Black v. Columbus Public Schools

• Decision Date: 22 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. C2-96-326.,C2-96-326.
• Citation: 124 F.Supp.2d 550
• Parties: Marie L. BLACK and David Black, Plaintiffs, v. COLUMBUS PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

124 F.Supp.2d 550

Marie L. BLACK and David Black, Plaintiffs, v. COLUMBUS PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Defendant.

No. C2-96-326.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

December 22, 2000.

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Bennie Eugene Espy, Ben Espy Company, L.P.A., James Craig Lee, Christopher King, Columbus, OH, for Plaintiffs.

John Curtis Albert, Francesca Tosi Ward, Crabbe Brown Jones Potts & Schmidt, Gregory Bradford Scott, Scott Scriven & Wahoff, Columbus, OH, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HOLSCHUH, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Record 31). Plaintiff Marie L. Black asserts eleven claims against Defendant, Columbus Public Schools ("CPS"), arising from her employment with CPS. Plaintiff alleges that she was subjected to a hostile work environment because of her supervisor's conduct, and that as a result of her complaints about his conduct, she suffered retaliation. Plaintiff further alleges that she was subjected to disparate treatment based on sex, race and age. Additionally, Plaintiff asserts that Defendant violated rights guaranteed to her by the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as well as rights protected under Ohio law. Plaintiff brings this action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et. seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et. seq., 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Ohio Civil Rights Act, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112, Ohio Revised Code § 4113.52, and Ohio tort law. Plaintiff's husband, David Black, asserts two claims under Ohio tort law. For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendant's motion in part, and DENIES the motion in part.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff began her career with Columbus Public Schools in 1965. From 1987 to 1992, Plaintiff served as Assistant Principal at Mifflin Alternative Middle School. During Plaintiff's tenure as Assistant Principal, the school's Principal was Stephen Tankovich. Until 1991, Plaintiff and Tankovich had a good working relationship (Black Dep. at 28, 31; Tankovich Dep. at 19). However, Plaintiff alleges that during the 1990-91 school year, an affair began between Tankovich and a parent volunteer, Cynthia Stanley (Black Dep. at 25).¹ Plaintiff asserts that the alleged affair rendered the school office a sexually charged environment which unreasonably interfered with her work performance.

Plaintiff offers several incidents to demonstrate how the alleged affair affected the office and created a hostile work environment. Plaintiff asserts that she witnessed hand holding, kissing and touching between Tankovich and Stanley.² (Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment at 4, Plaintiff's Memorandum Contra at 22). Plaintiff's secretary, Pat Bryson, and another parent volunteer, Arnon Lee, state that although rumors abounded about the alleged affair, they never witnessed any sexual conduct between Tankovich and Stanley (Bryson Dep. at 17-18, 22, 43, 45; Lee Dep. at 18-19, 22-23, 26, 43). Plaintiff also alleges that Tankovich and Stanley were often in Tankovich's office for lengthy periods of time with the door locked, and would emerge from the office with their clothes rumpled. (Plaintiff's Memorandum Contra at 2). Tankovich acknowledges that Stanley was in his office on various occasions, and that she did sit on or lean against his desk because of back problems. (Tankovich Dep. at 27). Tankovich also acknowledges that he closed and locked the door for privacy occasionally when Stanley was in his office, because he "didn't want someone to have an inappropriate concept of what was going on." (Tankovich Dep. at 27, 50). Tankovich frequently locked his office door when he did not want to be interrupted during conferences with teachers and parents. (Tankovich Dep. at 49-51). Tankovich denies that anything sexual in nature occurred between himself and Stanley during the school day during the 1991-92 school year. (Tankovich Dep. at 27-28).

Plaintiff asserts that Tankovich allowed the affair to consume most of his time at school, and as a result, he abdicated many of his duties, thereby leaving her to shoulder undue disciplinary responsibility. (Black Dep. at 29). In addition, Plaintiff asserts that she had to field complaints from staff members regarding the affair and Tankovich's corresponding unavailability, (Black Dep. at 32, 65), from Tankovich's wife about her husband's unavailability, (Black Dep. at 50), and on one occasion, had to explain to Stanley's child why the child had to wait so long while her mother was in the principal's office. (Plaintiff's Memorandum Contra at 2, 22).

Plaintiff argues that Tankovich's conduct adversely affected her job performance (Black Dep. at 56), created an environment which was not conducive to administering a school, (Black Dep. at 56), and offended her personally.³ However, Plaintiff does not allege, and the record is clear, that no direct sexual harassment of Plaintiff by Tankovich ever occurred. (Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment at 5; Black Dep. at 61-62).

In the Spring of 1991, Plaintiff reported the rumored affair to Mifflin's Community of Schools Leader (COSL) Maurice Blake.⁴ (See Plaintiff's Memorandum Contra at 15, Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment at 5). Plaintiff and Blake discussed both the affair and the amount of disciplinary matters that Plaintiff was handling. (See Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment at 5). In response to Plaintiff's concerns, Blake investigated the matter further and found that Plaintiff was handling an "inordinate amount" of the school's disciplinary matters. (Blake Dep. at 24). Blake discussed Plaintiff's concerns with Tankovich, and as result, Tankovich assigned support staff to assist Plaintiff with her disciplinary duties. (Tankovich Dep. at 24-25). Blake did not make a report about or document these meetings in any manner, nor did he do so for any of Plaintiff's subsequent complaints and his meetings with her. (Blake Dep. at 36, 52, 72, 75).

Blake met with Tankovich twice to address his unavailability and the alleged affair. (Blake Dep. 37, 39-40, 43-44). During the first meeting, Blake told Tankovich that the staff was concerned that Stanley was spending too much time in Tankovich's office. (Blake Dep. 39). Blake instructed him to be sure that the time he spent with Stanley would not interfere with his duties as Principal. (Blake Dep. at 39). During his second meeting with Tankovich, Blake asked Tankovich about the alleged affair. (Blake Dep. at 44). Tankovich denied having an affair with Stanley. (Blake Dep. 44). Blake met with Stanley to discuss the alleged affair, and she also denied the allegation (Blake Dep. at 47).

In the spring of 1992, Plaintiff received notice that she was being transferred, effective for the 1992-93 school year, to Yorktown Middle School, where she would serve as the assistant principal. (Black Dep. at 57; Blake Dep. at 55-57). Plaintiff did not request this transfer. (Black Dep. at 59; Blake Dep. at 57). In fact, she had previously been offered and declined two lateral transfers, and had informed Blake that she was interested in a promotion, not a lateral transfer (Black Dep. at 59; Blake 56).

Plaintiff asserts that her transfer to Yorktown Middle School was, in fact, a retaliatory demotion. First, Yorktown was not an alternative school, as was Mifflin, and thus was considered to be less prestigious (See Plaintiff's Memorandum Contra at 16). Plaintiff points to the manner in which positions in the school district are filled to support this argument. In the school district, openings at regular schools are filled through an informal process. (Black Dep. at 117-18; Blake Dep. at 59; Waddell Dep. at 16, 18, 19). The openings are not posted, and no formal application is made. Instead, an individual wishing to be promoted or transferred fills out preference sheets from her COSL indicating her general interests, if that process is used by her COSL, or informs her supervisors, COSLs, and colleagues that she is interested in a particular position or a certain type of position, and hopes to be recommended for such. (Waddell Dep. at 18-19). In contrast, openings at alternative schools are posted, and candidates go through a formal application process. (Waddell Dep. 18-19; Black Dep. at 117-19). Plaintiff argues that her talents and background in foreign language education made her particularly well-suited to serve as assistant principal at Mifflin, because the school had a foreign language and international studies focus. (Plaintiff's Memorandum Contra at 27). Plaintiff objected to the transfer to Yorktown, but she had no choice as to whether to accept it. (Blake Dep. 57).

Second, Plaintiff argues that her transfer to Yorktown was a retaliatory demotion because of a conversation she allegedly had with Blake regarding her transfer. According to Plaintiff, Blake informed her that she would be transferred, and then said, "you've been talking to everybody about what was going on over here ... it's too bad you didn't talk loud enough" (Black Dep. at 58).

CPS asserts that Plaintiff was transferred to Yorktown because the school had an open position for which Plaintiff was qualified, and because the position's duties would accommodate her concerns about student discipline. Yorktown had a smaller student population, and thus would require less disciplinary responsibility of Plaintiff. (Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment at 7). CPS offers the testimony of Gregory Waddell, the COSL for Yorktown, that at a COSL meeting, he announced that he needed to fill the Yorktown position with an experienced administrator who was a black female, and preferably had a "strong curriculum background." (Waddell Dep. at 17). Blake, Plaintiff's COSL, recommended her for the position because he thought the...