Purse v. Mount Vernon City Sch. Dist.

BRUCE PURSE, Plaintiff, v. MOUNT VERNON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant.

No. 17-CV-8565 (KMK)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

March 9, 2020

OPINION & ORDER

Appearances:

Robert S. Powers, Esq.

Law Office of Robert S. Powers

North Babylon, NY

Counsel for Plaintiff

Gerald S. Smith, Jr., Esq.

Joshua M. Goldstein, Esq.

Silverman and Associates

White Plains, NY

Counsel for Defendant

KENNETH M. KARAS, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Bruce Purse ("Plaintiff") brings this Action, pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), against Mount Vernon City School District ("Defendant," or the "District"). (See Compl. (Dkt. No. 1).) Plaintiff claims that Defendant violated his rights under the ADA when it failed to provide him with a reasonable accommodation and failed to engage in an interactive process, and when it altered the terms and conditions of his employment and forced him to resign on the basis of his disability. (Id. ¶¶ 28-33.)

Before the Court is a Motion for Summary Judgment (the "Motion") submitted by Defendant. (See Def.'s Not. of Mot. ("Not. of Mot.") (Dkt. No. 32).) For the reasons explained herein, the Motion is granted.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

The following facts are taken from Defendant's statement pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1, (Def.'s Local Rule 56.1 Statement ("Def.'s 56.1") (Dkt. No. 34)), Plaintiff's response to that statement, (Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s 56.1 ("Pl.'s 56.1") (Dkt. No. 39)), and the admissible evidence submitted by the Parties.¹ The Court recounts only those facts necessary for consideration of the instant Motion.

1. Plaintiff's Background

Effective September 1, 2007, Plaintiff was hired as a probationary music teacher in the District. (Def.'s 56.1 ¶ 1 (citing Decl. of Gerald S. Smith, Esq. ("Smith Decl.") Exs. C ("Aug. 3, 2007 Dunn Letter"); E ("Pl.'s Dep. Tr."), at 5-7 (Dkt. Nos. 35, 35-3, 35-5)).) Plaintiff was assigned to Thornton High School ("Thornton"), but also taught at Pennington Elementary School ("Pennington") for about a year. (Id. ¶ 3 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 6); Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 6.) On December 2, 2009, Plaintiff was appointed to a full-time position as a music teacher at Thornton. (Def.'s 56.1 ¶ 2 (citing Smith Decl. Ex. D ("Dec. 3, 2009 Jackson Letter") (Dkt. No. 35-4).) According to Plaintiff, he had to pass a physical examination to teach in the District and was "not sick at all" before he began working there. (Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 29-30.)

On average, Plaintiff worked from 7:50 a.m. to 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. However, he occasionally worked as late as 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. (Def.'s 56.1 ¶ 6 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 13-14).) In his position, Plaintiff often played instruments to demonstrate musical concepts for his students, including after school. (Id. ¶ 4 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 9, 11).) In Plaintiff's opinion, playing musical instruments was "fundamental" to his teaching responsibilities. (Id. ¶ 5 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 11).) At Thornton, Plaintiff initially taught in Room LL-01 (the "Band Room"), which was located on the first floor of the building. (Id. ¶ 7 (citing Smith Decl. Ex. F ("Bradley Dep. Tr."), at 15-16 (Dkt. No. 35-6)).) The Band Room sometimes experienced flooding from rainstorms. (Id. ¶ 8 (citing Bradley Dep. Tr. 15-16).) When flooding occurred, Plaintiff was moved to another classroom pursuant to a schedule that the administration created for such occasions. (Id.)

2. Transfer Application

In the spring or summer of 2015, Plaintiff applied to transfer to a position in a different school in the District. (Decl. of Bruce Purse ("Pl. Decl.") ¶¶ 4-5 (Dkt. No. 37).)² According to Plaintiff, at that time, he was "aware that the school building in which [he] was working was detrimental to [his] health," and although he did not know the cause of the problem, he "certainly suspected that the mold in the school building was an issue." (Id. ¶ 4.) At the same time as Plaintiff's transfer application, he spoke to Thornton Principal Sharon Bradley ("Bradley") about the Band Room, and she told Plaintiff that she would "work on fixing the water problem in [his] classroom." (Id.) Plaintiff avers that he did "not couch[]" his transfer request "in terms of [his] medical condition," and "did not wish to put [his] medical issues and the condition of the building in play." (Id. ¶¶ 4, 6.)

Evelyn Collins ("Collins"), the Head of Arts for the District, processed Plaintiff's transfer application. (Id. ¶ 5.) Plaintiff told Collins "of [his] issues at Thornton," and Collins told him that there was a music teacher position open at Graham Elementary School ("Graham"). (Id.)³ Plaintiff met with the principal of Graham, who said that he would be happy to have Plaintiff teach music at the school, and met with Collins again in June 2015, who told Plaintiff that his move to Graham was approved. (Id.)⁴ However, on June 15, 2015, Plaintiff was informed via letter that his request for transfer was not approved "based on [his] interview," although Plaintiff states in his Declaration that he was rejected "by reason of a meeting of the principal's committee for the [s]chool [d]istrict." (Id. ¶ 5; id. Ex. B ("June 15, 2015 Gagne Kerpiewski Letter") (Dkt. No. 37-1).)

Plaintiff also notes that "several years prior" to his 2015 transfer application, the District "attempted to terminate [him] as a result of [his] medical condition." (Pl.'s Decl. ¶ 6.) Plaintiff states that an attorney helped him to obtain tenure and remain at Thornton. (Id.) Bradley also referenced "a time where [Thornton] w[as] asking not to renew [Plaintiff]" during her deposition, noting that she recommended that Plaintiff not return because "[t]he level of work was[] [not] to the standard that [Bradley] thought was best for the students." (Bradley Dep. Tr. 13-14.) According to Bradley, this decision was unrelated to Plaintiff's health. (Id. at 14.)

3. Meetings with Thornton Administration

According to Plaintiff, the first time he spoke to Bradley about mold in the Band Room "could have been as early as 2013, but it[] [was] definitely 2014." (Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 28.)⁵ Plaintiff does not have records of these early conversations with Bradley, though he remembers showing her the alleged mold in his classroom, and Bradley responding that she would have the custodian look at it because she was not qualified to know what it was. (Smith Decl. Ex. T ("Pl.'s Hr'g Tr."), at DEF 318-19 (Dkt. No. 35-20).) He also recalled that the custodians knew about the mold at this time and that they reported it to Bradley and the "Building and Grounds head." (Id. at DEF 317-18.) Although Buildings and Grounds personnel ("Buildings and Grounds") removed carpeting from the Band Room early on, Plaintiff testified that the mold started to grow in the practice rooms and storage room, which he constantly went into, and recalled that he discovered mold in "a few different places in his classroom" in June 2015. (Id. at DEF 316; Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 28-29.) Plaintiff also thought that Thornton was supposed to "ameliorate the situation [after] the initial mold conversation" he had with Bradley in August 2014, but that this amelioration never took place, and when he returned to Thornton in September 2014, the Band Room had been "festering at the time." (Id. at 27-28.) Plaintiff later told his pulmonary specialist, Dr. Irene Grant ("Dr. Grant"), that black mold was found in his classroom in 2015. (Smith Decl. Ex. U ("Grant's Hr'g Tr."), at DEF 293 (Dkt. No. 35-21).) Plaintiff states that during the summer of 2015, his respiratory condition improved, but when he returned to Thornton in September 2015, his condition again immediately worsened. (Pl. Decl. ¶ 5.) However, Plaintiff did not recall telling Bradley that he was sick until their October 2015 meeting, although he also testified that Bradley had been "abreast . . . [of] a time [he] was sick before," but they "did not have all the answers for what was making [him] sick." (Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 28, 30, 33.)

On October 13, 2015 at 2:20 p.m., Plaintiff sent an email to Bradley and copied Michael Baldino ("Baldino"), the union's OSHA representative. (Def.'s 56.1 ¶ 9 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 31; Smith Decl. Ex. G ("Oct. 13, 2015 Bradley Email") (Dkt. No. 35-7)).) Plaintiff requested a meeting to discuss "the perspective [sic] mold in the room and it's [sic] cleanup along with how it affects [his] health and [his] doctor's results as a consequence of [his] recent respiratory illness." (Id. ¶ 10 (citing Oct. 13, 2015 Bradley Email).) Bradley responded on October 13 at 3:25 p.m. that she would find a time to meet with Plaintiff, and copied several individuals, including a union representative, the Head of Buildings and Grounds, and the Acting Head Custodian. (Id. ¶¶ 11-12 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 35-36; Oct. 13, 2015 Bradley Email).) Bradley also wrote that "the substance in [the Band R]oom does have an appearance of something that looks like mold," but that they would need to test the substance to be sure. (Id. ¶ 14 (citing Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 36; Oct. 13, 2015 Bradley Email).) She stated that Buildings and Grounds had worked on "areas that had challenges," including the Band Room, over the previous weekend, and that the school would perform an air quality test that week, the date of which Bradley would tell Plaintiff at their meeting. (Oct. 13, 2015 Bradley Email.) Although Plaintiff testified that he could not "say that they did or did not [clean the Band Room] on that weekend . . .[,] [i]t took them weeks to even try to remediate the situation." (Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 54.) In addition to sending this email, Bradley requested that members of Buildings and Grounds check the Band Room, and was informed that this area was already being worked on. (Def.'s 56.1 ¶ 13 (citing Bradley Dep. Tr. 33-34).)

On October 14, 2015, Plaintiff met with Bradley. (Id. ¶ 16 (citing Smith Decl. Ex. H ("Oct. 22, 2015 Bradley Mem.") (Dkt. No. 35-8); Pl.'s Dep. Tr. 58-59).)⁶ During this meeting, Plaintiff told Bradley that he believed that the...