Munroe v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist.

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)
Citation805 F.3d 454
Docket NumberNo. 14–3509.,14–3509.
PartiesNatalie MUNROE, Appellant, v. CENTRAL BUCKS SCHOOL DISTRICT; N. Robert Laws, Superintendent of Schools Central Bucks School District; Abram Lucabaugh, Principal Central Bucks High School East.
Decision Date04 September 2015

Stanley B. Cheiken, Esq. (Argued), Jenkintown, PA, Counsel for Appellant.

Kimberly A. Boyer–Cohen, Esq. (Argued), Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, Philadelphia, PA, Counsel for Appellee.

Sean A. Fields, Esq., Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Mechanicsburg, PA, Counsel for Amicus Appellee Pennsylvania School Board Association.

BEFORE: AMBRO and COWEN, Circuit Judges RESTANI* , Judge.

OPINION OF THE COURT

COWEN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Natalie Munroe filed this First Amendment retaliation action against Defendants Central Bucks School District (School District), School District Superintendent N. Robert Laws, and Central Bucks East High School (“CB East”) Principal Abram Lucabaugh. The School District fired Munroe, an English teacher at CB East, after her blog—in which she made a number of derogatory comments about her own students—was discovered. She appeals from the order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granting the Defendants' summary judgment motion. We agree with the District Court that, pursuant to the Pickering balancing test, Munroe's speech did not rise to the level of constitutionally protected expression. Accordingly, we will affirm.

I.

In 2006, Munroe was hired by the School District and assigned to teach English at CB East in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Her performance evaluations indicated that she was generally considered to be an effective and competent teacher. For example, an October 2006 review praised her abilities and work habits. In June 2008, Lucabaugh wrote a letter of recommendation in support of Munroe's application for admission to a graduate program. He described Munroe as a “woman of utmost integrity, character, and intelligence,” “a consummate educator with a sparkling future,” and “a woman whom I respect both personally and professionally.” (A175.) The School District granted Munroe tenure in March 2010.

In August 2009, Munroe began a blog entitled Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket? Blogging under the name “Natalie M,” she did not expressly identify either where she worked or lived, the name of the school where she taught, or the names of her students. According to Munroe, her blog was meant to be viewed by friends that she had asked to subscribe. She did not intend for it to be read by the public at large. For most of the blog's history, there were no more than nine subscribed readers, including Munroe herself and her husband. However, no password was required to access the blog.

Munroe wrote a total of eighty-four blog posts between August 2009 and November 2010, “most of which had nothing to do with her school or work.” (Appellant's Brief at 6 (citing A208–A254, A412–A452).) Intended as a vehicle to keep in touch with friends, Munroe mostly addressed personal matters like her food and film preferences, her children, and her regular yoga classes. On a number of occasions, she wrote about her co-workers, the School District administration, her students, and their parents.

In what the District Court called “one memorable passage,” Munroe v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist., 34 F.Supp.3d 532, 538 (E.D.Pa.2014), Munroe explained that she was entering grades, discussed the grading process, and, finally, offered some comments she would like to see added to the so-called “canned” comment list used to fill out students' report cards. At the top of this January 20, 2010 blog post, there was a depiction of a school bus with a “Short Bus” sign and the following heading: “I DON'T CARE IF YOU LICK THE WINDOWS, TAKE THE SPECIAL BUS OR OCCASSIONALLY PEE ON YOURSELF ... YOU HANG IN THERE SUNSHINE, YOU'RE FRIGGIN SPECIAL. (A245). Munroe then stated the following:

I'm being a renegade right now, living on the edge and, um, blogging AT work.
However, as I'm blogging about work stuff, I give myself a free pass of conscience.
I'm in the process of entering grades, and also need to enter comments for the grades. I used to take a lot of time with this procedure, choosing just the right comment(s) for my students. If I put a negative one, I'd also put a positive one to temper it. (When I was in school, I hated when I got the same 2 or 3 comments from my teachers. It felt so insincere.)
(For the record, my computer froze and had to be shut down at work; when I rebooted, I didn't bother signing back on to finish this as other things to do came up. At present, then, I'm not being a renegade at all, as I'm writing this at my kitchen table.)
Anyway, as I was saying, when I was first teaching, I put a lot of time and effort into the comments because I felt it was a great way to communicate the students' efforts. Then it got to be a complete pain in the ass, just one more thing standing between me and being done the report cards, and suddenly I realized why I'd always gotten the same comments from my teachers: they didn't want to do them any more than I do. (I refuse to believe the alternative reason that I'll explore momentarily.)
Also, as the kids get worse and worse, I find that the canned comments don't accurately express my true sentiments about them. So now I pretty much choose “Cooperative in Class” for every kid (or, in some instances, will speak in other codes. For instance, if they talk a lot, I'll put “is easily distracted” or “talks persistently”; if it's a kid that has no personality, I'll put “ability to work independently”). For some kids, though my scornful feelings reach such fever pitch that I have a hard time even putting “cooperative in class” and have, sadly, had some kids for which none of the comments fit. (Again, this was NOT me. It couldn't have been. I was a delight!!)
Thus, for this blog, I will list the comments I'd like to see added to the canned comment list, as an accurate reflection of what we really want to say to these parents. Here they are, in no particular order:
• Concerned your kid is automaton, as she just sits there emotionless for an entire 90 minutes, staring into the abyss, never volunteering to speak or do anything.
• Seems smarter than she actually is.
• Has a massive chip on her shoulder.
• Too smart for her own good and refuses to play the school ‘game’ such that she'll never live up to her true potential here.
• Has no business being in Honors.
• A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities.
• Lazy.
• Shy isn't cute in 11th grade; it's annoying. Must learn to advocate for himself instead of having Mommy do it.
• One of the few students I can abide this semester!
• Two words come to mind: brown AND nose.
• Dunderhead.
• Complainer.
• Gimme an A.I.R.H.E.A.D. What's that spell? Your kid!
• There is such a thing as too loud in oral presentations. We shouldn't need earplugs.
• Att-i-tude!
• Nowhere near as good as her sibling. Are you sure they're related?
• I won't even remember her name next semester if I see her in the hall.
• Asked too many questions and took too long to ask them. The bell means it's time to leave!
• Has no business being in Academic.
• Rat-like.
• Lazy asshole.
• Just as bad as his sibling. Don't you know how to raise kids?
• Sneaking, complaining, jerkoff.
• Frightfully dim.
• Dresses like a street walker.
• Whiny, simpering grade-grubber with an unrealistically high perception of own ability level.
• One of the most annoying students I've had the displeasure of being locked in a room with for an extended time.
• Rude, belligerent, argumentative fuck.
• Tactless.
• Weirdest kid I've ever met.
• Am concerned that your kid is going to come in one day and open fire on the school. (Wish I was kidding.)
• I didn't realize one person could have this many problems.
• Your daughter is royalty. (The Queen of Drama)
• Liar and cheater.
• Unable to think for himself.
• I hear the trash company is hiring ...
• Utterly loathsome in all imaginable ways.
• I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son.
• There's no other way to say this: I hate your kid.
These comments, I think, would serve me well when filling out the cards. Only, I don't think parents want to hear these truths.
Thus the old adage ... if you don't have anything nice to say ...
... say “cooperative in class.”

(A245–A246.)

On April 3, 2010, Munroe blogged about all of the “Things From This Day That Bothered Me.” These “Things” were almost all work-related:

Things From This Day That Bothered Me

1. The fact that it was 85 degrees in my classroom because the district insists on controlling the temperature from central admin and won't turn on the AC until May 15th, even though people are sweltering NOW.
2. The fact that I called home about an obnoxious kid in class last week before break and his mom said they told him to “knock it off” (the obnoxious behavior), yet the FIRST thing he said to me when he saw me today was, “Yeah, Ms. M. I give you credit for tryin' to ruin my weekend. But the boys rallied up and had a banger anyway!” Clearly, the talk with his mom was quite effective.
3. The fact that several students in 3rd block did a lame job on their easy assignment today.
4. The fact that the jerk who was out 3 days around our last major assessment because his family took him on trip to Puerto Rico and then emailed me all of this nonsense about how he shouldn't have to take the test on time because he was “excused” for those days, was out again today (the date of another assessment) because his family took him to the effing Master's golf shit over Easter break. Can someone please tell me why Thursday–Wednesday wasn't enough time off to do what had to be done such that he could come back today when he KNEW there was an assessment? ? ? It's good that people value school so much—wait, no, they don't.
5. The new
...

To continue reading

Request your trial
127 cases
  • Hewlette-Bullard ex rel. J.H-B. v. Pocono Mountain Sch. Dist.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 3th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Pennsylvania
    • 22 Febrero 2021
    ...at summary judgment stage that student's speech was protected by the First Amendment); cf. Munroe v. Central Bucks Sch. Dist. , 805 F.3d 454, 466 (3d Cir. 2015) (stating in employment discrimination context that "whether or not speech is protected by the First Amendment constitutes a questi......
  • Riley's Am. Heritage Farms v. Elsasser
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)
    • 17 Marzo 2022
    ...normal operations, or has eroded the public trust between the school and members of its community. See Munroe v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist. , 805 F.3d 454, 475–76 (3d Cir. 2015). Because schools act in loco parentis for students, see Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton , 515 U.S. 646, 655, 115 S.C......
  • Riley's Am. Heritage Farms, Corp. v. Elsasser
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)
    • 17 Marzo 2022
    ...normal operations, or has eroded the public trust between the school and members of its community. See Munroe v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist. , 805 F.3d 454, 475–76 (3d Cir. 2015). Because schools act in loco parentis for students, see Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton , 515 U.S. 646, 655, 115 S.C......
  • Gillis v. Miller, s. 16-1245/1249
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
    • 6 Enero 2017
    ...and Eleventh Circuits have each held that evidence of actual disruption is not required. See, e.g. , Munroe v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist. , 805 F.3d 454, 472 (3d Cir. 2015) ("The government need not show the existence of actual disruption if it establishes that disruption is likely to occur bec......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
2 books & journal articles

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT