Byrnie v. Town of Cromwell Public Schools, 3:97CV01572(GLG).

• Decision Date: 25 October 1999
• Docket Number: No. 3:97CV01572(GLG).,3:97CV01572(GLG).
• Citation: 73 F.Supp.2d 204
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Robert F. BYRNIE, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF CROMWELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS and Cromwell Board of Education, Defendants.

Page 204

73 F.Supp.2d 204

Robert F. BYRNIE, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF CROMWELL PUBLIC SCHOOLS and Cromwell Board of Education, Defendants.

No. 3:97CV01572(GLG).

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

October 25, 1999.

Beecher A. Larson, East Haven, CT, for plaintiff.

Jennifer Bullock Majewski, Shipman & Goodwin, Hartford, CT, for defendants.

OPINION

GOETTEL, District Judge.

Plaintiff has filed this employment discrimination complaint under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as amended, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., claiming discrimination on the basis of his gender, male,¹ and under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ("ADEA"), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., claiming discrimination on the basis of his age, 64, in defendants' failure to select him for a permanent, part-time art teacher position at Cromwell High School. Plaintiff also asserts claims under the comparable provisions of Connecticut's Fair Employment Practices Act ("CFEPA"), C.G.S.A. § 46a-60(a)(1).² Plaintiff's claims are premised upon both disparate treatment and disparate impact theories of discrimination. Defendants now move for summary judgment on all counts of plaintiff's amended complaint.

BACKGROUND

Robert F. Byrnie was born on July 27, 1930, and was 64 years of age at the time of the alleged discriminatory events.

In June of 1995, defendants advertised for a permanent, part-time³ art teacher for the public high school in Cromwell, Connecticut. Applicants were directed to submit a letter of application along with a resume, transcripts, proof of Connecticut certification, and a letter of reference. The required qualifications for the position were: a B.S./B.A. degree in art education, a teaching certificate in art education, and two years of teaching experience.

At the time this opening was announced, plaintiff was substitute teaching at the Cromwell High School and heard about the opening. He submitted his resume, transcripts, and his Connecticut State teaching certificate to Mr. Mark J. Nappi, principal of the High School. Plaintiff's resume indicated that he possessed both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Art Education. He held a "Professional Educator Certificate" from the Connecticut State Board of Education and was certified to teach at the high school level in three areas: Art, History and Social Studies, and in External Diploma Program/Noncredit Mandated Programs (Adult Education). Plaintiff's resume also indicated that he had worked as an art teacher at four secondary public schools in another school system for 21½ years, where he served as a "master teacher,"⁴ and as a system-wide art department chairman over four schools. For six years prior to applying for the position at issue, plaintiff had taught various classes, including art classes, as a substitute teacher at Cromwell High School. He also served as the Advisor to the High School's Literary Magazine under the auspices of the English Department from 1993 to 1995, for which he received a yearly stipend. Plaintiff included with his application letters of recommendation (others were already in his file) and his transcripts.

Esther Mancarella, who was ultimately chosen for the art teacher position, was an art teacher at the Learning Center of the Children's Home of Cromwell,⁵ at the time she applied. She had over seven years of experience teaching art at the middle school level and six years of experience at the Children's Home. She had obtained a B.A. in Fine Arts from Wesleyan University, where she had graduated Magna Cum Laude, and she had taken masters' level courses and graduate courses. She attached letters of recommendation, statements of her teaching philosophy, and transcripts from Wesleyan University, but did not attach transcripts from other undergraduate institutions she had attended before Wesleyan. She was certified by the Connecticut Board of Education to teach art at the high school level. Ms. Mancarella was 42 at the time she applied for this position.⁶

The hiring process was a multi-step process based upon the "Recommended Procedures for Hiring" adopted by the Cromwell Board of Education in 1992. Initially, the 41 applications that had been submitted were "pre-screened" by Principal Mark Nappi (male, age 51), and two members of the Board of Education (Charlene Barber, female, age 38, and Mary De Maio, female, age 39) to remove the incomplete applications⁷ and those that did not meet minimum qualifications. Of the original 41 applicants, 38 were female and 3 were male.⁸ The number of applicants was narrowed down to 21 candidates, including plaintiff and one other male applicant.

After the initial screening, a Selection Committee was established, consisting of the three members of the Screening Committee identified above, plus two staff members who occupied disciplines similar to the one in which a job opening existed, and an additional administrator. The additional staff members were Cromwell High School English teacher Douglas Ross (male, age 58) and art teacher Aline Grandazzo (female, age 45). The administrator was the High School's Assistant Principal Joseph Cassella (male, age 40). Thus, of the six committee members, three were males, age 40 or over, one was a female over the age of 40, and two were females under 40. The Committee reviewed the 21 applications, rating them on a 1-to-5 scale, and agreed to grant interviews to the five applicants who received the highest cumulative scores. The top five candidates received the following total points:

                   Ms. Mancarella (female, age 42)   -- 18
                   EB (female, age 41)               -- 17
                   MD (female, age 39)               -- 17
                   Mr. Byrnie (male, age 64)         -- 16
                   LE (female, age?)                 -- 16
                

Because one of the five individuals selected had already accepted another position, and the next three alternates (who had scores of 15) were unavailable for interviews, the field was narrowed to four candidates.

The next step in the hiring process was for the Selection Committee to interview the four candidates. All members of the Selection Committee participated with the exception of Mr. Ross, who was unavailable. Each applicant was asked the same questions by the same Committee members in the same order. Principal Nappi testified that, following the interviews, the Committee discussed the candidates and then each member identified his or her top three choices, with the first choice receiving a "1." Four of the five committee members ranked Ms. Mancarella first; one ranked her second. Only one person ranked plaintiff second, and one ranked him third. The vote taken after the interviews resulted in the following ranking of the four candidates,⁹ who went on to the next step in the selection process:

                   Ms. Mancarella            -- 1, 1, 1, 1, 2
                   EB                        -- 1, 2, 2, 2, 3
                   MD                        -- 3, 3, 3
                   Mr. Byrnie                -- 2, 3
                

Principal Nappi states that during this first-round of interviews, plaintiff spent a considerable amount of time meticulously showing the Committee his portfolio, which consisted of a 15-unit, self-designed curriculum. Rather than directly responding to the questions posed, plaintiff discussed at length each of the 15 units of his portfolio. For example, plaintiff explained the first five units of his portfolio in response to a question regarding the most important attribute of a good teacher rather than specifically answering the question asked. Mr. Nappi also expressed concern about the degree of plaintiff's focus on his own curriculum, since he would have been expected to teach according to the school's pre-determined curriculum.

After this initial interview, plaintiff was not selected as one of the three most qualified candidates. However, in recognition of his service as a substitute teacher for the Cromwell Board of Education, the Committee unanimously decided to allow him to return for an additional interview in an effort to give him a chance to improve his performance. (Nappi Dep. at 234).

The next interview was conducted by the Cromwell High School Principal and Assistant Principal. Again, all of the candidates were asked the same questions during this interview, including several questions based on concepts drawn from the Connecticut Competency Instrument ("CCI").¹⁰ The CCI is a measurement tool developed by the Connecticut State Department of Education in 1992 for the purpose of assessing teaching competencies in the core areas of management, instruction, and the assessment of student progress. At this interview, plaintiff indicated that he was not familiar with the CCI. Significantly, however, neither Ms. Mancarella nor most of the other candidates were particularly familiar with the CCI.¹¹ In the judgment of the Principal and Assistant Principal, plaintiff's responses to questions posed to him during the interviews did not demonstrate that he was the most qualified candidate and his responses did not demonstrate his familiarity with the basic competencies necessary for effective teaching. Principal Nappi gave as an example plaintiff's answer to the question of what he would do to re-engage a student who appeared to be continually off-task. Plaintiff cited two extreme examples,¹² involving disciplinary problems, where he called the administrative office for assistance. Plaintiff also referred once again to his 15-unit program, which he described as designed for a heterogeneous class, and stated that keeping students on task had presented no special problem. (Byrnie June Dep. at 89-90). Principal Nappi explained that the question was intended to elicit a response regarding how the teacher would get the student more involved or re-engaged. When asked how he would determine whether the lesson was being understood by the students, plaintiff responded that he would ask them if they understood what...