C.N. ex rel. J.N. v. Ridgewood Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 03 June 2004
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 00-1072 (JLL).
• Citation: 319 F.Supp.2d 483
• Parties: C.N., individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of J.N., a minor; L.M., individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of V.M., a minor and M.E., individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of J.E., a minor; Plaintiffs, v. RIDGEWOOD BOARD OF EDUCATION, Frederick J. Stokley, Joyce Snider, Ronald Verdicchio, Robert Weakley, John Mucciolo, Anthony Bencivenga, and Sheila Brogan, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

319 F.Supp.2d 483

C.N., individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of J.N., a minor; L.M., individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of V.M., a minor and M.E., individually and as Guardian Ad Litem of J.E., a minor; Plaintiffs, v. RIDGEWOOD BOARD OF EDUCATION, Frederick J. Stokley, Joyce Snider, Ronald Verdicchio, Robert Weakley, John Mucciolo, Anthony Bencivenga, and Sheila Brogan, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 00-1072 (JLL).

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

June 3, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

F. Michael Daily, Jr., Esq., F. Michael Daily, Jr., LLC, Westmont, NJ, for Plaintiffs.

David B. Rubin, Esq., David B. Rubin, P.C., Metuchen, NJ, for Defendants.

AMENDED OPINION & ORDER

LINARES, United States District Judge.

Plaintiffs, three parents who are acting on behalf of three minor students enrolled in the Ridgewood Public School System, brought this action seeking relief for alleged constitutional and statutory violations arising from the administration of a student survey in the Ridgewood schools. Defendants are the Ridgewood Board of Education and several school administrators, including Frederick J. Stokley (Superintendent of Schools), Joyce Snider (Assistant Superintendent), Ronald Verdicchio (Executive Director of Ridgewood Community School), Robert Weakley (Director of Human Resources), John Mucciolo (Ridgewood High School Principal), Anthony Bencivenga (Benjamin Franklin Middle School Principal), and Sheila Brogan (Board of Education President) (collectively, the "Defendants"). Presently before the Court is the motion for summary judgment by Defendants pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. The Court heard oral arguments on this motion on March 8, 2004. For the reasons set forth herein Defendants' motion for summary judgment is granted in full.

BACKGROUND

In 1998, the Human Resources Coordinating Council ("HRCC") of the Village of Ridgewood, an organization comprised of public and private social service agencies, assembled a group of community members to assess the needs of local youth. The group concluded that it was important to survey Ridgewood's student population to better understand their needs, attitudes and behavior patterns in order to use the town's programs and resources more effectively. Throughout 1999, representatives of the group met with public bodies and citizen groups to publicize the survey and elicit public comments. The HRCC formed a "Vision Team" to oversee the project, comprised of thirty representatives from various sectors of the community, including a student from Ridgewood High School.

In May 1999, Defendant Frederick Stokley, the Superintendent of Schools, notified all parents that the survey was to be administered in the fall, and explained the reasons for the survey. Around the same time, members of the Federated Home and School Association (the "Association"), a group composed of the presidents of the nine Ridgewood parent-teacher associations, held several meetings in which the student survey was discussed. Defendants Stokley and Brogan, as representatives of the school administration, attended these meetings. In June 1999, Defendant Verdicchio presented an overview of the survey to the Association and told its members that the individual parents' rights to refuse the administration of the survey to their children would be respected. (Pl.Appx., 109-10). Although denied by Defendants, Plaintiff C.N. claims that Defendants Stokley and Brogan promised that a written consent form would be required. (Pl. Aff., Ex. E; Dep. of C.N., 31) (Def. Resp. to Pl.'s St. of Material Facts, 2). On June 28, 1999, after a meeting of the Association, Brogan sent an email to Verdicchio stating that the "process of allowing children to opt out of participating in the survey must be part of the parental information." (Pl.Aff., Ex. I). The Association eventually passed a motion to support the administration of the survey. (Pl.Appx., 112).

On September 1, 1999, Defendant Stokley sent another letter to the parents, in which he reiterated the purpose of the survey, and disclosed that "some survey items seek information about at-risk behaviors such as substance abuse, sexuality, stress and depression." He emphasized that the survey would be "voluntary and anonymous." (Pl.Appx., 128). Stokley also stated that a copy of the survey would be available for parental review in the main offices of both the middle schools and high schools. According to Stokley's deposition, approximately 15-20 parents came to review the survey following the letter. (Def.S.J.Mot., 16, n. 7).

On October 4, 1999, Defendant Ronald Verdicchio, sent a letter to the principals of the administering schools, in which he included draft directions to their staff for the administration of the survey as follows:

Students should be informed that the survey is anonymous and voluntary. If a student elects not to complete the survey he/she should hand in the blank copy. If a person chooses not to answer a question, he/she should be instructed to leave the item blank. Students who choose not to take the survey should read or work quietly while others are completing the survey.

(Pl.Appx., 181).

Verdicchio's letter told the principals that they should "[p]lease feel free (I know you will) to edit the directions as you choose." (Id.)

As preparation for the survey continued, Defendant Mucciolo, Principal of Ridgewood High School, had numerous discussions with students, parents and teachers at Ridgewood High School, in which he informed them that the survey would be voluntary. (Pl. Aff., Ex. P; Dep. of Mucciolo, 48-49). Defendant Bencivenga, Principal of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, also instructed his staff on several occasions in individual, group and full faculty conferences, that the survey was to be administered anonymously, confidentially and voluntarily. (Pl. Aff., Ex. Q; Dep. of Bencivenga, 69, 79-80). Defendant Brogan reiterated the assertion that the survey was always intended to be voluntary and that there was never any discussion about requiring students to take survey. (Pl. Aff., Ex. L; Dep. of Brogan, 51-52).

The survey was administered to students at the Benjamin Franklin Middle School on October 13, 1999, and to students at the Ridgewood High School on November 2, 1999. The survey, designed by the Search Institute of Minneapolis, Minnesota, consisted of 156 questions encompassing a wide range of topics, including the student's relationship with his or her parents, the student's past criminal activity, alcohol and drug use, and sexual activity. The questions were intended to measure the strength of various attributes and experiences known to promote a healthy adolescence. The survey was designed to be completed anonymously, and the results were only to be presented in the aggregate. There was no space on the survey for a student's name or any way to trace answers to a particular student. The front cover of the survey instructed students that the "answers on this questionnaire will be kept strictly confidential. DO NOT put your name on this form. It has no code numbers, so no one will be able to find out how you or anyone else answered.... Therefore, no one will be able to connect your answers with your name." (Pl.Appx., 233).

There is some disagreement as to precisely what occurred on the day of the survey. At least one of the students involved in this, V.M., has stated that her teacher told her that she was required to take and place her name on the survey. (Pl. Aff., Ex. S; Dep. of V.M., 102). At deposition, her teacher, James Grasso, admitted that although his recollection of the survey day was not very clear, he may have failed to tell his middle-school students that the survey was not required. (Pl. Aff., Ex. R; Dep. of Grasso, 59, 60, 71). J.E., another student involved in this suit, who took the survey in a different location, admitted that she was told the survey would be anonymous. (Pl. Aff, Ex. W, Dep. of J.E., 71). Her teacher specifically told the class that the survey was voluntary and not to put names on the survey. (Pl. Aff., Ex. U, Dep. of Guantez, 19, 26, 32). J.N., the final student involved in this case, asserts that students were told that they would be "cutting class" if they left the room during the administration of the survey. J.N. does not claim that the survey itself was mandatory. (Pl. Aff., Ex. X, Deposition of J.N., 166).

After the survey was administered, the survey booklets were placed in a closed carton and immediately transported to the school district's administrative offices where they were secured in a locked office and sent to the Search Institute to tabulate the results. Upon tabulation, the Search Institute destroyed the individual test booklets in accordance with its standard record retention practice. The summarized results of the survey were eventually released to the public.

On March 6, 2000, Plaintiffs filed the present action. Plaintiffs claimed that the survey violated their rights under the Family Educational Records Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, 20 U.S.C. § 1232h (PPRA). Plaintiffs also asserted claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for alleged violations of the United States Constitution, namely, that the administration of the survey compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment; was an unreasonable intrusion into the household in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; violated the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights of the adults to raise their children as they saw fit; contravened the right to privacy under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments; and violated the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

On February 15, 2001, Judge Nicholas H. Politan, to whom this case was originally assigned, denied Plaintiffs' application for a preliminary injunction and granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment, thereby dismissing the case. C.N. v....