Doe v. Londonderry School Dist.

Citation970 F.Supp. 64
Decision Date13 June 1997
Docket NumberCivil No. 95-469-JD
PartiesJane DOE, et al. v. LONDONDERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT
CourtU.S. District Court — District of New Hampshire

Charles G. Douglas, III, Douglas, Robinson, Leonard & Garvey, P.C., Concord, NH, for plaintiffs.

Donald E. Gardner, Devine, Millimet & Branch, P.A., Manchester, NH, for defendant.

ORDER

DiCLERICO, Chief Judge.

The plaintiffs, Jane Doe, Mother Doe, and Father Doe,1 brought this action under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 ("Title IX"), and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against the Londonderry School District (the "District"). Before the court are the District's motions to dismiss (document no. 11) and for summary judgment (document no. 12).

Background2

During the summer of 1993, Jane, then age 13, became close friends with three boys from her school, John Johnson, James Jamison, and Joe Jones. Jane began seventh grade at the Londonderry Junior High School ("LJHS") in September 1993. During the fall of the 1993-94 school year, James and Joe asked Jane to go out with them. Jane declined, saying that she did not wish to do anything that would hurt their friendship. However, she did go out with a fourth boy, Jack Jackson, who was a mutual friend of all parties.

In about the third week of September 1993, after Jane started dating Jack, James and Joe started to harass Jane. They barked and howled at her as frequently as several times each day, and on one occasion one of them gave her a dog biscuit. They also called her, among other things, a "slut," a "whore," and a "fucking bitch." The verbal behavior escalated from whispers to shouts, eventually taking place when others were present. The boys also encouraged others to join in the harassment.

Jane confronted the boys about their behavior. They only laughed and continued taunting her. Around the fourth week of September, Jane met with her school guidance counselor, Katherine Ciak. Jane told Ciak about the problems she was having with the boys, and Ciak presented her with two options for dealing with the harassment: (1) referring the boys to LJHS Vice Principal Neil Elliot for discipline; or (2) having Ciak speak to the boys to educate them about sexual harassment and give them a strong warning to stop. At Jane's request, Ciak talked to the boys. Although they promised Ciak that they would stop calling Jane names, they increased their harassment of Jane and threatened to retaliate against her if she made any more reports about their behavior. Ciak did not inform Mother and Father Doe of Jane's harassment during September.3

Because Jane thought going out with Jack might have caused the harassment to begin, she broke up with Jack.4 However, James and Joe continued to harass her and Jack joined in. The harassment continued to escalate, and began to include physical contact. The boys pushed Jane into lockers and down the stairs, knocked her books from her hands, and spat on her. The record does not clearly indicate either when such physical contact began or its frequency. Jane began to take precautions to avoid the boys in the halls at school. In addition, from late-September on, Jane began to receive two to three abusive telephone calls per week at home. At first, the caller or callers would simply hang up, but eventually male voices began to threaten Jane and call her names such as "bitch," "slut," and "fucking whore."

Jane met with Ciak a second time during mid-October 1993, and again asked her to do something to stop the harassment. The only help she received during that and numerous subsequent meetings with Ciak was being told to "stay away from" or "ignore" the boys. The harassment continued to escalate.

During mid-October 1993, Jane informed Mother Doe about the fact that she was being harassed. Jane begged Mother not to intervene because previous intervention had only worsened the situation. On one occasion, Father overheard a conversation between Jane and Mother about the harassment and became aware that Jane was being harassed.

In early- to mid-November 1993, Mother Doe met with Ciak. Mother asked why Mother and Father had not been contacted earlier about the ongoing harassment of Jane and Ciak responded that she was "taking care of it." Father Aff. ¶ 7.

By December 1993, Jane was deeply depressed, not eating well, not sleeping well, crying frequently, spending time alone in her room, losing interest in sports, and losing the ability to concentrate on her academics. In mid-December 1993, Jane got in a fight with a girl on the school bus. The girl had been calling Jane such things as a "slut" and a "fucking whore" for some time, and Jane punched her in the mouth in response. The girl's mother complained to Vice Principal Elliot, who scheduled a meeting with the girls and their parents. After the meeting, Ciak, who also attended but did not actively participate, informed Father that she was "staying on top of" the continuing harassment of Jane. Father Aff. ¶ 13. Father asked, "What does staying on top of it mean if it's still continuing?," but he did not receive a satisfactory answer. Father became convinced that Ciak did not fully understand the seriousness of Jane's complaints of sexual harassment.

During late-January or early-February 1994, Jane was handed a pornographic cartoon depicting her being anally penetrated by one of the boys.5 Jane began crying and went to the table where James, Joe, and Jack were sitting because she felt that they were responsible. They only laughed at her accusations. Jane left and went to Ciak's office. Ciak told her to take the drawing to Elliot. Jane did, and Elliot conducted an investigation but was unable to find out who had drawn the cartoon.

After school, Jane informed Mother about the cartoon. Mother immediately went to the school to pick up the cartoon and called the school the next day to ask how they planned to handle the situation. Mother Doe spoke to LJHS Principal Nancy Meyers, who had no knowledge of the incident. Meyers informed Mother that she would find out who did know about the situation and call back with the information. Meyers spoke to Elliot and called back. She told Mother that she had spoken to Elliot and that he had conducted an investigation but had not been able to identify the responsible party. Meyers told Mother that the incident would not be reported to the school district superintendent, A.J. Ouillette, Jr., and that such conduct was normal behavior for children in Jane's age group.6

On February 7, 1994, an incident happened while Jane was at lunch. Mother had suggested a way for Jane to attempt to handle the continued harassment and provided her with a bowl. At lunch, Jane filled the bowl with milk, took it to the table where James was sitting, and left it for him saying that if he was going to be catty he could drink milk from the bowl. In response, James threw a piece of meat at Jane upon which he had placed a sexual lubricant. The meat struck Jane in the shoulder. Jane picked up the meat, at which point James knocked it from her hand and into Ciak.7 Ciak told Jane to go to the principal's office, but Jane refused because she felt that she was not at fault. Jane was reprimanded and given a demerit for failing to follow Ciak's orders, despite the fact that Ciak allegedly knew or should have known that the incident was a result of the continued harassment of Jane by the boys. Jane believes that James was not punished or reprimanded for his role in the incident, but has been hampered in her effort to demonstrate this assertion by the District's apparent policy of destroying disciplinary records at the end of each school year.8

The next day at lunch, Jane again presented James with a bowl of milk. Someone, possibly James, tripped Jane, spilling some of the milk. Ciak instructed Jane to clean it up, but Jane refused and was again disciplined. Jane's parents were not pleased that Jane was disciplined for these incidents and contacted the school requesting that she not be further disciplined. Ciak arranged a meeting with Mother and Jane at which they discussed the harassment issue and Ciak showed the Does a book on handling sexual harassment. Jane was not disciplined further.

Mother Doe eventually attempted to contact Superintendent Ouillette directly for assistance, but Ouillette did not respond personally. Instead, on Tuesday, February 15, 1994, Meyers returned the call on Ouillette's behalf. According to Mother, Meyers indicated to Mother that the matter should be dropped. On Wednesday, February 16, Meyers spoke to Jane. Jane reported that only Joe was still harassing her. James had stopped the week before, after Elliot claims to have disciplined him, and Jack had stopped several months before. Jane also allegedly admitted that she had made inappropriate verbal responses, such as name calling, in response to the harassment. Meyers told Jane that she would speak to the boys again to let them know that sexual harassment was serious and that they must cease their inappropriate behavior immediately or face serious disciplinary action up to and including suspension. Meyers also told Jane to report immediately if any of the boys continued to harass her. Meyers spoke to James and Joe that day, addressing not only the harassment at school but also the calls that Jane was receiving at home.

Meyers called Mother to explain what she had done. That night, despite Meyers' intervention, Jane received another harassing call from Joe. Mother called Meyers the following morning and they discussed options, including both the possibility of Meyers having another conversation with Joe and of Mother reporting the matter to the police. Meyers did talk to Joe again, and he admitted that he made the call. Because Jane was upset by the call, her parents let her stay out of school that day and the next, which were the Thursday and Friday prior to her...

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