Mongelli v. Red Clay Consolidated School Dist.

491 F.Supp.2d 467

Christina MONGELLI, Plaintiff, v. RED CLAY CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION, and Red Clay Consolidated School District, Defendants.

Civ. No. 05-359-SLR.

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

June 4, 2007.

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Joseph M. Bernstein, Esquire, Wilmington, DE, for Plaintiff.

Barry M. Willoughby, Esquire, and Michael P. Stafford, Esquire, Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, DE, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SUE L. ROBINSON, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On June 6, 2005, plaintiff Christine Mongelli filed suit against the Red Clay Consolidated School District Board of Education ("the Board"); the Red Clay Consolidated School District ("the District"); and the following people, both individually and in their official capacities as members of the Board: Irwin J. Becnel, Jr., Charles Cavanaugh, Gary Linarducci, Loretta C. Rice, James D. Taylor, Martin A. Wilson, Sr., and Robert J. Andrzejewski (collectively, "the Board members"). (D.I.1) Plaintiffs amended complaint, filed October 31, 2005, alleged sexual harassment, sex discrimination and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), 42 U.S.C, §§ 2000e et seq.; 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (" § 1983"); the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, U.S. Const. amend. 1; and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. Const. amend. 14. (D.I. 15 at ¶¶ 21-42) On June 7, 2006, the parties filed a stipulation agreeing to dismiss with prejudice plaintiffs First Amendment claim. (D.I.35) Plaintiff has also withdrawn her claims against the Board members, leaving the Board and the District ("defendants") as the sole remaining defendants in the action at bar. (D.I.16) Presently before the court is defendants' motion for summary judgment.¹ (D.I.59) The court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343, and 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(f)(3).

II. BACKGROUND

A. Plaintiff's Hiring and Certification Requirements

Defendants in the action at bar are the District, which regulates schools in a large portion of northern Delaware, and its Board of Education. Plaintiff had previously worked as a teacher in the State of New York and, upon moving to Delaware, sought a teaching position with the District as either an "Elementary Teacher" or a "Reading Teacher." (D.I. 62 at Al) On January 20, 2004, plaintiff and the Board entered into a "Temporary Education Employee Contract," which stated:

The Board hereby employs the Employee, and the Employee hereby accepts employment upon the terms and conditions of this Agreement as a Teacher for the period commencing January 20, 2004, and ending June 30, 2004. Nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed a promise of continuing employment beyond the ending date specified herein.[²]

(D.I. 68 at B18) The contact also required plaintiff to "observe and comply ... with the regulations of the State Board of Education." (Id.) Plaintiff was then assigned to John Dickinson High School ("Dickinson") in Wilmington, Delaware, as a teacher for ninth grade special education students.

On April 12, 2004, plaintiff received her initial license from the State of Delaware Department of Education ("DDOE"). (Id. at B23, B19) The license, which listed an effective date of January 20, 2004, stated that plaintiff "ha[d] fulfilled the Licensure and Certification requirements of the Professional Standards Board and [was] certified" in the field of "Teacher of Early Childhood/Primary K-4." (Id. at B19) The initial license was set to expire on January 31, 2007, but contained a provision stating that the license "[would] be suspended effective [June 30, 2005] pending successful passage of the PRAXIS I or its equivalent." Plaintiff, therefore, was required to "submit verification of passage of PRAXIS I or its equivalent prior to [June 30, 2005] to the Office of Professional Accountability at the [DDOE]." (Id.) In a letter to plaintiff, the DDOE reiterated that, "[i]n accordance with 14 Del. C. § 1210,"³ plaintiff was required to pass PRAXIS I or its equivalent (and submit verification of such) by June 30, 2005 in order to keep her license. (Id. at B23) Also on April 12, 2004, plaintiff received from the DDOE an emergency certificate licensing her as a "teacher of exceptional children," i.e., a special education teacher. The certificate was effective as of January 20, 2004, and was set to expire on January 31, 2007. (D.I. 62 at A15) In an accompanying letter, the DDOE informed plaintiff that "[t]he Emergency Certificate is not renewable and is issued on an emergency basis. It is your responsibility to complete the requirements for full certification." (Id. at A13)

B. The Alleged Harassment and Defendants' Response

Almost immediately after she began teaching at Dickinson in late January 2004, plaintiff began having problems with one of her students, JW,⁴ who was fourteen years old. (D.I. 17 at ¶ 14) Plaintiff avers that, "[b]eginning on or about March 1, 2004, [she] began sending written reports to the Dickinson High School Principal's Office which contained allegations of disruptive behavior by JW. In all, between March 1, 2004 and May 7, 2004, twelve ... such reports were sent to the Principal's Office...." (D.I. 67 at 3) Plaintiff also claims to have made a number of verbal complaints to Dickinson Assistant Principal John Kennedy ("Kennedy") about JW's behavior, beginning "maybe the first week" that she began teaching at Dickinson.⁵ (D.I. 68 at B52; see also id. at B53, B56, B61, B62)

The evidence of record indicates that JW was suspended from school on March 9 and April 19, 2004, presumably as a consequence of Student Behavior Referrals ("SBRs")⁶ that plaintiff wrote on March 1, March 2, March 31, and April 1.⁷ (Id. at B31, B32, B34, B42, B43) The remainder of plaintiff's SBRs for JW alleged the following pattern of behavior:

1) April 26, 2004: "[JW] continues to use very inappropriate language.... As [plaintiff] leaned over to help a student who was seated, [JW] got out of his seat and came up behind [her]. He grabbed [plaintiff] forcefully and proceeded to `hump' [her]."

2) May 3, 2004: "When [plaintiff] was teaching the class, [JW] looked directly at [her] breasts and stated: `Your n(3)6Ds are hard.'[<sup>8</sup>] At the end of the period, [JW] grabbed [plaintiff's] arm forcefully and pulled [her] close to his body. He stated: `[You're] a b(2)6Dch, but I mean that in a good way.'"

3) May 4, 2004: "At the end of the period, [JW] sat on top of the desk and stared directly at [plaintiff]. [JW] opened his legs wide and pretended to be having sex. He moved the lower portion of his body up and down quite rapidly. He said: `Oh, oh, aah.' He made `sucking' noises with his mouth and pretended he was breathing heavily."

4) May 5, 2004: "As [plaintiff] walked into the classroom ..., [JW] grabbed [her] arm very forcefully and refused to let go. He said, `Let's do the tango.' He pulled [plaintiff] close to his body and moved [her] forward. When [she I told him to let go of [her] arm, he said: `[You're] a b(2)6Dch. Chill.' Then, he stated: `Do you have sex?' and Who do you have sex with?'"

5) May 5, 2004:⁹ "When [plaintiff] told [JW] to sit down, he threatened: `My mom is going to take care of you. She's going to rock you.' [Plaintiff] wrote out [a referral to the time out room] and gave it to [JW]. He yelled, `I ain't f(2)6Dking going anywhere. You're a f(2)6Dking b(2)6Dch.' He tore the form in half. [Plaintiff] called the main office for an administrator. [Principal Chad] Carmack [("Carmack")] came to the classroom and removed [JW]. Mr. Carmack sent [JW] back to [plaintiff's] classroom before the end of the period."

6) May 6.2004: "[JW] got out of his seat, came up to [plaintiffs] desk, and stared directly at [her]. Then, [JW] sang a rap song stating, `How's your p(2)6Dy?' He sang the work `p(2)6Dy' several times during his rap song. When I told him to go to [the time out room], he continued singing even louder. After [JW] sang, he made `sucking' noises with his mouth."

7) May 7.2004: "[JW] got out of his seat and walked over to [plaintiff]. Then [he] sang a rap song stating, `Ms. Mongelli gives h(2)6Dd.' He sang this four times. As he was singing, [JW] pointed to his p(2)6Ds three times."

(Id. at B31-B41) After writing each of the six SBRs submitted over the eleven-day period between April 26 and May 6, 2004 ("the SBRs"),¹⁰ plaintiff held student/teacher conferences with JW; in addition, plaintiff twice attempted to contact JW's mother by telephone. (Id. at B35-B40) Nothing of record indicates that JW suffered any other disciplinary action resulting from the SBRs.

On May 6, 2004, plaintiff "sat down ... a long time with" Kennedy in order to "follow[] up with him verbally" about the status of her SBRs for JW. (Id. at B59) When plaintiff told Kennedy that "[JW] had engaged in inappropriate contact with [her] of a sexual nature," "[h]e wrote it down and he said, [he would] have to investigate it.... He ha[d] to speak to Mr. Carmack about this, what [Carmack] want[ed] to do with this." (Id.) Plaintiff was not sure whether Kennedy then began investigating her complaint.¹¹ (Id. at 60) Despite the charges plaintiff levied at the May 6 meeting, JW was still in plaintiffs class on the following day, May 7, 2004 (id); Kennedy maintains that this was an inadvertent error (D.I. 62 at A35).¹²

Plaintiffs final SBR for JW was submitted on May 7, 2004, after which JW was permanently removed from plaintiffs classroom and suspended from school for five days; in addition, Kennedy referred JW's behavior to Dickinson's School Resource Officer, a member of the Delaware State Police. (D.I. 68 at B60-B61, B134-B136; D.I. 62 at A146) On June 3, a committee comprised of Dickinson's school psychologist, its educational diagnostician, and two of its teachers (one of whom taught special education students, and one of whom taught...