he would turn the recording device back on and say that the meeting was continuing after the device's batteries were replaced. (Id. ¶ 75.) Whenever Kibbons challenged him over this behavior, Peloso would admonish her for challenging him while the recorder was on. (Id. ¶ 76.) No other Board members commented on Peloso's activity with the recording device. (Id. ¶ 77.)

In February 2018, toward the end of Kibbons's second year as superintendent, the Board held its annual superintendent evaluation conference. (Id. ¶ 80.) At that meeting, Peloso admitted that he got mad at Kibbons. (Id. ¶ 81.) Also during that meeting, the Board changed the rating system for evaluating the superintendent position to a point system with a 0–3 scale. (Id. ¶¶ 82, 86.) This was the first time Kibbons was aware that the evaluation system would be altered. (Id. ¶ 83.) According to Kibbons, the new evaluation system violates both her contract with Taft and the Board's policies. (Id. ¶¶ 84–85; cf. Mem. in Supp. of Mot. to Dismiss, Ex. A, Employment Contract at 2, Dkt. No. 9-1.)¹ When Board members submitted her evaluations, Kibbons scored relatively low compared to the previous year. (Id. ¶ 87.) Her averaged score was 2.0 or less in most categories, and her highest score was 2.43. (Id. )

Kibbons asked for clarification on the evaluation procedures and expressed concern that some Board members had left sections blank. (Id. ¶ 91.) Kibbons asked to view the responses from all Board members instead of just her averaged scores, but Peloso refused to show her the members’ individual responses. (Id. ¶ 92.) Kibbons also asked to meet with the full Board to discuss the evaluations. (Id. ¶ 93.) Peloso denied her request and instead said that only he and one other Board member would meet with her. (Id. ¶ 95.) A few days later, Peloso emailed Kibbons and said again that he would not provide Board members’ evaluations to Kibbons, just the averaged scores. (Id. ¶ 96.) Kibbons responded by email and restated her concerns. (Id. ¶ 97.)

Despite the conflicts between Kibbons and Peloso, Taft offered Kibbons a one-year extension of...