Hawkins v. Sarasota County School Bd.

Decision Date28 February 2003
Docket NumberNo. 02-10990.,02-10990.
PartiesTonia HAWKINS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SARASOTA COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Alan E. Tannenbaum, Levin, Tannenbaum, Wolff, Band, Gates & Pugh, Sarasota, FL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Arthur S. Hardy, Matthews, Hutton & Eastmore, Sarasota, FL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before BLACK and MARCUS, Circuit Judges, and MIDDLEBROOKS*, District Judge.

MIDDLEBROOKS, District Judge:

I

The Appellants, parents and guardians of three female students, brought suit against the Sarasota County School Board (the "Board") alleging that their children had been the victims of sexual harassment by another student in the girls' second grade class. The complaint includes a claim under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ("Title IX"), 86 Stat. as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., as well as state common law negligence claims. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Board. Appellants argue that disputed issues of fact remain on all issues determined by the district court and that the granting of summary judgment was inappropriate.1

This case presents our first opportunity to apply principles established by the Supreme Court governing a private damages action brought pursuant to Title IX based on student-on-student sexual harassment. See Davis v. Monroe County Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629, 119 S.Ct. 1661, 143 L.Ed.2d 839 (1999). As we do so we are mindful of the constraints of federalism and the appropriate limits upon intrusion by the federal courts into the classroom.

We review de novo a district court's grant of summary judgment, applying the same legal standards as the trial court. See Chapman v. AI Transport, 229 F.3d 1012, 1023 (11th Cir.2000). To this end, summary judgment should be upheld only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Jones v. Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., 977 F.2d 527, 535 (11th Cir.1992). We are required to resolve all reasonable inferences and facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Watkins v. Ford Motor Co., 190 F.3d 1213, 1216 (11th Cir. 1999). If a reasonable fact finder evaluating the evidence could draw more than one inference from the facts, and if that inference introduces a genuine issue of material fact, then the summary judgment cannot be sustained. Samples v. City of Atlanta, 846 F.2d 1328, 1330 (11th Cir.1988).

II

A

Jane Doe I and Jane Doe II were eight-year-old girls enrolled in Barbara Cyphers's second grade class at North Toledo Blade Elementary School ("North Toledo") at the start of the 1998-1999 school year. Jane Doe III joined the class in January, 1999. During that year, William T. Coulson was the principal of North Toledo.

According to the complaint, John Doe, also eight years old, was expelled from a private school for striking a female student. After his expulsion, he was enrolled by his parents at Toledo Blade. He was placed in Cyphers's class in November, 1998. Upon joining Cyphers's class, John Doe allegedly began a pattern of harassing conduct toward the girls.

The three girls testified that not long after he joined the class, John Doe would cross his hands, gesture to his genitals, and tell Jane Doe I, Jane Doe II, and Jane Doe III to "suck it."2 In the lunchroom, he would hold two fingers up. One of the girls testified that although she did not know what this meant, she was told by other children that it meant "meet me in bed in two seconds."3 In the lunchroom, he also said that he wanted to "suck [the girls'] breasts till the milk came out,"4 that he wanted [the girls] to "suck the juice from his penis," and that "he wanted [the girls] to have sex with him." On other occasions, he referred to one or all of the girls as "sexy baby" and stated that "you have a bun, and I have a hot dog, and I want to eat them both." At the playground, he would chase the girls and try (sometimes successfully) to touch them on their chests, and (unsuccessfully) to kiss them. At the bus stop, he also would try to grab Jane Doe III and look up her skirt. He would also jump onto her and rub his body on hers. The girls stated that this conduct took place over a period of several months.

While none of the girls' grades appeared to suffer, two of them said that on four or five occasions they faked being sick in order not to go to school. Their parents testified that they cried more frequently, appeared anxious, and were reluctant to go to school.

B

While a number of school personnel had received complaints about John Doe, none stated that they had seen him engage in behavior that was overtly sexual. Kathy Martin, a staff member in Toledo Blade's lunchroom, testified that while she had witnessed John Doe running indoors, not sitting, exhibiting bad table manners, and hitting another student, she could not recall an instance of a female student specifically reporting his behavior. The children's computer, life skills, and art teachers all gave consistent reports about John Doe's bad behavior.

The children spent the most time during the school day in Cyphers' class. Within a week of John Doe's joining the class, Cyphers began to receive complaints that he was being "annoying" to the other children, tapping his pencil, and distracting them from doing their work. Periodically, she received complaints that he had pushed other children at the playground. Such complaints would come from both boys and girls alike.

Cyphers testified that some time near the end of the school year, either at the end of April or the beginning of May, three girls — Jane Doe II and two girls not involved with this suit — approached Cyphers and told her that John Doe was being "disgusting." Cyphers stated that John Doe had been saying "I love you" and "will you marry me" to the girls, and she referred to the conduct as "natural things in second grade. You know, things they hear at home." She stated that it was not until she had spoken with Jane Doe III's mother in May, 1999 that she had been informed of any of the explicit things John Doe had said or done.

The three girls, however, testified that they had been quite persistent in describing John Doe's behavior to Cyphers, and that Cyphers repeatedly ignored their reports. Jane Doe I stated that she told Cyphers that John Doe was being "nasty" not long after he first exhibited harassing behavior. She claimed that she was no more explicit because she did not want to get in trouble. She stated that she told Cyphers a number of times about John Doe's conduct, but Cyphers always responded that she would take care of it later. Jane Doe II stated that, early in the year, she told Cyphers that John Doe was being "disgusting" and asked to have her seat moved. She also claims to have told Cyphers on a number of occasions when the children were playing outside that John Doe was being "nasty" and asked Cyphers to do something about it.

According to Jane Doe III, one day after she arrived at Toledo Blade, she told Cyphers that John Doe had been following her. Jane Doe III said that during recess that day, when John Doe touched her in the groin, she told Cyphers that John Doe was being "gross." She was not more explicit because she did not feel comfortable enough with Cyphers on only her second day. She stated that on another occasion, she told Cyphers that John Doe had told her to "suck his dick." She stated that Cyphers immediately told her to sit down and did nothing else. Jane Doe III testified that she spoke to Cyphers (and was rather explicit) about John Doe virtually every day.

C

Shortly after May 5, 1999, Jane Doe III's mother contacted both Coulson and Cyphers. Cyphers told her that the school was aware of John Doe's behavior, and that the school was working with John Doe's parents to try to resolve his behavior problems.5 After Jane Doe III and her mother discussed the allegations of harassment with Coulson, he contacted John Zoretich, Director of Sarasota County Elementary Schools, and was told to "follow through" on the allegations. After meeting with Jane Doe III and her mother, Coulson suspended John Doe for all of the following week.6 For the week after he returned, John Doe was given an "in-school" suspension, where he sat at a desk in Coulson's office for much of the day, and had escorts take him to the lunchroom and bus at the end of the day. Coulson directed Cyphers to make sure John Doe and Jane Doe III were separated "at all times."

Some time during the first week of June, 1999, Coulson received a fax from the attorney representing the guardians of the three girls, notifying him that John Doe's conduct had recurred. Coulson then suspended John Doe for the remainder of the school year. During the last week of the school year, a guidance counselor conducted a program for the students on appropriate and inappropriate "touching." After the suspension, Coulson recommended to John Doe's father that John Doe seek social counseling. John Doe's return to Toledo Blade was contingent upon his being given counseling. Through the summer, he participated in a family services counseling program. At the beginning of the following school term, the school saw to it that John Doe and Jane Doe III were not placed in the same classroom. In third grade, for the time he was at Toledo Blade, John Doe was given an adult escort from the time he got on campus until the time he left at the end of the day. Though John Doe and Jane Doe III had brief interactions in third grade before he left for another school, Jane Doe III reported no further instances of harassment.

III

Title IX provides that

[n]o person in the United States shall, on the...

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