Logiodice v. Trustees of Maine Central Institute

• Decision Date: 08 November 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-CV-246-B-S.,00-CV-246-B-S.
• Citation: 170 F.Supp.2d 16
• Parties: Peter LOGIODICE, et al., Plaintiffs v. TRUSTEES OF MAINE CENTRAL INSTITUTE, et al., Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

170 F.Supp.2d 16

Peter LOGIODICE, et al., Plaintiffs v. TRUSTEES OF MAINE CENTRAL INSTITUTE, et al., Defendants

No. 00-CV-246-B-S.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

November 8, 2001.

Richard L. O'Meara, Murray, Plumb & Murray, Portland, ME, for Plaintiffs.

Bruce C. Mallonee, Edmond J. Bearor, Esq., Luke M. Rossignol, Esq., Rudman & Winchell, Bangor, ME, for Defendants.

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OPINION

SINGAL, District Judge.

The parents of a student whose attendance at a private high school was funded by the local public school district brought this action alleging that the student was deprived of his federal and state due process rights when the private school suspended him for misbehavior.¹ The Defendants whom they seek to hold liable for this violation fall within two camps. The private school defendants include the Trustees of Maine Central Institute, Headmaster Douglas Cummings, and Dean of Students John Marquis (collectively, the "MCI Defendants"). The school district defendants include Maine School Administrative District No. 53 and Superintendent Terrance McCannell (collectively, the "MSAD 53 Defendants"). Each set of Defendants has filed a motion for summary judgment, both of which are presently before the Court (Docket # 28 and # 31). For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS IN PART both motions.

I. BACKGROUND²

A. The Parties

During the 1999-2000 school year, Zachariah Logiodice ("Zach") was an eleventh-grade student attending Defendant Maine Central Institute ("MCI") in Pittsfield, Maine. Zach and his parents, Plaintiffs Peter and Dawn Logiodice, reside together in Pittsfield.

MCI considers itself to be an independent private school. It is the only high school—public or private—located within either Pittsfield or the two adjacent communities of Burnham and Detroit. Governing authority over MCI rests with its Board of Trustees. Defendant Douglas Cummings, who is the headmaster of MCI, manages the institution's daily operation, and Defendant John Marquis is its dean of students.

Maine School Administrative District 53 ("MSAD 53") is the local agency responsible for the schooling of children in Pittsfield, Burnham and Detroit. Defendant Terrance McCannell is the superintendent of MSAD 53, and a group of persons collectively known as the School Board constitutes its governing body.

B. The Relationship Between MCI and MSAD 53

1. Contractual Relationship

Zach was one of several hundred students who, in 1999-2000, attended MCI pursuant to a contract between MCI and MSAD 53. Because there is no public high school within the geographic area that MSAD 53 serves, it contracts to send all of its high-school-aged students to MCI at public expense.

The contract that is relevant to this dispute is signed by the Executive Committee of MCI and the School Board of MSAD 53 and is effective for the ten-year period starting with the 1993-94 school year. (See Contract (Docket # 29, Ex. 11).) It provides that MSAD 53 will send all of its ninth through twelfth-grade students to MCI and pay their tuition, and MCI will accept and educate those students.

The contract does not explicitly reserve to MSAD 53 any authority to manage the day-to-day operation of MCI. Rather, it provides that "THE TRUSTEES [of MCI] shall have the sole right to promulgate, administer and enforce all rules and regulations pertaining to student behavior, discipline and all use of the buildings and grounds of THE TRUSTEES." (See Contract ¶ 1 (Docket # 29, Ex. 11).) It does not specify which laws, if any, constrain this "sole right."

MCI and MSAD 53 provided for a "joint committee" in the contract, pursuant to 20-A M.R.S.A. § 2703(1)(B) (See Contract ¶ 6 (Docket # 29, Ex. 11).). This committee includes four representatives from MCI and four from MSAD 53. Even though the MCI-MSAD 53 joint committee exists, and although it has certain managerial powers pursuant to Maine statute, 20-A M.R.S.A. § 2704, apparently the joint committee has never exercised any of these powers. Mr. McCannell intimated that the MCI-MSAD 53 joint committee is commonly referred to as the "advisory committee" in part because it never has exercised any of its powers. (See Terrance McCannell Dep. at 39 ll. 13-18 (Docket # 29, Ex. A).)

2. Financial Relationship

Pursuant to the terms of the contract, MCI accepts substantial public funding in the form of tuition payments from MSAD 53. Of MCI's approximately 500 students, about 400 are students whose tuition is paid by MSAD 53. Fifty-one percent of MCI's income is derived from tuition payments from MSAD 53.

3. Shared Personnel

Personnel of the two organizations overlap in a few areas. Two individuals who sit on MCI's Board of Trustees as private citizens also happen to be employees of MSAD 53. Their affiliation with MSAD 53 is coincidental, however, and they do not sit on the MCI Board in their "official capacities" as MSAD 53 employees. (See SMF in Supp. of MCI's Mot. for Summ. J. ¶ 11 (Docket # 32).) Furthermore, the MCI-MSAD 53 contract does not require that MSAD 53 be represented on MCI's Board.

In addition to the Board of Trustees, a number of committees at MCI address various managerial and administrative issues. One such group recommends to the MSAD 53-MCI joint committee a proposed calendar for the following school year; during some years, that group has included MSAD 53 employees. Otherwise, MSAD 53 employees do not sit on any of the MCI committees.

Mr. Cummings regularly attends the meetings of the MSAD 53 School Board even though he is not a member. Additionally, two or three special education aides, who are employees of MSAD 53, work at MCI each week on a part-time basis. Finally, MCI employees are also entitled to participate in the Maine State Retirement System; however, this entitlement is independent of their relationship with MSAD 53.

4. MCI's Interaction with Public Schools

Although MCI is a private school, it does interact with public schools. For example, along with other private schools, MCI's sports teams compete in athletic associations that include public schools. In addition, MCI coordinates with the public middle school in Pittsfield to help transition middle school students to high school. Finally, MSAD 53 provides busing not only for its students who attend MCI but also, as agreed in the second contract, for any MCI students participating in off-campus extracurricular activities.

C. The Disagreement Between MCI and MSAD 53 Over Discipline at MCI

Notwithstanding their history of cooperation, MCI and MSAD 53 have been at odds over the subject of discipline at MCI for several years. Even before Mr. McCannell's tenure as superintendent, the school and the district squared off over the discipline of a publicly funded student. MCI insisted that the student, who had been caught selling drugs at MCI, be expelled. MSAD 53 held a disciplinary hearing for the student and found that he had in fact been selling drugs but overturned his expulsion. Although MCI grudgingly readmitted the student, at the time Principal Cummings stated that it would be a "cold day in hell" before he would submit a disciplinary decision to the MSAD 53 Board again. (See Douglas Cummings Dep. at 199, l. 22 (Docket # 29, Ex. B).)

Stated less colorfully, Mr. Cummings' position was that because MCI was a private school, it did not have to abide by state and federal law requiring public schools to hold due process hearings before suspending or expelling students. He claims that throughout the early- to mid-1990s, Mr. McCannell agreed with this interpretation of the law. In contrast, Mr. McCannell alleges that during this time period, he clearly expressed to Mr. Cummings his view that MCI was bound by the same laws as public schools regarding the discipline of MSAD 53 students.

At some point, Mr. McCannell became concerned about what he saw as a discrepancy between MCI's procedure for handling expulsions and state law. On one hand, Maine law required local school boards to hold expulsion hearings for public students. See 20-A M.R.S.A. § 1001(9). On the other hand, under the contract between MCI and MSAD 53, MCI could expel a student without sending the decision before the MSAD 53 School Board. Mr. McCannell contacted the Department of Education to seek guidance in resolving what he believed was a conflict between the terms of the contract and state law. He also spoke to Mr. Cummings about his concern. Mr. Cummings did not believe that MCI was required to submit disciplinary decisions to the MSAD 53 Board but assured Mr. McCannell that MCI had its own internal hearing procedures for suspended students.

Although Mr. McCannell believed that federal and state law required due process protections for MSAD 53 students at MCI, he apparently did not think that MSAD 53 had any authority under the contract to enforce his interpretation of the law against MCI. For example, if MCI were to expel a student, the contract gave MSAD 53 no authority to insist that MCI readmit that student. Any disciplinary hearing conducted by the School Board would be futile since MCI could simply refuse to honor the Board's decision, and the Board would have no mechanism for implementing it. Unable under the contract to force MCI to comply with his own view of the law, Mr. McCannell "agree[d] to disagree" with Principal Cummings about whether MSAD 53 students were entitled to due process protections while attending MCI. (See Terrance McCannell Dep. at 100, ll. 6-7 (Docket # 39, Attach. 1).) They simply hoped the situation would not arise.

The disagreement resurfaced during negotiations over a subsequent contract, which would take effect as an amendment to the previous contract in February 2001. Although this subsequent contract does not control the parties' relationship at any time relevant to this lawsuit, the negotiations took place starting in late fall of 1998 and provide relevant background about each party's knowledge and state of...