Butler v. Oak Creek-Franklin School Dist.
| Decision Date | 13 October 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-C-1298.,00-C-1298. |
| Citation | 116 F.Supp.2d 1038 |
| Parties | Jamaal BUTLER, Plaintiff, v. OAK CREEK-FRANKLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT, Oak Creek High School Athletic Department, Mike Richmond and the Oak Creek Coach's Council, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin |
v.
OAK CREEK-FRANKLIN SCHOOL DISTRICT, Oak Creek High School Athletic Department, Mike Richmond and the Oak Creek Coach's Council, Defendants.
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Robert E. Sutton, Milwakee, WI, for Plaintiff.
Charles H. Bohl, M. Elizabeth O'Neill, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, SC, Kathy L. Nusslock, Davis & Kuelthau, Milwaukee, WI, for Defendants.
ADELMAN, District Judge.
Plaintiff Jamaal Butler seeks a preliminary injunction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 65(a) ordering him reinstated to eligibility to participate in high school athletics, including football, for Defendant Oak Creek School District. On August 31, 2000, Butler was suspended from participation in all high school athletics for the entire 2000-2001 school year due to alleged violations of the school's Athletic Code, and this is Butler's senior year of high school.
Butler filed suit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on September 22, 2000. Defendants were served with process on September 25, and removed the case to federal court on September 27, 2000. (Docket # 1.) This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331. Following a September 29 telephone conference, the parties filed briefs, and oral arguments were held Friday, October 6, 2000.1
Defendant is a public school district, and is thus obliged to respect Butler's rights under the United States and Wisconsin constitutions and statutes. Butler contends that there was no lawful authority for him to be subjected to the Oak Creek High School Training Code [hereinafter "the Athletic Code"]; that the way in which he was suspended violated his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty or property without due process; that his suspension was based upon confidential police records in violation of state law; that various provisions of the Athletic Code are unconstitutional; and finally that
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his suspension violated his rights under the Wisconsin Constitution.
Butler is a skilled three-sport athlete; he plays football and basketball, and participates in track and field. He is in his fourth year of high school and is an academic senior. According to John Voorhees, Superintendent of the Oak Creek School District, Butler is expected to graduate at the end of this school year in June 2001. (Voorhees Aff. [docket # 15] ¶ 2.)
A. Oak Creek High School Athletic Code
Oak Creek High School is a member of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association ("WIAA"). (Richmond Aff. [docket # 14] ¶ 4.) This is a voluntary not-for-profit organization operated to organize interscholastic athletic programs that emphasize the total educational process, and to formulate and maintain policies that cultivate high ideals of good citizenship and sportsmanship. (Substitute Exs. in Supp. of Defs.' Br. in Supp. of Mot. for Summary J. [docket # 21] [hereinafter "Defs.' Ex."] Ex. 2 (WIAA Const. Art. II) at 14.) The WIAA Rules of Eligibility require each participating school to have a code of conduct for athletes. These codes of conduct are required to apply to students twelve months per year. The WIAA requires that participating schools' codes of conduct require that student athletes be immediately suspended for at least one game or meet for any violations that (1) occur during the athletic season and that (2) involve the use of alcohol, of tobacco, or the use, possession, purchase, or sale of controlled substances. (Id. (WIAA Rules of Eligibility, Art. VII §§ 2(A)(1), (2)) at 39.) As part of this requirement, the WIAA Rules of Eligibility note that if a student denies violating the school's code of conduct, the school must provide an opportunity for the student to be heard before the next interscholastic competition. For all other violations—that is, violations that either occur during the off-season, or that occur during the season, but do not involve alcohol, tobacco, or controlled substances —schools are required to determine their own punishments. (Id. § 2(A)(3)).2
According to Superintendent Voorhees's affidavit, the Oak Creek School District enacted the Oak Creek Athletic Code. (Voorhees Aff. ¶ 3.) The Athletic Code is reproduced in the Oak Creek High School student handbook. (Id.; Defs.' Ex. 4 at 39-41.) As required by the WIAA, the current version of the Athletic Code applies to student athletes every day of the year, regardless of whether it is during a student's athletic season or out of season, and regardless of whether school is in session or out of session. (Defs.' Ex. 3 [hereinafter "Athletic Code"] § I(B) (rev. July 1, 2000).)3 In addition, the rules are in operation continuously, from the first time that they are signed. (Id. § I(C).)
Rule 1 of the Athletic Code requires student athletes to refrain from consuming, selling, buying, distributing, or possessing any amount of alcoholic beverages, controlled substances, and drug paraphernalia. Rule 2 requires student athletes to refrain from using and possessing tobacco products. Rule 3, as pertinent here, requires students to refrain from violating any criminal law or local ordinance, and
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from being at any gathering where minors are partaking of alcohol or drugs. (Id. §§ II(A)(1)—(3).) Finally, the Athletic Code includes an "Honesty Clause," which provides that:
If an Oak Creek-Franklin School District Administrator/Athletic Director has a reasonable suspicion that a specific Oak Creek-Franklin student may have violated the High School Athletic Code, he/she shall question that student about the possible violation. In responding to any such questioning about his/her personal actions, it is expected that the student will answer truthfully. If a student's answer is subsequently found to be untrue, the student will be moved to the next applicable level of discipline because of his/her untruthfulness.
(Id. § II(A)(8) at 1.)
The Athletic Code provides that for a first violation of Rules 1-3, a student athlete is suspended from 25% of all scheduled games, meets, or matches. If a violation occurs during the off-season, the student athlete misses 25% of the scheduled games, meets, or matches for the next season of competition. Second and subsequent violations result in suspension for one calendar year. For first and second violations of the alcohol and drug rules only, there is a special provision that reduces the period of suspension if the student participates in a professional assessment at the student's expense. (Id. § II(B).) The Athletic Code provides that a student athlete may appeal a disciplinary ruling of the athletic director and coach to the Coaches' Council, which consists of the principal, athletic director, all head coaches, and equipment manager. (Id. § II(C)(2).) This provision further provides that the decision of the Coaches' Council is final. (Id.)
The Athletic Code includes a detachable section for student athletes and their parents to sign and return to the school. This section requires students and parents to acknowledge, "I have read and understand the Oak Creek High School Athletic Code." (Athletic Code at 2.)
B. Butler's History Under the Athletic Code
Under Oak Creek's policies and procedures, Butler and one of his parents would have been required to sign this "acknowledgment" for each sport in which Butler participated. (Richmond Aff. ¶ 11.) By Athletic Director Richmond's calculation, Butler and a parent or guardian should have received eleven copies of the Athletic Code from 1997 to the present. (Richmond Aff. ¶ 13.) Richmond asserts that Butler executed acknowledgments each year from 1998 through the present (Richmond Aff. ¶ 14), but in their submissions to the court, defendants have submitted only one acknowledgment, dated August 1, 2000. (Defs.' Ex. 5.) Butler stated in his complaint that neither he nor his parents agreed to "abide by" the Athletic Code. (Compl.¶ 10(1).)
Over a period of several years, Oak Creek High School has charged Butler with a total of five violations of the Athletic Code. The first occasion was in January 1998, when the head basketball coach, John Tanem, found Butler smoking a cigarette. (Tanem Aff. ¶ 3.) Coach Tanem advised Athletic Director Richmond (id. ¶ 4); Richmond called Butler into his office, and, according to Richmond's affidavit, Butler admitted that he had been smoking. In accord with the Athletic Code, Butler was then suspended for 25% of the basketball games for the season. (Richmond Aff. ¶¶ 15-16.)
Butler's second alleged violation stemmed from an April 2000 arrest and citation for possession of marijuana. On April 19, 2000, Athletic Director Richmond called Butler into his office to inquire about the incident. According to Richmond's affidavit, Butler admitted the arrest and citation. (Richmond Aff. ¶¶ 18-19.) As Richmond describes it, Butler said that he was a passenger in a car stopped for erratic driving, and that police found a small amount of marijuana in his coat pocket. About half an hour later, Butler returned to Richmond's office to say that
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the coat was not his, but belonged to a friend; Richmond responded that this was irrelevant to the Athletic Code. (Id. ¶ 20.) Richmond then issued a one calendar-year suspension dated April 19, 2000. (Defs.' Ex. 8.)
On May 21, 2000, Butler filed a written request to appeal the suspension. (Defs.' Ex. 9.) The appeal was heard by to the Coaches' Council on May 25, 2000. (Defs.' Ex. 10.) Butler told the Coaches' Council that the marijuana was not his but was simply in the pocket of his friend's jacket, which he had borrowed. (Richmond Aff. ¶ 24.) In addition, Butler brought several witnesses who spoke on his behalf. (Id.) The Coaches' Council reduced Butler's suspension to 25% of the games in each sport that Butler joined the following calendar year, subject to several conditions, including that he...
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