Cox v. Hausmann
| Decision Date | 30 September 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 3:17-cv-02420 |
| Parties | Matthew Cox, Plaintiff v. Jodie Hausmann, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio |
Before me is the motion for summary judgment filed by Defendants Perkins Local School District Board of Education (the Board), Jodie Hausmann, Andy Carroll, Michael Ahner, Brad Mitchel, Nicole Hykes, Jason Dulaney, and Dan Bowman. (Doc. No. 45). Plaintiff Matthew Cox filed a response in opposition, (Doc. No. 55), and Defendants replied. (Doc. No. 60).
Cox began a three-year contract with the Perkins Local School District on August 1, 2015, serving as the principal for Briar Middle School. (Doc. No. 49 at 53-54). Jodie Hausmann was the district's superintendent and Cox's supervisor during all times relevant to this suit. Although Cox made it through his first year on the job without any significant incidents, he began having problems during the 2016-2017 school year and his relationship with his employer, and Hausmann in particular, worsened. Cox resigned from his job in July 2017.
In September 2016, Cox sent an email to Hausmann and Linda Miller, a school employee responsible for supervising certain members of the cafeteria staff. (Doc. No. 49 at 97-99). In that email, Cox asked Hausmann, (Id. 49 at 275). Following this, Hausmann met with Cox and informed him this was an inappropriate way to communicate with Miller and told him he should not do this again. (Id. at 108). Cox agreed the email was inappropriate and apologized to Miller. (Id. at 105).
Another incident occurred in the fall of 2016, when Hausmann asked Cox if she would be able to speak to the audience before a choir concert at the school that evening. (Doc. No. 49 at 160). Cox, who claims he was concerned that Hausmann speaking might interrupt the concert schedule, responded by telling Hausmann she should ask the choir director whether she would be able to speak. (Id. at 161-63). Hausmann later testified that she felt Cox's response was inappropriate because she inferred from his response that he was making her ask a teacher for permission to speak, rather than taking it upon himself to inform the teacher that Hausmann would need to speak. (Id. at 73-74, 76-78).
On January 12, 2017, Hausmann sent Cox an email asking which administrator would be attending the school's upcoming field trip to Washington, D.C. (Doc. No. 49 at 287). When Cox responded that a counselor Dave Zimmerman planned to attend, Hausmann replied that this was unacceptable and informed Cox that either he or Briar Middle School's Vice Principal, Jeff Thom, would have to attend. Following this exchange, Cox sent an email to Hausmann as well as two other administrators, asking if they would be interested in attending the field trip because neitherhimself nor Thom were able to go. (Id. at 288). Hausmann took this as Cox ignoring her directive that either Cox or Thom attend the trip and believed Cox's actions demonstrated a failure to communicate properly and a lack of understanding regarding the proper supervision of students on a field trip. (Doc. No. 45-4 at 1).
Around the same time, Hausmann and Cox met regarding a complaint Hausmann received from a parent about a bullying incident that the parent believed Cox had not handled appropriately. Hausmann and Cox disagreed about the proper punishment for the incident, with Hausmann, according to Cox, believing a ten-day suspension was appropriate while Cox disagreed with imposing any out of school suspension at all. (Doc. No. 49 at 125, 135). Sometime around January 17, 2017, Cox informed Hausmann that his father had a serious illness, which might require Cox to take long-term leave on short notice sometime in the future. (Doc. No. 49 at 165-67). Cox did not request any leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) before his employment ended, but he contends that many of the acts that follow were retaliation for his expressing his intent to exercise his rights under the FMLA. (Doc. No. 55 at 25-26).
On January 25, 2017, Hausmann issued Cox a directive to attend a pre-disciplinary hearing on January 27, 2017. (Doc. No. 48 at 234). This directive was captioned "regarding the intention to non-renew and/or recommend to terminate." (Id.). It informed Cox he would have the opportunity to respond to allegations "regarding insubordination, not following board policy, and not respecting the chain of command." (Id.). It further stated: "These allegations, if substantiated, constitute good and just cause for non-renewal and up to termination of your administrative contract." (Id.).
On January 27, 2017, shortly before Cox was scheduled to meet with Hausmann, there was a fight in the cafeteria at Briar Middle School. (Doc. No. 49 at 178). Cox, who was just outside the cafeteria when the fight broke out, testified that he spoke with Briar Middle School's Vice Principal at the time, Jeff Thom, and the two agreed Thom would address the matter. (Doc. No. 55-4 at 3). Cox did not do anything to inform Hausmann of the fight himself, but he claims he told Thom to notify Hausmann through the school's inter-office mail system. (Id.).
Cox attended the January 27 meeting with his brother, Michael Cox, who was also his attorney at the time. (Doc. No. 55 at 22). The two met with Hausmann and the Board's attorney, DJ Young III. (Doc. No. 55-3 at 1). During the meeting, Hausmann brought up, among other things: the incident with the email to Linda Miller; Cox's handling of Hausmann's request to speak before a concert last fall; Cox's handling of the bullying incident earlier in the month; and Hausmann's and Cox's discussions concerning who would attend the Washington, D.C. field trip. Cox's attorney informed Hausmann and Young that because of the directive's failure to provide specific details about the allegations Cox would be facing, Cox was not prepared to respond to any of the allegations during the January 27 meeting itself. (Doc. No. 55 at 23). In response, according to Cox, Hausmann and Young agreed to "properly notice" the specific allegations that were raised during the January 27 meeting and address them at a later time. (Id.).
A few days later, on January 30, 2017, Cox was scheduled to attend a conference with Hausmann and a parent of the student responsible for the cyberbullying incident in January. The conference was cancelled when the parent did not show, but following this, Hausmann asked Cox to meet in her office. (Doc. No. 49 at 187). During this meeting, Hausmann told Cox she was upset that she learned of the January 27 food fight from someone other than Cox and cited this as another example of his failure to communicate. (Id.). She also placed Cox on a two-day paid administrativeleave.1 (Id.). Cox claims that during this meeting, he asked to meet with the Board in executive session but Hausmann refused his request. (Doc. No. 55-4 at 9).
After placing Cox on administrative leave, Hausmann asked a Perkins' police officer, who worked as a school resource officer, to escort Cox to the neighboring Briar Middle School so Cox could obtain his personal belongings from his office and then to drive Cox home. (Id. at 188-92). Cox alleges numerous staff members, students, and community members observed the uniformed police officer escorting him through the middle school before transporting him off the property in a police vehicle. (Doc. No. 55-4 at 8). The school resource officer also filed a police report concerning the incident. (Doc. No. 49 at 296-97).
Cox and Hausmann met again on February 1, 2017. Cox claims that it was during this meeting that Hausmann told him she had the Board's support not to renew his contract. (Doc. No. 49 at 203-04). Cox testified this statement made him believe he was being forced out of his employment, but he also admitted he did not know when Hausmann would have actually been able to recommend non-renewal. (Id. at 233, 238).
Cox received a written reprimand on February 7, 2017, which informed him that his job performance required "improvement regarding communication practices and management of student discipline in order to ensure a safe learning environment for students and staff." (Doc. No. 49 at 206-07, 301). The reprimand went on to state, "Through the OPES [Ohio Principal Evaluation System] model, we will collaboratively set goals and identify action steps to assist you."(Id. at 301). No further discipline was imposed by the reprimand. The letter concluded by informing Cox it would stay in his file until "the evaluation process demonstrates sufficient growth in the aforementioned areas." (Id.). No further discipline was imposed by the reprimand.
At the conclusion of his two-day administrative leave, Cox resumed working as the principal for Briar Middle School without any change in pay or benefits. Although Cox testified that he began looking for other employment opportunities after the February 1 meeting, (Doc. No. 49 at 238), he was able to continue working at Briar for five months without any additional discipline or major workplace incidents. Still, his relationship with Hausmann continued to deteriorate.
On February 2, the Sandusky Register published an article online concerning Cox. In the article, the paper claimed residents had contacted the Sandusky Register and asked whether Cox had been fired. (Doc. No. 49 at 299-300). The article went on to state that while Cox had not been fired, he was involved in a pending personnel matter. (Id.). The article quoted Hausmann, who said of the pending matter, ...
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