Salmon v. Lang
| Decision Date | 16 December 2022 |
| Docket Number | 21-1104 |
| Citation | 57 F.4th 296 |
| Parties | Jennifer SALMON, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. Roger LANG; Linda Hirsch; John Moses; Jason Fredette; Kurt McPhee ; Chelmsford School Committee; Patricia Tobin ; Town of Chelmsford, Defendants, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Joseph L. Sulman, with whom The Law Office of Joseph L. Sulman, Esq. was on brief, for appellant.
Douglas I. Louison, with whom Alexandra M. Gill and Louison, Costello, Condon & Pfaff were on brief, for appellee.
Before Barron, Chief Judge, Howard, Circuit Judge, and Singal,* District Judge.
Jennifer Salmon -- a public school teacher and former president of her local teachers' union -- brought suit against several public school officials, her town, and the local school committee, alleging First Amendment retaliation and state-law claims arising from various negative reactions to her union advocacy efforts between 2016 and 2018. The district court entered summary judgment for all defendants. Salmon now appeals the district court's summary judgment ruling and two other rulings from the pleading and discovery stages. We affirm.
Salmon has been a public school teacher in Chelmsford, Massachusetts since 2002. In May 2016, she became president of the Chelmsford Federation of Teachers ("CFT"), a local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers ("AFT"). During her tenure as CFT president, Salmon advocated on behalf of the union regarding classroom-temperature problems in many of the town's school buildings (e.g., cold temperatures during the winter months). Her advocacy involved an August 2016 meeting with defendant Roger Lang, Chelmsford Superintendent, and email exchanges with certain school principals. Specifically, Salmon identified these heating issues in emails to defendant Jason Fredette, principal of Byam Elementary, in October 2016, and to defendant Kurt McPhee, principal of McCarthy Middle School, in March 2017.
In September 2017, Salmon began teaching third grade at Harrington Elementary after transferring from a different school. The next month, at the request of colleagues, Salmon raised concerns to the Harrington principal, defendant Patricia Tobin, about working conditions at her new school. The plaints focused on special-needs classrooms and included the need for "increased staffing and improved [student] monitoring." On October 13, 2017, Tobin had a phone call with Salmon about an unrelated matter, in which Tobin "yelled" at Salmon and mentioned that the principal at Salmon's previous school "had warned" Tobin about her. Specifically, Tobin believed that Salmon had interfered with her instructions regarding a school-day scheduling change by telling another teacher that the teacher did not have to listen to Tobin. Tobin later received an email from the CFT vice president about her call with Salmon, which Tobin characterized as "scathing" and found "shocking" and "unfounded." Tobin printed and taped this email to a filing cabinet in her office, feeling that she "needed some time to react to [it]."
In early November 2017, Carol LeRivee, a Harrington first-grade teacher, asked Salmon for help with a special-needs student in her classroom whose disruptive behavior presented safety concerns. LeRivee explained that the child habitually "bolted" out of the classroom and off the playground, which took support-staff members off task and interfered with other students' classwork. LeRivee had brought these concerns to the administration's attention during the previous month, but felt their response was slow and inadequate. Several teachers, including Salmon, tried to help LeRivee deal with the disruptive child by spending time in LeRivee's classroom to assist with the other children in the class.
On November 16, 2017, Salmon emailed Tobin about this child's behavior and requested a meeting to discuss the attendant concerns. The email copied two non-party administrators -- Amy Reese, Chelmsford Director of Special Education, and Patricia Doherty, Chelmsford Special Education Chairperson -- as well as Rick Blanchet, an AFT field representative. In her email, Salmon noted that "[a]fter reviewing the Major Incident Report Binder, it appear[ed] there are a minimum of 23 major incident reports completed for this student," and that the student's behavior posed a "major safety concern" for the classroom.1 A few hours later, Salmon emailed this group again, asking that a meeting be scheduled for Wednesday, November 22 at 8:00 AM between her, Blanchet, and the three school administrators. She added that if Tobin, Doherty, and Reese were unavailable to meet or discuss, her "next step [would be] to go to the [Chelmsford] School Committee with these incident reports."
On November 20, 2017, Tobin met with Salmon in response to her email. Tobin questioned why Salmon felt this was a "union issue," explaining that "the process of working with a student" typically is not, and asked Salmon other questions about her request, i.e., with whom she wanted to meet, and "why and how" she was "able to go into [LeRivee's] classroom to support [her]." Later that day, Salmon again emailed Tobin, Reese, and Doherty, reiterating her request for a meeting at 8:00 AM on November 22 and explaining why she believed that it was a union issue and that she did "not need to ask permission" to enter LeRivee's classroom on her own time. She reiterated that she was "acting as the Union President" in her request to meet on this issue. Tobin responded that same evening, writing that she would be "happy to attend any meeting [Salmon] schedule[d]."
On November 21, Salmon again emailed the three administrators to confirm the meeting schedule. Tobin responded that she would not be available that day, which was the day before Thanksgiving, due to "many classroom visits" on a shortened schedule. Reese also emailed Salmon back, explaining that "[t]his is not a union matter" and that she would "not meet with [Salmon] as union president to discuss this student-related matter." Salmon responded to Reese, reiterating the union's concerns about teacher and student safety, stating that "[Blanchet] will be here at 8am tomorrow," and adding: "Your unreasonable unwillingness to have a conversation about solutions is cowardly." Later that night, Salmon emailed Superintendent Lang, asking him to "help ... direct[ ]" Tobin to meet with her and Blanchet.
On November 22, Salmon and Blanchet entered Tobin's office to request a meeting.2 Tobin told them she did not have time to discuss or schedule a meeting, and asked Blanchet to leave.3 She then left the office to attend to other matters. Blanchet and Salmon, however, remained. Upon learning that fact, Tobin directed her support staff to call Lang for assistance. Following phone conversations between staff members at Harrington and Lang's office, Lang eventually received a message that Blanchet was at Harrington and "was becoming ... agitated and combative toward [Tobin]." Lang then proceeded to Harrington to intervene.
On his way, Lang notified the Chelmsford Police Department that there was an incident occurring at the school. When Lang arrived, he spoke with Tobin and then with Blanchet, who "put his hands on Lang incidental to the conversation." Lang then asked one of the responding police officers to escort Blanchet from the building. Lang returned to speak with Salmon and informed her that he was sending her home for the day in order to de-escalate the situation and investigate the day's events. He assured her that she was not being punished. Salmon went upstairs to her classroom to gather her things. Soon thereafter, Salmon was escorted out of the back of the building by a plain-clothes officer, at Lang's request. Lang had requested the escort because Salmon was visibly upset and the students would soon be arriving. Salmon complied and was driven home by a co-worker.
Later that day, Lang retained outside counsel, on behalf of the Chelmsford School Committee, to investigate the events surrounding the incident. He also placed Salmon on paid administrative leave pending the investigation's outcome. In addition, Lang sent an email to all Harrington parents and staff about the incident and held a meeting with Tobin and Harrington teachers to discuss the same. During the meeting, Lang stated that he was "shocked and disappointed with the actions" of "some individuals" and that there was "a right way and a wrong way" to bring issues to the administration's attention.4
The November 22 incident sparked public commentary and debate among the residents of Chelmsford and some neighboring towns over the weeks that followed. This involved discussion and posts on social media -- including some from defendant John Moses, a School Committee member -- and a "contentious and heated" School Committee meeting held on December 5, which was attended by supporters of both Salmon and the administration. Attendees in support of Lang and Tobin included Fredette and McPhee.
On December 6, the School Committee's outside counsel delivered a report to Lang detailing the findings of the investigation (the "Investigation Report") and sent a letter to Salmon summarizing the same. As detailed in the Investigation Report, the investigation consisted of approximately 23 witness interviews, including those with LeRivee, Salmon, and Tobin, as well as a review of video footage from inside the school, police reports, student incident reports, emails, and various School Committee policies and training materials. Counsel ultimately concluded that Salmon (i) was "insubordinate with regards to [her] appearing for and demanding a meeting that had been previously denied by two supervisors," and (ii) had "violated District policy with regards to student records confidentiality" by viewing LeRivee's student's incident reports. Salmon was permitted to return to work the same day.
On December 12, Lang issued Salmon a letter of reprimand to be placed in her...
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Jakuttis v. Town of Dracut
...the burden then returns to plaintiff to demonstrate that retaliation “was more likely than not a motivating factor.” Salmon v. Lang, 57 F.4th 296, 309 (1st Cir. 2022) (citations and internal quotations omitted). This settled analytical approach directs me at the outset to determine whether ......