K.J. v. Greater Egg Harbor Reg'l High Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 16 December 2019
• Docket Number: Civil No. 14-0145 (RBK/JS)
• Citation: 431 F.Supp.3d 488
• Parties: K.J., individually and on behalf of K.J., Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. GREATER EGG HARBOR REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

431 F.Supp.3d 488

K.J., individually and on behalf of K.J., Jr., et al., Plaintiffs,

v. GREATER EGG HARBOR REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants.

Civil No. 14-0145 (RBK/JS)

United States District Court, D. New Jersey, Camden Vicinage .

Signed December 16, 2019

Julie M.W. Warshaw, Warshaw Law Firm, LLC, Basking Ridge, NJ, for Plaintiffs.

Richard L. Goldstein, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin, PA, Mount Laurel, NJ, Alan J. Cohen, Atlantic County Department of Law, Atlantic City, NJ, David Andrew Tuason, State of New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Trenton, NJ, for Defendants.

OPINION

KUGLER , United States District Judge:

This matter comes before the Court upon Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 173) and Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 174). For the reasons contained herein, Plaintiffs' motion is DENIED and Defendants' motion is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. BACKGROUND

This matter arises out of events that took place at a New Jersey high school days after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. (Doc. 174-2 ("Def. Mot.") at 6.)¹ Three days after Sandy Hook, a high school teacher noticed a drawing in the sketchbook of her student, K.J., Jr. ("K.J."), that concerned her. When school officials reviewed K.J.'s sketchbook they found a drawing of what appeared to be a weapon, which prompted them to detain K.J. and call the police. The police searched K.J.'s home and found parts that might have been used to make the weapon depicted in the drawing. Shortly thereafter, K.J. was arrested and placed in a juvenile detention facility, where he remained for over two weeks. Upon his release, he was placed under house arrest and forced to wear an ankle monitor until, several months later, the judge presiding over his trial dismissed one of the charges entirely and found K.J. not guilty on the remaining counts. K.J.'s family later brought this action alleging that Defendants wrongfully deprived K.J. of lengthy periods of his high school education and violated multiple federal and state laws.

A. The Parties

Plaintiffs are K.J. Jr.'s parents (K.J. Sr. and T.J.) and siblings (K.J. and C.J.); Plaintiffs bring their claims on behalf of K.J. as well as individually. (Doc. 65, Fifth Amended Complaint ("FAC") ¶A.) Many Defendants in this action were terminated at earlier points,² but a large number still remain: Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School Board of Education ("Egg Harbor") is a public school district located in New Jersey. (Id. ¶B.) Dr. Steve Ciccariello ("Ciccariello") is the Superintendent of Schools at Egg Harbor. (Id. ¶C.) John Ragan ("Ragan") is the District Supervisor of Special Services and is the Anti-Bullying Coordinator for Egg Harbor. (Id. ¶D.) Erin Byrnes is a school psychologist and Anti-Bullying Specialist at Cedar Creek High School ("Cedar Creek"), a school in Egg Harbor. (Id. ¶E.) James Reina ("Reina") is the Principal of Cedar Creek, (id. ¶F), and Michael McGhee ("McGhee") is the Vice Principal and Supervisor of Special Education at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶H.) Scott Parker ("Parker") is or was also Vice Principal for Cedar Creek and is the Anti–Bullying Liaison for Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶I.) Christine Reina ("Christine") is the Homebound Instruction Coordinator for Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶G.) Megan Hallman ("Hallman") was K.J.'s geometry teacher at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶J.) Gregory Ferree ("Ferree") is a German teacher and Homebound instructor at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶K.) Paula Londono ("Londono") is a guidance counselor employed at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶M.) Cori Koury ("Koury") and Maggie Holmes ("Holmes") were both case managers on the Child Study Team at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶N.) Karen Cavalieri ("Cavalieri") is the Supervisor of the Guidance Department at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶O.) Erin Hoban ("Hoban") is an Art Teacher at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶P.) Stephanie Tarr ("Tarr") is an Event Coordinator with Egg Harbor. (Id. ¶Q.) Edward Ottepka ("Ottepka") is a school resource officer at Cedar Creek, and Ramone Valentine ("Valentine") is a school security officer at Cedar Creek. (Id. ¶R.)

B. Factual History

Beginning in 2010, K.J. attended Cedar Creek, a magnet program for engineering. (Doc. 173-2 ("Pl. SOF") ¶32.) Though gifted in the areas of art, chemistry, and engineering, (id. ), K.J. was also a student with disabilities who had been classified by Egg Harbor as "Other Health Impaired" for Attention Deficit Disorder

. (Id. ¶13.) As a result, K.J. had been given an Individualized Education Program ("IEP"). (Id. ) The IEP noted that K.J. doodled and drew in class; Plaintiffs allege this activity allowed K.J. to express himself, as well as concentrate and focus in class, while Defendants allege that this was more often a source of distraction. (Id. ¶33; Doc. 169-1 ("Def. RSOF") ¶33.) K.J. carried a personal sketchpad with him at school, in which he kept his drawings and doodles. (Pl. SOF ¶51.)

Prior to the drawing incident, K.J. had a separate disciplinary incident while attending Cedar Creek. (Pl. SOF ¶34.) On October 20, 2011, while on the school bus, K.J. attempted to recreate a YouTube video in which a person sprayed Axe deodorant on his arm and lit it with a lighter but was protected from being burned because of the deodorant's flame-retardant properties. (Pl. SOF ¶34; Doc. 174-3 ("Def. SOF") ¶6.) K.J. was not as fortunate in his attempt, and ended up burning his arm. (Id. ) After his experiment, K.J. was taken to the nurse and his backpack was searched, resulting in school officials finding two "mini pocketknives, a piece of metal another student found on the bus and gave to KJ," which Defendants describe as a "shiv," and an Exacto knife. (Pl. SOF ¶35; Def. SOF ¶35.) As a result of the fire and weapons, K.J. was removed from school and suspended at first for nine days, and then placed on home instruction until the end of January 2012. (Id. ¶36.) K.J. was evaluated as a result of the incident on October 26, 2011 by Dr. Hewitt, Egg Harbor's psychiatrist, who determined K.J. was not a danger to himself or others, and that K.J. had Asperger's Syndrome

. (Id. ¶41.)

On December 14, 2012, a tragic shooting occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. (Pl. SOF ¶43.) Three days later, on December 17, 2012, Hallman noticed a drawing that K.J. was creating during geometry class; Plaintiffs claim the drawing she saw was a "spaceman," while Defendants claim she saw a drawing of a "flame poofer." (Id. ¶44; Def. RSOF ¶44.) Hallman communicated her concern about the content of K.J.'s drawings to McGhee, who called K.J. out of class and took him to the Vice Principal's office late the next day, December 18, 2012. (Pl. SOF ¶45; Def. SOF ¶45.)

While K.J. was in the Vice Principal's office, McGhee repeatedly told him that he was not in trouble, though Valentine, the school safety officer, remained in or around McGhee's office the entire time. (Pl. SOF ¶47.) McGhee allegedly manipulated K.J. into showing him the drawings in K.J.'s sketchpad by leading K.J. to believe that he was genuinely interested in K.J.'s artwork and designs. (Id. ¶49.) In K.J.'s sketchpad there was an updated drawing of a superhero glove with a flame coming out of it, a concept drawing which K.J. allegedly started two years earlier based on the Iron Man movie.³ Plaintiffs allege that this drawing was done solely at K.J.'s home, was contained in K.J.'s personal, private sketchbook, and that K.J. never intended for anyone to see it. (Id. ¶50.)

The parties' stories diverge at this point. Defendants claim that after reviewing the drawings in K.J.'s sketchbook, McGhee asked K.J. if he had any items with him that were not allowed in school. In response, K.J. allegedly dumped the contents of his bookbag and pockets on McGhee's desk. (Def. SOF ¶¶20–21.) In contrast, Plaintiffs claim that K.J.'s bag was searched without his consent. After this, McGhee kept K.J. in his office and called K.J.'s mother, T.J., to inform her that K.J. was in his office but was not in trouble. (Id. ¶52.) Defendants allege that, sometime after McGhee's conversation with T.J., K.J. told McGhee he "was actually building the flame poofer weapon at home." (Def. RSOF ¶52.) Defendants claim this prompted McGhee and Reina to contact the police department. (Id. ) In contrast, Plaintiffs claim that McGhee contacted the local police department while he was still on the phone with T.J., and intentionally kept her on the phone until the police arrived at her home. (Pl. SOF ¶53.) Plaintiffs state that the fire department, EMS, and bomb squad also arrived at Plaintiffs' home soon after the local police. (Id. )

K.J.'s father consented to a police search of K.J.'s home, though Plaintiffs claim he only did so because McGhee "deceived [T.J.] into believing that their son was not in any trouble." (Pl. SOF ¶54.) During their search, the police found items such as wires, thermite chemical, and switches. (Id. ¶55.) Plaintiffs claim these items were part of K.J.'s science and engineering homework. (Id. ) While the police were searching Plaintiffs' home, Ottepka used his private car to transport K.J. to the police station. (Id. ¶56.) Hours later, the police took K.J. home. (Id. ¶57.)

Around this time, Ciccariello made the decision to issue an "All Call" to all families in the school district notifying them of what occurred. (Pl. SOF. ¶292.) County law enforcement brought bomb-sniffing dogs to the school to do a sweep, but did not find anything. (Doc. 173-26 ("Pl. Ex. O") at 47.)

At some point after the search of Plaintiffs' home, the Galloway Police Department contacted the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. (Pl. SOF ¶58.) K.J. was charged with a crime and placed in the Harborfield Juvenile Detention Center ("Harborfield"), where he spent seventeen days. (Id. ¶61.) While at Harborfield, Plaintiffs allege that K.J. was strip searched and cavity searched. (Id. ) Upon K.J.'s...