Love-Lane v. Martin, 1:99CV00735.
| Decision Date | 26 March 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:99CV00735.,1:99CV00735. |
| Citation | 201 F.Supp.2d 566 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of North Carolina |
| Parties | DeComa LOVE-LANE, Plaintiff, v. Donald MARTIN, individually and in his official capacity as Superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, and the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Board of Education, Defendants. |
J. Griffin Morgan, Robert M. Elliot, Elliot Pishko Gelbin & Morgan, P.A., Winston-Salem, NC, for plaintiff.
M. Daniel McGinn, Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey, Greensboro, NC, for defendants.
Plaintiff DeComa Love-Lane filed this action against Dr. Donald Martin, Superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools ("Martin") and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education ("Board") on August 26, 1999. Plaintiff, who is black, alleges in her Amended Complaint that Defendants discriminated against her on the basis of her race and denied Plaintiff's rights to free speech, equal protection, and due process of law, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the U.S.Constitution, and the North Carolina Constitution.
This matter is now before the court on Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. For reasons set forth in this opinion, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment will be granted.
Plaintiff was hired by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools as a teacher in 1974. After 14 years as a teacher, Plaintiff was promoted to assistant principal in 1988. Plaintiff worked in this capacity for three years before being assigned as assistant principal at Lewisville Elementary School ("Lewisville") in 1995.
In her first year at Lewisville, 1995-96, Plaintiff enjoyed a satisfactory working relationship with the principal, Ms. Brenda Blanchfield, and earned a superior evaluation at the end of the year. However, during the following school year, 1996-97, the conflicts giving rise to this litigation began to develop. Plaintiff began to complain to various teachers and administrators about their treatment of students at Lewisville. Much of her concern focused on the use of the so-called "Time-Out Room," a room for students who needed to be temporarily removed from the classroom due to behavior problems.1 Plaintiff alleged that arbitrary disciplinary practices among teachers had led to a disproportionate number of black and poor white students being sent to the Time-Out Room, often for minor infractions.
Plaintiff expressed her disapproval of these allegedly discriminatory practices in a very direct and abrupt manner at staff meetings and other school settings. Following one of the staff meetings at which Plaintiff had voiced her opposition to the Time-Out Room and the teachers who used it, a number of teachers complained to Blanchfield that Plaintiff had called them "unprofessional." Additionally, Plaintiff refused to fulfill her administrative duties with regard to the Time-Out Room.2 When the Time-Out Room coordinator called Plaintiff for assistance in dealing with a disruptive student, Plaintiff sometimes did not respond to the request at all, or if she did come to the Time-Out Room, did not attempt to correct the disruptive student's behavior.
Plaintiff's relationships with Blanchfield and the faculty at Lewisville suffered as a result of these conflicts. In an effort to improve these relationships, the assistant superintendent in charge of Lewisville at that time, Ron Montaquila, conducted several meetings with Plaintiff and Blanchfield during the course of the school year to address Plaintiff's communication skills. Plaintiff refused to accept any constructive criticism and denied that she had a communication problem. The assistant superintendent related these impasses to Superintendent Martin.
Martin began meeting with Plaintiff and Blanchfield late in the 1996-97 school year in an attempt to improve communication. Martin observed that Plaintiff frequently voiced disagreement with Blanchfield in a disrespectful manner and refused to follow her instructions even on relatively minor matters.3 Martin attempted to counsel Plaintiff and Blanchfield at these conferences on how to improve their working relationship.
In the spring of 1997, Blanchfield issued Plaintiff's year-end evaluation. Although most of the ratings were high, in the area of communication Blanchfield rated Plaintiff below the superior level. Blanchfield explained to Plaintiff that the teachers found her style of communication condescending and insensitive. Plaintiff became upset and disputed Blanchfield's assessment, threatening to file a grievance. She told Martin that Blanchfield was simply reacting to Plaintiff's tendency to speak out on racial issues. She requested a transfer, which was denied.
Around the same time, Plaintiff's administrator contract was coming up for renewal. Despite the fact that she had given Plaintiff a below-superior rating for communication, Blanchfield initially recommended to Martin that Plaintiff receive a three-year contract renewal. When Martin objected, citing Plaintiff's communication problems, Blanchfield changed her recommendation to a two-year renewal. Blanchfield also requested that Plaintiff no longer be assigned to Lewisville.
On the last day of school before the 1997 summer recess, Plaintiff was involved in a heated confrontation with a teacher, Ms. Angie Anderson, in the hallway near Plaintiff's office. Both Plaintiff and Ms. Anderson reported the confrontation to Montaquila, each alleging that the other had used profanity. Blanchfield investigated the incident and concluded that both Anderson and Plaintiff had acted inappropriately and used profanity and thus deserved reprimands. After reviewing Blanchfield's investigation, Montaquila agreed. Plaintiff, however, objected to the reprimand, and the matter was referred to the human resources manager, David Fairall. After reviewing the investigation, Fairall concluded that reprimands for both Anderson and Plaintiff were proper.
In response, Plaintiff filed a formal grievance, alleging that she was being reprimanded because she had reported incidents and practices at Lewisville which she believed were racially discriminatory. A second investigation into the Anderson incident was completed by John Siskind, a paralegal with the school district. Siskind determined that Blanchfield's investigation had been fair and affirmed her decision that both Anderson and Plaintiff deserved reprimands.
Near the end of the grievance process, in the fall of 1997, Martin met once again with Plaintiff and Blanchfield and outlined his expectations for the coming year. Martin emphasized that Plaintiff needed to work effectively with Blanchfield. In a memorandum dated October 27, 1997, Martin clearly warned Plaintiff that if she did not rebuild a working relationship with Blanchfield and respect the principal's authority, she would no longer have a future as an administrator within the school district.
Despite Martin's efforts, the 1997-98 school year was marked by further conflicts involving Plaintiff. Plaintiff disagreed with several of Blanchfield's decisions and instructions regarding a re-allocation of responsibility among herself, Plaintiff, and another assistant principal. Additionally, in early 1998, a group of fifth-grade teachers under Plaintiff's supervision approached Blanchfield, detailing numerous communication problems with Plaintiff and requesting a different supervisor. The teachers related that they felt Plaintiff had undermined their relationships with parents and students by frequently making decisions without consulting them, changing previous decisions without informing them, and accusing them of lying. When Blanchfield denied their request, the teachers took their concerns directly to Martin and asked him to intervene on their behalf.
Throughout the 1997-98 school year, Amanda Bell, the assistant superintendent over elementary schools, also met with Plaintiff and Blanchfield in an effort to smooth their working relations. Bell noted that Plaintiff expressed herself in an unprofessional and disrespectful manner in these meetings and consistently refused to accept constructive criticism. She reported the outcome of these meetings to Martin.
At the end of the 1997-98 school year, Blanchfield's evaluation of Plaintiff was much lower than her previous evaluations, Before releasing the evaluation to Plaintiff, Blanchfield provided it to Bell and Martin for their review. After reviewing the evaluation, Martin concluded that Plaintiff had failed to meet his expectations as outlined in his October 1997 memorandum. He decided to assign Plaintiff to a teaching position for the remainder of her contract term (at her assistant principal salary) and not to renew her contract. Martin based this decision on Plaintiff's evaluation, his discussions with Plaintiff and Blanchfield, his review of various documents from Plaintiff and Blanchfield, the Anderson incident, his conversations with Assistant Superintendents Bell and Montaquila, and his conversations with the fifth-grade teachers. A letter explaining this decision was delivered to Plaintiff along with her final evaluation.
As part of his decision that Lewisville would be better off with new leadership for the 1997-98 school year, Martin encouraged Blanchfield to take an administrative position at the school district's Central Office. Blanchfield did so, taking a pay cut as a result.
Plaintiff filed another formal grievance in response to her reassignment to a teaching position. A three-member panel of the school board heard the grievance on August 4, 1998. Both Plaintiff and the school system were represented by counsel, who, along with the parties, made statements to the panel. After considering the evidence before it, the panel affirmed Martin's...
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...entity. See Mandsager v. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 269 F.Supp.2d 662, 672 n. 2 (M.D.N.C.2003); Love-Lane v. Martin, 201 F.Supp.2d 566, 574 (M.D.N.C.2002); Wright v. Blue Ridge Area Auth., 134 N.C.App. 668, 670, 518 S.E.2d 772, 774 (1999). Thus, the suit against Jackye Knig......
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Thomson v. Belton, Civil Action No. ELH-18-3116
...Cir. 2004) (citing DiMeglio, 45 F.3d at 806-07). Notably, the aggrieved employee did not suffer a salary cut. Love-Lane v. Martin, 201 F. Supp. 2d 566, 572 (M.D.N.C. 2002), aff'd in part, vacated in part, remanded, 355 F.3d 766 (4th Cir. 2004). Additionally, another judge of this Court has ......