McCray v. Carter, 09-cv-10896
| Decision Date | 29 March 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 09-cv-10896,09-cv-10896 |
| Parties | JOAN McCRAY, Plaintiff, v. ANNIE CARTER, TERRY CATHINGS, MARVIS COFIELD, JOYCE HAYES-GILES, OTIS MATHIS III, DAVID MURRAY, CARLA D. SCOTT, IDA SHORT, MARIE L. THORNTON, TYRONE WINFREY, JIMMY WOMACK, and the DETROIT BOARD OF EDUCATION, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Hon. Gerald E. Rosen
This whistleblower retaliation action is presently before the Court on three motions for summary judgment filed by the various named Defendants1 and the Motionto Amend/Correct Complaint filed by Plaintiff Joan McCray. Responses and Reply Briefs have been filed.
Having reviewed the parties' briefs in support of and in opposition to the various motions, as well as the accompanying exhibits and the remainder of the record, the Court finds that the relevant allegations, facts, and legal issues are sufficiently presented in these written submissions, and that oral argument would not aid the decisional process. Accordingly, the Court will resolve the parties' motions "on the briefs." See Eastern District of Michigan Local Rule 7.1(f)(2). This Opinion and Order sets forth the Court's ruling.
Plaintiff Joan McCray is the former Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") of the Detroit Public Schools. McCray was hired by the Detroit Board of Education (the "School Board" or the "Board") in July 2007. Eighteen months later, her employment was terminated.
Defendants Annie Carter, Terry Catchings, Marvis Cofield, Joyce Hayes-Giles, Otis Mathis III, David Murray, Carla Scott, Ida Short, Tyrone Winfrey and Marie Thornton were members of the School Board during Plaintiff McCray's tenure as CFO.Defendant Jimmy Womack was the School Board President.2
McCray was hired in July 2007 to serve CFO of the Detroit Public Schools ("DPS"). Concomitant with her employment as CFO, McCray was appointed Treasurer of the School Board. McCray assumed the DPS position after serving for two years as Director of Finance and Business Services with the Normandy School District in St. Louis, Missouri. The Normandy School District is much smaller than the Detroit School District,3 and the position Plaintiff held as Normandy's Director of Finance and Business Services was much less demanding than that of CFO of the DPS. Plaintiff testified that while employed with the Normandy District she was responsible for overseeing a budget of $12 million and supervising only 8 to 10 employees. See Plaintiff's Dep., pp. 45-46. In Detroit, Plaintiff was responsible for overseeing an annual budget of $1.2 billion. Id. at 67-69.
At the time McCray was employed with the Normandy School District, the Superintendent of Normandy was Dr. Connie Calloway. At some point prior to July 2007, McCray learned that Dr. Calloway was relocating to Detroit to assume the role of Superintendent of the DPS and expressed an interest in relocating with her to serve asCFO for the DPS. Id. at 82-83. As the incoming Superintendent, Calloway was given leeway by the Board to recommend individuals that she would like placed in certain key positions within the District. Calloway recommended Plaintiff for the CFO position, and the Board ultimately voted to approve that recommendation. See Deposition of Jimmy Womack, pp. 95-96, Board Defendants' Ex. 2; Deposition of Carla Scott, p. 124, Board Defendants' Ex. 3.
McCray was employed with the DPS under the terms of a renewable six-month employment contract. Her contract was renewed twice: in January and July 2008. In addition to compensation and benefits, the contract provided that Plaintiff's CFO position was a "non-tenured" position and contained specific provisions for termination of employment by the District with, or without cause:
Board Defendants' Ex. 15, § 19.
On September 24, 2008, the School Board notified McCray of its intention to not renew her contract when its term expired at the end of the year, and provided her with an opportunity request a meeting with the Board to discuss its reasons for non-renewal. McCray did not request such a meeting and her employment with the DPS was terminated in December 2008.
Plaintiff began her tenure as CFO of the DPS during a tumultuous period: the FBIwas investigating the District with respect to the alleged misuse of federal funding. Calloway Dep., p. 22, Plaintiff's Ex. 2. The DPS was also being investigated by the Michigan Department of Education (the "MDE") for violating state and federal law with respect to an alternative schools program. Id. at 27-28. The MDE also indicated that it was looking into allegations that the District had been improperly overinflating student enrollment, resulting in the State awarding funding to the District to which it was not entitled. Id. at 30. In addition, the previous CFO had been fired for stealing funds from the District. Id. at 19-22. Making matters worse, shortly after her hire, McCray learned that the DPS was supposed to have submitted a plan to the State to eliminate the District's budget deficit in 2006 but had failed to do so. Plaintiff's Dep. pp. 72-74. Thus, McCray found herself immediately under the gun to prepare a deficit elimination plan, as well as to implement an overhaul of the DPS financial accounting system. Id.
It was under this backdrop that McCray was informed of the existence of the District's use of a "fall out account." See Affidavit of Budget Director Walter Esaw, ¶¶ 4-8. This "fall out account" was a system developed by the District's Human Resources Department to track those employees, including teachers, who were identified for potential lay off during the development of the budget on an annual basis. Id., ¶ 4. For purposes of developing a balanced budget, these employees (who were identified by name, position and union affiliation, if any) were placed in the "fall out account," thereby assuming they would no longer be on the District's payroll for the upcoming fiscal year.Id. Accordingly, their salaries were not included in the budget. If, however, it turned out that employees placed in the fall out account were not laid off, the District's budget was directly negatively impacted -- i.e., when these employees were not laid off, the District had to pay for personnel that had not been budgeted for, thereby creating a budget deficit. Id. at ¶ 5.
To compound matters, when Dr. Calloway assumed the role of Superintendent, she and McCray decided that the budget should be based on "enrollment" numbers as opposed to "count day" numbers. "Enrollment" numbers are projections made prior to the beginning of each school year as to the number of students the District anticipates will enroll the following year. Id. at 6. By contrast, "count day" numbers are reflective of the number of students actually in school on the 4th Wednesday of each semester during the school year. Id. The District receives funding from the State based on these actual "count day" numbers. Id. Thus, during McCray's tenure, by budgeting based on enrollment numbers, there were instances when the funding the District received for each student was less than what was projected in the budget, which, in turn, created a deficit. Id.
McCray was informed of the budget deficit issues related to the fall out account in August 2007. See August 31, 2007 e-mail from Walter Esaw to Budget Office Staff, cc'd to Joan McCray, Esaw Aff., Ex. 1. She was also informed about the ramifications of relying on "enrollment" numbers instead of "count day" numbers as early as December2007. See December 19, 2007 e-mail from Walter Esaw to Joan McCray, Esaw Aff., Ex. 2. In that December 19 e-mail, Esaw notified...
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