Doe v. Madison Metro. Sch. Dist.

• Citation: 897 F.3d 819
• Decision Date: 26 July 2018
• Docket Number: No. 17-1521,17-1521
• Parties: Jane DOE NO. 55, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MADISON METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

897 F.3d 819

Jane DOE NO. 55, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.MADISON METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 17-1521

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued November 30, 2017

Decided July 26, 2018

Jeffrey Herman, Stuart Mermelstein, Attorneys, Herman Law, Boca Raton, FL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Peggy E. Van Horn, Attorney, Law Offices of Thomas P. Stilp, Milwaukee, WI, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before Easterbrook and Manion, Circuit Judges, and Lee, District Judge.^*

Lee, District Judge.

The allegations in this case are troubling, to say the least. The appellant, Jane Doe, claims that she was sexually assaulted by a security guard at her middle school while she was in eighth grade. Seeking redress, she filed suit against the Madison Metropolitan School District under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a). To obtain damages against the school district, Doe was required to prove, among other things, that a school official had actual knowledge of the alleged conduct. The question in this case is whether a reasonable jury could have found, based upon the summary judgment record, that the principal at Doe's middle school had actual knowledge of the security guard's misconduct. The district court thought not and granted summary judgment in the school district's favor. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Jane Doe attended Whitehorse Middle School in the Madison Metropolitan School District from 2011 to 2014. During that time, Willie Collins was a security assistant at Whitehorse. In that capacity, Collins supervised lunch and recess, oversaw students in detention, and monitored the school for safety and security.

Deborah Ptak was the principal of Whitehorse, and she supervised the entire staff, including Collins. Collins was a larger-than-life presence at the school. Ptak was aware that Collins had been a mentor and confidant to many students. She regularly saw Collins hugging male and female students and observed that most of the hugs were student-initiated.

On a few occasions while Doe was in seventh grade, Ptak saw Collins walk up behind Doe as she was seated at a table in the cafeteria and rub the top of her shoulders with his hands. Collins had not singled Doe out in this regard, however, as he engaged in similar physical contact with many students, boys and girls alike.

Tracy Warnecke, the school's positive behavioral support coach, told Ptak in the spring of 2013 that she was concerned after seeing Doe frequently seek out Collins, initiate hugs with Collins, and sometimes jump and hang onto him. Warnecke informed Ptak that, on one occasion, she saw Doe jump on Collins and kiss him on the cheek. Warnecke did note that when Doe attempted to kiss Collins again, he rebuffed her and spoke to Doe privately. After that, Warnecke did not see Doe attempt to kiss Collins again. At the end of the conversation, Ptak told Warnecke that she would follow up with Collins about Warnecke's concerns.

Around that time, Mary McAuliffe, the school's counselor, notified Ptak that she and Brooke Gritt, one of Doe's teachers, echoed Warnecke's concerns based on their own observations. McAuliffe told Ptak that she and Gritt had seen Collins give Doe a shoulder rub and had seen Doe look for Collins, hug him, jump and hang on him, and on one occasion, attempt to kiss Collins on the cheek. Ptak told McAuliffe that she should speak with Doe and that Ptak would discuss the matter with Collins.

In addition, at a school committee meeting, Karen Wydenven, the school's psychologist, and McAuliffe spoke to Ptak and Warnecke about a group of seventh grade girls who were hanging around Collins. Ptak responded, "That's just Willie's personality, you know, because he's a coach; and you know, the kids know him."

On April 11, 2013, Ptak met with Collins to discuss the issues raised by Warnecke, McAuliffe and Gritt. Ptak expressed concern for Doe's well-being and stated that Doe could have a crush on Collins. Collins told Ptak that Doe merely had been confiding in him about her problematic relationships with her family and peers and that he was providing her with support. Ptak cautioned Collins against hugging and physically touching Doe and told Collins to limit any such conduct. Ptak reiterated that "clear" and "strong boundaries ... needed to be set" and that "hugging and her jumping on him [wa]s not appropriate." Ptak also instructed Collins to speak to Doe only in common areas when others were around.

Later that month, Gritt reported to McAuliffe that Doe had been intentionally cutting herself. That same day, McAuliffe brought up the matter with Doe, but Doe did not want to talk to McAuliffe. McAuliffe then called Doe's mother to report Doe's actions and advised Doe's mother to obtain counseling for Doe.

During their conversation, Doe's mother told McAuliffe that, after a recent family argument, Doe had run off and deleted some information from her iPad. Doe's mother added that, as a result, she had learned that Doe had been using Collins' name as her iPad password. McAuliffe mentioned to Doe's mother that Doe frequently had been hanging on Collins' arm, and that if Doe's mother believed that Doe had an unhealthy preoccupation with Collins, Doe's mother should schedule a meeting with Ptak and potentially Collins.

Shortly after McAuliffe's conversation with Doe's mother, Ptak met with McAuliffe to discuss McAuliffe's concerns about Doe, including Doe's self-harming, her problems at home and preoccupation with Collins, and the use of Collins' name as her iPad password. McAuliffe told Ptak that she had recommended that Doe's mother seek counseling for Doe. McAuliffe asked Ptak to speak with Doe's mother and Collins, and Ptak reassured McAuliffe that she would. Although it is disputed whether Ptak left a voicemail message for Doe's mother, it is undisputed that the two never spoke about Collins. Nor is there any evidence that Doe's mother spoke to any school administrator about Collins other than her initial conversation with McAuliffe, or that Ptak spoke to Collins after this discussion with McAuliffe.

Three days after her conversation with McAuliffe, Doe's mother sent Collins an email apologizing to him for "dragging [him] into the drama" with Doe. Doe's mother stated that she was not upset with Collins and thanked him for being so kind to her daughter. The email did not request that Collins cease interacting with Doe.

A week or two later, McAuliffe reported to Ptak that Gritt had seen Collins at one of Doe's tennis matches and that he had stayed for five to ten minutes. During that brief time, Gritt had not seen any contact between Doe and Collins. McAuliffe stated she would follow up with Gritt and never raised this incident with Ptak again.

After April 2013, Ptak noticed a significant decrease in interaction between Doe and Collins. She did not see any physical contact between the two after that point.

In May 2013, McAuliffe informed Ptak and Warnecke that Doe had attempted to get out of class by saying that she needed Collins to help her with a "problem." As recounted by Warnecke, Ptak indicated to them that she had already met with Collins about setting appropriate boundaries between himself and Doe. That same month, Jaime Duckert, the school district's social worker, expressed her own concerns to Ptak that so many students were hugging Collins. But this conversation occurred upon Duckert's return from a three-month maternity leave.

Once Doe started eighth grade in the fall of 2013, Ptak was unaware of any new instances of interaction between Doe and Collins that raised concerns.¹ And, according to the school's staff, Doe was much "calmer" during eighth grade.

Then, in late August 2014, Doe told her cousin that Collins had sexually abused her while she was in eighth grade. Doe's mother learned of the abuse a short time later on Doe's first day of high school. According to Doe, Collins had made sexual comments to her, kissed her, fondled her breasts, rubbed his penis against her clothed body, and digitally penetrated her.

The Madison Police Department was notified and commenced an investigation. School district officials became aware of the allegations against Collins, and he was immediately put on a leave of absence pending the investigation.

II. ANALYSIS

Title IX provides that "No person ... shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participating in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity, receiving Federal financial assistance." 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a). At bottom, Title IX does not prohibit sexual harassment, but, rather, prohibits school districts from discriminating on the basis of sex in providing educational benefits. See Davis v. Monroe Cty. Bd. of Educ. , 526 U.S. 629, 652, 119 S.Ct. 1661, 143 L.Ed.2d 839 (1999).

"[A]s in cases under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a school district sued in a private suit under Title IX cannot be held liable on the ground of respondeat superior for an employee's violation of the statute." Doe v. St. Francis Sch. Dist. , 694 F.3d 869, 870 (7th Cir. 2012) (citing Gebser v. Lago Vista Indep. Sch. Dist. , 524 U.S. 274, 285, 118 S.Ct. 1989, 141 L.Ed.2d 277 (1998) ). Accordingly, a Title IX plaintiff must ultimately prove that "an official who at a minimum has authority to address the alleged discrimination and to institute corrective measures on the recipient's behalf has actual knowledge of discrimination in the recipient's programs and fails adequately to respond" in a way that "amount[s] to deliberate indifference." Gebser , 524 U.S. at 277, 291, 118 S.Ct. 1989. To survive summary judgment, a plaintiff "must establish a genuine issue of fact as to whether an appropriate official ... had (1) actual knowledge of misconduct ... that created a serious risk to its students, and (2) responded with deliberate indifference to the misconduct." Hansen v. Bd. of Trs. of Hamilton Se. Sch. Corp. , 551 F.3d 599, 606 (7th Cir. ...