Johnson ex rel. S.J. v. Cache Cnty. Sch. Dist.
| Decision Date | 03 July 2018 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 1:18CV57DAK |
| Citation | 323 F.Supp.3d 1301 |
| Parties | Corey JOHNSON, on behalf of minor child S.J., Plaintiff, v. CACHE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, Teri Cutler, Denise Mouritsen, Doug Snow, Lori Reynolds, Kirk McCrae, Mike Liechty, and Steven Norton, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Utah |
Angela H. Elmore, Utah Legal Clinic, Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiff.
Darin B. Goff, Kyle J. Kaiser, Utah Attorney General's Office (160–6–140856), Litigation Unit, Salt Lake City, UT, for Defendants.
This matter is before the court on Plaintiff Corey Johnson's Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. The parties fully briefed the motion on an expedited basis, and, on June 27, 2018, the court held an expedited hearing on the motion. At the hearing, Plaintiff was represented by Angela H. Elmore, and Defendants were represented by Kyle J. Kaiser and Darin B. Goff. The court heard testimony from S.J., had oral argument from counsel for both parties, and took the motion under advisement. After carefully considering the parties' arguments, as well as the law and facts relevant to the motion, the court enters the following Memorandum Decision and Order denying Plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunctive relief.
On behalf of his minor daughter, S.J., who was dismissed from her high school cheerleading squad, Plaintiff Corey Johnson brought this § 1983 civil rights action against Cache County School District, Teri Cutler, Principal of Mountain Crest High School, Denise Mouritsen, Assistant Principal of Mountain Crest High School, Doug Snow, Assistant Principal at Mountain Crest High School, Lori Reynolds, Cheerleading Advisor at Mountain Crest High School, Kirk McRae, Human Resources Director for Cache County School District, Mike Liechty, Deputy Superintendent, and Steven C. Norton, Superintendent of Cache County School District.
S.J. is a student at Mountain Crest High School in Cache County, Utah. She tried out for Mountain Crest's cheerleading squad during the 2017–18 academic year and was accepted to the squad for the 2018–19 academic year. While trying out for the squad, S.J. was given paperwork to review, sign, and return. S.J. and her parents signed and returned the Cheer and Stunt Squad Constitution ("Cheer Constitution"), which has a provision that "[m]embers will be dismissed for improper social media usage." The Cheer Constitution also required members of the squad to uphold all standards of the school constitution and conduct themselves appropriately at school and other schools because they are representing Mountain Crest wherever they go.
During a meeting prior to tryouts, Lori Reynolds, the cheer squad advisor, spoke at length about social media usage. She explained to the potential cheerleaders that there was a history of inappropriate social media usage by Mountain Crest cheerleaders and it had escalated the sometimes violent rivalry Mountain Crest had with its neighboring high school, Ridgeline, and created conflict within Mountain Crest. She also told the potential cheerleaders that the cheerleaders would need to clean up their social media and instructed the prospective cheerleaders not to post any derogatory or nasty comments, to refrain from bullying or any "catty" comments, and not to post anything that would do dishonor to themselves, their family, or their school. Mountain Crest's cheerleading advisor expressed that the students would be representing the school and the students should be careful about what was posted. Reynolds told the prospective cheerleaders that she intended to change the view others had of Mountain Crest's cheerleaders to minimize the rivalry with Ridgeline and reduce the conflict within Mountain Crest and the cheer squad. Reynolds impression was that the students understood the parameters and that many students, including S.J., commented positively about the rule.
On March 15, 2018, after learning that she made the squad, S.J. returned to the school for an ice cream social and new member informational meeting the school held for the girls who had made the squad. Mountain Crest's principal, Teri Cutler, one of Mountain Crest's vice presidents, Denise Mouritsen, and cheer coach Lori Reynolds were at the meeting. At the meeting, the students were given Mountain Crest shirts.
The school administrators and Reynolds again warned the new squad members about proper social media usage. Reynolds directed the new cheerleaders not to post anything about making the cheerleading squad to social media until the formal announcement of the cheerleading squad was made at a school assembly the following day. The advisor reminded the students that students who were not selected would be disappointed and she told the students not to gloat about making the team. S.J. claims that she and her friends E.W. and S.E.J. were never instructed not to post an announcement to social media, but they did remember a vague instruction to "be nice." However, the school officials and M.K., another new cheerleader, recalled the directive not to post until the assembly. M.K. stated that the instruction made an impression on her because she had already posted to SnapChat that she had made the squad and she deleted her post after the meeting because of the instruction. M.K. also recalled another new cheerleader, B.L., reminding the other students about how disappointing it had been for her not to make the squad the previous year and encouraging the group to follow Reynold's directions not to post anything to social media that night.
At the meeting, Principal Cutler spoke to the new cheerleaders about their obligation to be kind to other students and told them that "nice matters." The principal also stated that there was a "zero tolerance" policy for violations of the cheer constitution and that violations would result in expulsion from the cheer squad. The cheerleaders agreed to be positive on social media.
After the social, S.J. and four of her fellow cheerleaders decided to go to dinner to celebrate. While they were driving to the restaurant in a private vehicle on public roads, S.J. recorded the girls singing along to some of the lyrics of Big Sean's song "I.D.F.W.U." S.J. posted an eight-second video to her SnapChat story of the girls singing the following lyrics from the song: "I don't fuck with you, you little stupid ass bitch, I ain't fucking with you." S.J. posted this video to a private story that included approximately thirty to forty of her contacts. S.J. and the other girls were wearing the Mountain Crest cheer shirts that they were given at the ice cream social. The school administrators could tell that the girls were wearing the Mountain Crest shirts and they believed that it would have been clear to any Mountain Crest student and some Ridgeline students that the girls were wearing Mountain Crest cheer attire.
S.J. states that while at dinner there were many other cheerleaders there celebrating and she saw them taking videos of themselves. She claims that many other posts were shared. S.J.'s friend, S.E.J. was able to save one of the SnapChat posts. However, this video and none of the other alleged snaps were ever brought to the administration's attention.
Approximately thirty minutes after S.J. posted the video, S.J. deleted the video from her SnapChat story. She testified that she did not mean to post it and she did not think it was something appropriate for her to share with people on her SnapChat story. However, the following day, immediately before the school assembly announcing the members of the cheer squad to the school, a former member of the cheer team advised the administration that S.J. had posted the video. The former cheerleader had received the video from other students. SnapChat stories can be saved and screen recorded by anyone in the SnapChat story and sent to others.
After the assembly, Reynolds, the assistant cheer coach, and the administration met and discussed the situations. They all agreed to move forward with dismissal of S.J. and the four other students in the video from the cheer squad. The administrators viewed the video as boasting that they had made the team to students who did not make the team. Cutler thought the inappropriate language bordered on threatening and was informed that the video made other girls who had not been chosen to feel bullied and that S.J. and the other girls were gloating. The following Monday, March 19, 2018, S.J., the four other girls in the video, and their parents were asked to meet with Mountain Crest's Principal, Assistant Principal, Athletic Director, and Cheerleading Advisor about the video. The administrators stated that the video violated the Cheer Squad Constitution's social media policy and the girls were being dismissed from the team. S.E.J.'s father recorded the meeting.
Each family also met separately with the administrators and the parents were given the lyrics sung by the girls in writing. The four girls in the video were remorseful and asked to be allowed to return to the team. The administrators met as a group after these individual meetings and decided that because the four other girls were remorseful and did not record or post the video, they could be reinstated to the squad. Later that night, the administrators contacted the parents of the four other girls who were in the video and told these parents that their daughters would be allowed back on the team if they agreed to an apology, fifty hours of community service, and a statement on appropriate social media use. The principal then held a meeting with all the members of the cheer squad and their parents to discuss the video and the responsible usage of social media. At the meeting, the principal explained that S.J. had posted a video of the five girls singing a song with profanity and that it was against the policy. The four girls who were...
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