Lawrence v. Sch. Dist. No. 1
| Decision Date | 18 April 2013 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 11-cv-02789-PAB-KMT |
| Parties | JUANETTA LAWRENCE, Plaintiff, v. SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, IN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, a/k/a Denver Public Schools, and BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, IN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, a/k/a Denver Board of Education, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Colorado |
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 71] filed by defendants School District No. 1 (the "School District") and the Board of Education of School District No. 1 (the "Board"). The Court has jurisdiction over this case pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
Plaintiff Juanetta Lawrence is an African-American social worker licensed by the State of Colorado. Ms. Lawrence worked for defendants from November 1997 until her termination on September 15, 2011. Ms. Lawrence was employed by defendants pursuant to a series of one-year contracts, which outlined her assignment for the upcoming school year. See, e.g., Docket No. 72-15 at 2, ¶¶ 8-11. At the beginning ofher employment, the School District assigned Ms. Lawrence as a social worker for Montbello High School ("Montbello") during the 1998-1999 school year. Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, Ms. Lawrence worked as a social worker at John Amesse Elementary School ("John Amesse") where she remained through the 2003-2004 school year. Docket No. 71-1 at 12 (Lawrence Dep. 26:11-18).
On April 1, 2004, Ms. Lawrence filed a complaint with the District Court for the City and County of Denver, seeking a declaration regarding her employment status with defendants.2 Docket No. 72-15; Docket No. 73-1 at 4, ¶ 27. In her complaint, Ms. Lawrence argued that she was a non-probationary (i.e. tenured) employee of the School District pursuant to the Teacher Employment, Compensation, and Dismissal Act of 1990 ("TECDA"), Colo. Rev. Stat. § 22-63-101 et seq.3 After an expedited one day trial, the Denver District Court ruled in favor of Ms. Lawrence and found that she qualified as a non-probationary employee based on the School District's practice of granting non-probationary status to non-teacher employees once these employees begin their fourth year of continuous employment with the School District. Docket No. 72-15 at 7-8; Docket No. 73-1 at 1, ¶ 6. The Denver District Court also ordered theSchool District to assign Ms. Lawrence a position within the School District for the 2004-2005 school year. Docket No. 72-15 at 8.
After the district court case, the School District assigned Ms. Lawrence as a rotating full-time substitute teacher for the 2004-2005 school year. Docket No. 71-1 at 13 (Lawrence Dep. 27:7-8). In 2005, Ms. Lawrence filed a petition for contempt with the Denver District Court. Docket No. 72-15 at 9-10. After a hearing, the court ordered the School District to assign Ms. Lawrence to a social worker position at Harrington Elementary School ("Harrington") and at Garden Place Elementary School ("Garden Place") for the 2005-2006 school year. Id.; Docket No. 71-1 at 14 (Lawrence Dep. 29:11-21). After the ruling on the petition for contempt, the School District assigned Ms. Lawrence to social worker positions only.
For the 2006-2007 school year, the School District assigned her to Sabin Elementary School ("Sabin") for three days a week, Stedman Elementary School ("Stedman") and Data Charter School ("Data") for one day a week, respectively. Id. at 15 (Lawrence Dep. 30:13-21). Ms. Lawrence worked at East High School five days a week for the 2007-2008 school year, id. at 16 (Lawrence Dep. 31:15-20), where she continued to work during the 2008-2009 school year. For the 2008-2009 school year, however, East High School eliminated the five-day-a-week social worker position. The School District reassigned Ms. Lawrence to East High School for three days a week, a position she shared with Heather Gardiner, another social worker. Id. at 18 (Lawrence Dep. 37:5-9); id. at 19 (Lawrence Dep. 39:8-12). Ms. Lawrence also worked atAmandla Charter School ("Amandla") and the Denver City Department of Human Services ("DHS") for one day a week, respectively. Id. at 17 (Lawrence Dep. 32:22-25).
For the 2009-2010 school year, East High School consolidated its two three-day-a-week social worker positions into a single five-day-a-week position requiring one social worker. Id. at 20 (Lawrence Dep. 40:13-21). Ms. Lawrence applied for the new five-day-a-week position at East High School, but was not selected. Id. at 21 (Lawrence Dep. 41:1-7); Id. at 145 (Exhibit A-27). Instead, the School District hired Ms. Gardiner. Id. at 38 (Lawrence Dep. 231:1-5); Docket No. 73-1 at 7, ¶ 48. Ms. Lawrence alleges that she should have received the assignment because Ms. Gardiner is "a younger, less experienced, white female" social worker. Id. at 6-7, ¶ 42.
On July 28, 2009, Dr. Eldridge Greer, the manager of Social Work and School Psychologists for the School District, sent Ms. Lawrence an email with her assignment for the 2009-2010 school year. Docket No. 71-8 at 1, ¶ 3; id. at 4-5 (Exhibit H-1). For the 2009-2010 school year, Ms. Lawrence worked one day per week each at three charter schools: North East Academy, KIPP Denver Collegiate High School ("KIPP"), and Envision Leadership Preparatory Middle School ("Envision"), as well as two days a week at DHS. Docket No. 71-1 at 21 (Lawrence Dep. 41:8-12).
On August 28, 2009, Ms. Lawrence filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). Docket No. 58 at 4, ¶ 16; Docket No. 73-1 at 7, ¶ 49. In her charge of discrimination, Ms. Lawrence alleges that she was subject to discrimination because of her race since her reassignment constituted a significant change in her employment responsibilities. Docket No. 58 at 4,¶ 16. Specifically, Ms. Lawrence states that her professional interactions with charter school and DHS personnel were of a different nature; she had fewer opportunities to develop cohesive working relationships with charter school and DHS personnel; and the constant travel increased the cost of her commute significantly.4 Docket No. 73-1 at 7-8, ¶¶ 50-51.
During the 2009-2010 school year, Dr. Greer received several complaints regarding Ms. Lawrence and her work performance. On March 1, 2010, Dr. Barbara Downing, a school psychologist for the School District, advised Dr. Greer that Ms. Lawrence had not adequately completed a Threat Assessment for a North East Academy student.5 Docket No. 71-8 at 1, ¶ 4; id. at 6 (Exhibit H-2). In addition, Envision requested that Ms. Lawrence not return for the 2010-2011 school year. Docket No. 71-8 at 2, ¶ 7. According to an April 27, 2010 email from Gretchen Morgan, Envision's principal, Ms. Lawrence exhibited poor communication skills, insulted other staff members, and told an Envision parent that Envision did not care about her child. Id. at 7-8 (Exhibit H-3). Kaye Taavialma, Kipp's principal, described Ms. Lawrence as underperforming, insubordinate, and unprofessional. Id. at 9-10 (Exhibit H-4).
In May 2010, Dr. Greer evaluated Ms. Lawrence's performance for the 2009-2010 school year and wrote a report which found that Ms. Lawrence was deficient in four of five required categories.6 See Docket No. 71-1 at 137-146. Ms. Lawrence objected to Dr. Greer's evaluation, in part, because she believed Dr. Greer's evaluation was performed in violation of the CBA. Docket No. 73-1 at 9, ¶¶ 56-58. On May 27, 2010, Ms. Lawrence met with Dr. Greer and Debra Watson, manager of human resources ("HR"), to discuss Dr. Greer's evaluation. Docket No. 71-8 at 2, ¶ 11. On May 29, 2010, Ms. Lawrence filed a grievance through the CBA regarding Dr. Greer's evaluation. Docket No. 73-1 at 9, ¶ 59; Docket No. 71-1 at 29 (Lawrence Dep. 163:16-20). On June 10, 2010, a grievance meeting occurred between Dr. Greer, Ms. Watson, Rich Nass, a DCTA union representative, and Ms. Lawrence. Docket No. 73-1 at 10, ¶ 61. As a result of Ms. Lawrence's grievance, the School District agreed to expunge Dr. Greer's 2009-2010 evaluation from Ms. Lawrence's records and to reevaluate Ms. Lawrence in the fall of 2010.7 Docket No. 71-1 at 30 (Lawrence Dep. 167:20-168:3); Docket No. 73-1 at 10, ¶ 62.
In June 2010, Ms. Watson began an investigation into Ms. Lawrence's work performance because of the concerns and complaints raised by Ms. Lawrence'ssupervisors. Docket No. 73-12 at 3 (Watson Dep. 100:13-14). In addition, Dr. Greer contacted Wendy Pierce, Sabin's principal, because Principal Pierce had experience supervising social workers at her school. Docket No. 71-8 at 2, ¶¶ 12-13. During this conversation, Principal Pierce told Dr. Greer of Ms. Lawrence's performance problems at Sabin during the 2006-2007 school year. Specifically, Principal Pierce told Dr. Greer that, in 2007, she issued a Letter of Warning to Ms. Lawrence for failing to complete a student's Individualized Education Program ("IEP"), despite repeated requests that Ms. Lawrence do so. Docket No. 71-6 at 1, ¶ 6; id. at 3-4 (Exhibit F-1). In addition, after the Letter of Warning, Ms. Lawrence refused to perform her duties at Sabin, refused to schedule an appropriate time for her supervisors to observe her work, and refused to make changes to an IEP.8 Docket No. 71-7 at 1-2, ¶¶ 5-7. Dr. Greer states that, after his conversation with Principal Pierce, he decided to recommend that the School District terminate Ms. Lawrence's employment.9 Docket No. 71-8 at 2, ¶ 14. Nevertheless, on July 12, 2010, Dr. Greer emailed Ms. Lawrence that her assignment for the 2010-2011 school year included four days per week at Stedman and one day a week at North East Academy. Docket No. 73-10; Docket No. 73-1 at 10, ¶ 63.
Once Dr. Greer made the recommendation of termination, he consulted with Ms. Watson and Walter J. Kramarz, the chief deputy general counsel for the School District. Docket No. 71-9 at 1, ¶ 2. On August 13, 2010, Dr. Greer sent Ms. Lawrence an...
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