Love-Lane v. Martin

Decision Date22 January 2004
Docket NumberNo. 02-1465.,02-1465.
PartiesDecoma LOVE-LANE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Donald MARTIN, Individually, and in his official capacity as Superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools; Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board Of Education, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

ARGUED: Robert Mauldin Elliot, Fredrick Wellington Evans, Elliot, Pishko & Morgan, PA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant. Max Daniel McGinn, Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Natalie Kay Sanders, Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellees.

Before WILKINSON, MICHAEL, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Vacated in part, affirmed in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge MICHAEL wrote the opinion, in which Judge GREGORY joined. Judge WILKINSON wrote a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

MICHAEL, Circuit Judge:

Decoma Love-Lane, an African American, sued the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, North Carolina, Board of Education (the Board) and its superintendent, Dr. Donald Martin, in the Middle District of North Carolina, alleging that she was demoted from the position of assistant principal to teacher because she spoke out against race discrimination (her free speech claims) and because of her race (her discrimination claims). The district court granted summary judgment to the Board and Martin on all of Love-Lane's claims, and she appeals. We conclude that Love-Lane has raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether she was demoted in retaliation for her speech, which would be a violation of the First Amendment. We also conclude that Martin is not entitled, in his individual capacity, to qualified immunity on Love-Lane's First Amendment claim, and we therefore vacate the grant of summary judgment to Martin individually on that claim. We affirm the grant of summary judgment (1) to the Board, and to Martin in his official capacity, on Love-Lane's First Amendment claim, (2) to both defendants on her federal race discrimination claims, and (3) to both defendants on her free speech and race discrimination claims asserted under the North Carolina Constitution.

I.

Love-Lane is employed by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education. She worked for the Board as a high school teacher from 1974 until 1988, and from 1988 until 1998 she was an assistant principal at four middle and elementary schools. In her first three jobs as assistant principal, which spanned seven years (1988-95), Love-Lane consistently received evaluations of excellent or superior in almost all aspects of her performance; she was told that her strongest skills were in the areas of communication and problem solving. J.A. 2000. Each of the principals for whom she worked in these years recommended her for promotion. J.A. 1199-2000.

During the summer of 1995, Superintendent Martin notified Love-Lane that she would be assigned the job of assistant principal at Lewisville Elementary School, where Martin said "an African-American presence" was needed. J.A. 1444. Love-Lane expressed concern to Martin about the assignment because she had heard that Lewisville's principal, Brenda Blanchfield, who is white, had difficulty in dealing with African American assistants. Love-Lane also understood that there were racial tensions at Lewisville because Blanchfield had been ineffective or insensitive in addressing the problems and concerns of African American teachers, students, and parents. J.A. 362, 366-67, 594, 1164, 1201, 1215. Love-Lane's understanding was accurate. [TX]According to one African American teacher, "serious racial tension" developed between the school administration and staff at Lewisville after Blanchfield "took over as principal." J.A. 362. For instance, on one occasion the Lewisville faculty was discussing time options for a satellite PTA meeting in East Winston, a predominantly African American community served by the school. When a late afternoon meeting was proposed, several teachers pointed out that working parents would not be able to attend. Blanchfield responded that "it did not matter what time the meeting was held since nobody in East Winston works anyway." J.A. 1165, 363. After certain teachers objected to this comment, Blanchfield apologized. Id. On another occasion, Blanchfield allegedly used the term "CP time, or colored people's time." J.A. 1402. Martin acknowledged that "there were some problematic situations [at Lewisville] in terms of racial perceptions," J.A. 76, and that "minority parents perceive Lewisville and Brenda Blanchfield negatively," J.A. 77. Daisy Chambers, an assistant superintendent who knew both Blanchfield and Love-Lane, recommended that Love-Lane not be assigned to Lewisville. Because Blanchfield and Love-Lane had different approaches to administration, Chambers believed that they would have difficulty "work[ing] together as a team." J.A. 607. Despite the concerns expressed by Chambers and Love-Lane, Martin held to his decision, and Love-Lane was transferred to Lewisville. Love-Lane accepted the new assignment, telling Martin that she would do her best to work with Blanchfield. Love-Lane, however, asked Martin to "monitor the situation," and he promised that he would. J.A. 1201.

Love-Lane started her job as assistant principal at Lewisville Elementary School in November 1995. The school is located in the suburbs and to a large extent serves middle to upper class white children from the surrounding area. However, a number of African American children from poor or working class families in East Winston are bused to Lewisville. During Love-Lane's three years at the school, about sixty-five percent of the students were white and about thirty-five percent were African American. Love-Lane describes the Lewisville staff as "overwhelmingly white." Out of a staff of approximately 100, the number of African American teachers ranged from two to six during Love-Lane's time at the school. J.A. 1201.

Soon after Love-Lane began working at Lewisville, she discovered disciplinary practices at the school that placed many African American students at a disadvantage. Her main concern was the "time-out room," where teachers could send students who were misbehaving. Love-Lane had several objections to the time-out room. First, a disproportionate number of African American students, particularly African American boys, were sent to the time-out room. Some teachers called on white girls to escort African American boys to the room, a practice that was no doubt humiliating to the boys. J.A. 1207. Second, the time-out room served to relieve individual teachers of responsibility for handling discipline problems in the classroom. A student could be referred to the room for any infraction without the knowledge or approval of the principal or assistant principal. In other words, there were no safeguards to prevent a teacher from making excessive use of the time-out room. Love-Lane noticed that students were often sent to the room "for the most minor of infractions." J.A. 1205. At times there were so many children crowded into the room that there was "standing room only." J.A. 1220. Third, the students who were sent to the time-out room were not given adequate instruction. The staff person who ran the time-out room was not a certified teacher, and she had no training in how to deal with problem students. The problem of inadequate instruction was magnified because "many of the same students [were] referred to the time-out room repeatedly, for long periods of time by many of the same teachers." J.A. 1207. According to Love-Lane, the time-out room "denied quality instruction to many of the children who needed it most — the African-American children who were being bused from East Winston." J.A. 1207. Love-Lane was especially concerned about fifth grade students because several of their teachers were strong advocates of the time-out room and used it continually. J.A. 1204, 1405. Some fifth graders were sent routinely to the time-out room at 8:45 a.m., just as classes began for the day. J.A. 1220. Love-Lane feared that the room was used, especially by some fifth grade teachers, simply to "warehouse" African American boys. J.A. 1203, 1204-07, 1212-14.

Love-Lane's assessment that the time-out room was being used in a racially discriminatory way is indicative of larger concerns that she and others had about race relations at Lewisville. Love-Lane observed that disciplinary measures in the classrooms "seemed directed toward the black students for the most part," both in terms of frequency and severity of punishment. J.A. 1214. Another Lewisville staff member recounted how one teacher "would have black males sit at desks facing the corner of [the] room with their faces to the wall." J.A. 1227. What Love-Lane saw as discriminatory discipline extended beyond the classroom. Once, Love-Lane saw a teaching assistant "with her foot in a little black boy's back as he lay on the hall floor crying." J.A. 1207. On another occasion, Love-Lane had a substantial disagreement with several fifth grade teachers who were excluding a number of African American and poorer white students from the class trip to Washington, D.C., and Williamsburg, Virginia. There were no established criteria for excluding a student, and the teachers were using minor infractions to justify exclusion. Love-Lane brought the problem to the attention of Blanchfield, who refused to intervene. As a result, "approximately full classes of students were left at the school, most of whom were African-American and poor students." J.A. 1214.

Love-Lane also believed that a number of staff members at Lewisville were insensitive to African American culture. J.A. 1202. One day, for example, an African American girl went home in tears after her fifth-grade teacher barred...

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