Nigh v. Sch. Dist. of Mellen
| Decision Date | 25 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 13–cv–183–wmc.,13–cv–183–wmc. |
| Citation | 50 F.Supp.3d 1034 |
| Parties | Melissa NIGH, Plaintiff, v. SCHOOL DISTRICT OF MELLEN, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin |
David Clark Schoenberger, Peter M. Reinhardt, Bakke Norman, S.C., Menomonie, WI, for Plaintiff.
Oyvind Wistrom, Lindner & Marsack, S.C., Milwaukee, WI, for Defendant.
Melissa Nigh brings this action pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., against her former employer, the School District of Mellen, for allegedly (1) failing to restore her to the equivalent position of Principal/District Administrator after she returned from FMLA leave; (2) improperly considering her FMLA leave in initiating the non-renewal of her contract; and (3) ultimately failing to renew her contract in retaliation for her exercise of FMLA rights. Defendant moves for summary judgment on all three claims. (Dkt. # 16.) For the reasons explained below, the court agrees that Nigh has failed to produce enough evidence to survive summary judgment as to the second of her claims; however, a reasonable jury could find on this record that defendant interfered with Nigh's right to be restored to her equivalent position and retaliated against her for taking FMLA leave. Accordingly, Nigh may proceed to trial on those claims.
In August of 2008, plaintiff Melissa Nigh began her employment for the School District of Mellen, Wisconsin (“the District”), as the Principal for Pre–Kindergarten through grade 12. When she was hired, there was the possibility that the position would eventually be consolidated into Principal/District Administrator to cut expenses. Until he retired on June 30, 2010, District Administrator James Schuchardt supervised her but gave her no performance evaluations.
In May of 2010, the District entered into a two-year contract with Nigh, making her its first combined Principal/District Administrator.2 The contract was effective from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2012 and was subject to a further one-year extension. Before she assumed her new duties, Nigh attended St. Mary's University to acquire her Administrator's license, which was mandatory for the new position. The District paid for her attendance.
Beginning July 1, 2010, when Nigh officially became the Principal/District Administrator, she was subject to the supervision and control of the Mellen School District Board of Education (“the Board”), which was then comprised of the following seven elected members: Vicky Ellias (who also served as president), Anthony Huber, Lesley Sederholm, Nicki Lazorik, Ronnie Rossberger, Wendy Koosman and Becky Bergey.3 The Board assigned Nigh her duties and responsibilities, which included: (1) supervising staff, staff evaluations, staff discipline, curriculum, hiring, student discipline, finance, budgets, leave requests, data retreats, transportation, food service, 9th hour, building and grounds; (2) serving as liaison between the Board and staff, and between the Board and community; (3) leading Board committees; and (4) preparing agendas for Board and Committee meetings. The Board also had the authority to modify Nigh's duties and responsibilities as it deemed appropriate.
Nigh completed the District budget for both the 2010–2011 school year and the 2011–2012 school year. The Board approved those budgets in October 2011 and October 2012, respectively.
Nigh received no discipline or warnings for her work performance in 2010 or 2011. A staff performance evaluation completed in April of 2011 was mostly positive, with Nigh receiving all rankings of 3 and 4 (out of 4) from the staff members who completed the evaluations.
That same month, however, the Board presented Nigh with its own performance evaluation for the 2010–2011 school year, which was distinctly less positive. She achieved an overall rating of 1059 points out of a total of 1800, which equated to an average rating of 58.8%. Had Nigh achieved a “proficient” rating in all assessment areas, she would have scored 1350 out of 1800 points, or 75%.
Rossberger prepared a typewritten letter as part of the evaluation, highlighting several areas of concern. These included: (1) Nigh's failure to provide preliminary financial information and scenarios to the board and community in light of Wisconsin Act 10; (2) her failure to meet an expectation for follow-up of others' duties and more documentation to permit more efficient tracking of effectiveness; (3) her excessive reliance on others to provide guidance; (4) poor values and the inability to hold professional staff to a high ethical standard; (5) poor execution, enforcement and follow-up of policies intended to protect students and staff; (6) an inability or unwillingness to monitor staff effectively to ensure enforcement of school policies and procedures; and (7) her failure to articulate the district's purpose and priorities to the community with respect to financial matters and the Board's positions.
In her personal evaluation, Board member Bergey rated Nigh's performance “minimal” or “basic” in 54 of 65 categories, with ratings of “proficient” in the remaining 11 categories. She also highlighted concerns of her own, including: (1) Nigh's failure to follow up on Board recommendations concerning strategies to increase community presence during strategic planning meetings; (2) failure to take on a leadership role and minimal evidence of “self-directed” leadership; (3) difficulties working under the Board and satisfying staff direction; and (4) irritation and uncommunicativeness when disagreeing with the Board.
Board member Lazorik's personal evaluation rated Nigh's performance as “minimal” in 5 categories, “basic” in 43 categories, “between basic and proficient” in 7 categories, and “proficient” in 11 categories. She also noted her own concerns with Nigh's performance, including: (1) selectiveness in choosing information to research and present to the Board; (2) failure to demonstrate that each Board member's statement was equally important to others'; and (3) failure to provide detailed and informative administrative reports to the Board.
Disappointed in her evaluation, Nigh provided a written rebuttal to some of the negative commentary.
In November of 2011, the Financial Manager for the District, Joe Andrashie, resigned. He had been hired in 2006 and had received excellent performance reviews from all the Superintendents and Administrators before Nigh, but according to Jeff Ehrhardt, a former District Superintendent, there had always been issues with Andrashie—namely, that he had not reconciled bank accounts for several years. The parties dispute whether the Board informed Nigh that they had concerns about Andrashie's performance before Andrashie resigned.
At a special Board meeting convened on November 2, 2011, Nigh presented a memorandum to the Board with two possible scenarios she asked the members to consider. (See Peter Reinhardt Aff. Dep. Ex. 14 (dkt. # 44–23).) The first scenario involved the hiring of a business manager, who would take on both the duties of the current financial manager and “budget forecasting for the future.” This business manager would also assume “more financial responsibility” and take “more initiative on other items, such as overseeing grants, food service, and building and grounds.” (See id. at 1.) The second scenario provided for the hiring of: (1) a bookkeeper, who in Nigh's words would “have to be very, very good with Skyward,” administrative software designed for K–12 school districts; (2) a superintendent who would work one to two days per week on budgetary implications, personnel handbooks, budget forecasting and staff discipline; and (3) an Assistant District Administrator/Principal. (See id. at 1–2.)
Nigh recommended hiring a full-time financial manager with a business administrator license, but the Board ultimately approved the hire of a full-time bookkeeper and directed Nigh to post the position as a limited-term position for the remainder of the school year. On November 28, 2011, the District hired Jane Matthias; she had no background with the Skyward program and had to be trained in that capacity.
By this time, Nigh had begun to find it challenging to find enough time to complete all the tasks associated with her position, as indicated by the bullet points she prepared for a Board meeting on December 7, 2011. (See Peter Reinhardt Aff. Dep. Ex. 84 (dkt.# 72).) Around this same time, an unspecified incident occurred involving Carol Popovich, an administrative assistant, and Laurie Neibauer, a staff member. Nigh called a meeting with the two individuals, and Popovich eventually walked out because she felt that Nigh had reprimanded her in front of a fellow employee. The parties dispute whether the working relationship between Nigh and Popovich deteriorated after that incident.
Board members completed Nigh's next performance evaluations between late October and December 14, 2011. The Board used a different evaluation tool to conduct this evaluation; under the new rubric, Nigh received 621 out of 1148 points, which translated to a percentage of 58%. Bergey again prepared a summary of board members' observations and concerns; it noted that
Bergey also wrote that the most prominent themes or areas of concern arose in the areas of Organization, Finance, and Physical Plant Management; Board Relations; and Policy and Governance. Her summary went on to list the “[c]ollective majority critiques relating to this year's three lowest scoring categories.” (Peter Reinhardt Aff. Dep. Ex. 10 (dkt. # 44–21) LM01207.) In the Organization, Finance, and Physical Plant...
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