Samuelson v. Laporte Community School Corp.

• Decision Date: 22 May 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-4351.,06-4351.
• Parties: Gregory G. SAMUELSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LaPORTE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION, Kenneth Blad, individually and in his official capacity as superintendent of schools, Mitch Feikes, individually and in his official capacity as Trustee, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

526 F.3d 1046

Gregory G. SAMUELSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LaPORTE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION, Kenneth Blad, individually and in his official capacity as superintendent of schools, Mitch Feikes, individually and in his official capacity as Trustee, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 06-4351.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued December 6, 2007.

Decided May 22, 2008.

Stanley F. Wruble (argued), Leone, Halpin & Konopinski, South Bend, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Bryan E. Curry (argued), Bullaro, Carton & Stone, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and CUDAHY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Gregory Samuelson brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the district court against LaPorte Community School Corporation ("LSC"). His complaint alleged violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Indiana Constitution.¹ After discovery, Mr. Samuelson and LSC filed cross-motions for summary judgment. Mr. Samuelson's response to LSC's motion abandoned his claims under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Indiana Constitution. The district court granted summary judgment on Mr. Samuelson's remaining First Amendment claims. Mr. Samuelson timely appealed.² For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I BACKGROUND

Mr. Samuelson became a teacher at LSC in 1992. Over the years, Mr. Samuelson also had other duties collateral to his instructional obligations. These duties included service on a technology committee that provided information and recommendations to the Superintendent and School Board, service as the union representative on a hiring committee that recommended candidates for a principal's position, and coaching at both the middle school and high school levels. At least some of these coaching positions were undertaken on the basis of a separate contractual arrangement with LSC. In 2003, the Board declined to renew Mr. Samuelson's contract as coach of the high school girls' varsity basketball team. That decision did not affect Mr. Samuelson's contract as a teacher.

A.

LSC has a chain-of-command policy. That policy is embodied in LSC's guidelines and bylaws. Guideline 1110, which is entitled "Line and Staff Relations," states:

All staff members shall be responsible to the Board through the Superintendent. Each shall refer matters requiring administrative action to the person in charge of the department, who shall refer such matters to the next higher authority, when necessary.

Each staff member is to keep the person s/he is immediately responsible to informed of his/her activities by whatever means the supervisor deems appropriate.

All staff members have the right to appeal any decision made by an administrative officer, through approved procedures as defined by contract, agreements, policies, administrative guidelines, or by State law.

R.59.

Guideline 1110A, "Definition of Management Team," states in part:

The ultimate decision concerning policy in the School Corporation resides by law with the Board of School Trustees under the leadership of the Superintendent of Schools. The management team concept, or shared decision making, is the process by which a recommendation for Board of School Trustees action is developed and the decision implemented.

The management team represents a means of establishing orderly lines of organization and communication as management personnel unite with the Board of Trustees to promote an effective educational program for the students and the community. It is more than an organizational system since it does establish a climate in which team members are able to experience a feeling of mutual trust, support and a sense of professional dignity.

R.74, Ex. F.

The Guidelines are supplemented by Bylaw 3310, entitled "Freedom of Speech in Noninstructional Settings," which states:

The School Board acknowledges the right of its professional staff members, as citizens in a democratic society, to speak out on issues of public concern. When those issues are related to the Corporation, however, the professional staff member's expression must be balanced against the interests of this Corporation.

In situations in which the professional staff member is not engaged in the performance of professional duties s/he should state clearly that his/her expression represents personal views and not necessarily those of the School Corporation.

R.74, Ex. G.

The record reveals that Mr. Samuelson expressed publically his view on issues related to LSC. In some instances, he addressed his opinions directly to the Board, to individual Board members or to other community members without first addressing those concerns to his supervisor. More precisely, he engaged in four instances of expression that, he contends, motivated the Board to decline to renew his contract as head coach of the girls' varsity basketball team.

First, Mr. Samuelson spoke to the Board about LSC's treatment of the girls' sports programs as compared to the boys' programs. R.39 at 71-80. Beginning in 1993, Mr. Samuelson spoke with individual Board members, LSC's athletic directors, parents and members of the community about disparities he perceived in the treatment of girls' sports programs. He also objected to the pay of coaches involved in those programs as compared to similar boys' teams. In the same vein, he provided an athletic club at LSC with information that he had obtained from a conference and that may have encouraged the club's subsequent Title IX complaint against LSC in 1995. In 2003, Mr. Samuelson wrote an e-mail to Superintendent Blad requesting information on how to file a Title IX suit against LSC.

Second, in 2000, Mr. Samuelson voiced his disapproval about the LSC's selection and hiring of a middle school principal. R.39. Mr. Samuelson had been appointed to the hiring committee by the teachers' union. The committee recommended that the Board hire Gwen Taylor, but Mr. Samuelson opposed the recommendation. The Board called a special meeting to hear the majority and minority opinions of the committee; at that meeting, he discussed with the Board his reasons against hiring Taylor. He also received phone calls from individual Board members at this time about his opinion and spoke with them about his conclusions.

Third, in the spring of 2002, Mr. Samuelson spoke to Board members about proposed technology changes in the school's computer platform. At the time, he was a serving as a member of the middle school technology committee. He discussed his opposition to the committee's proposal with individual Board members.

Fourth, in 2003, Mr. Samuelson spoke with a Board member, Ruth Minich, about his objections to a proposed school redistricting plan.

B.

In 1999, Mr. Samuelson became head coach of LSC's high school girls' basketball team. The team won a Class 4-A sectional championship in 2000, but it faced internal troubles. The season after winning that championship, twenty-eight girls from the basketball program signed a petition requesting that the Board not renew Mr. Samuelson's coaching contract. A second petition containing similar demands was signed by more than 70 representatives of LSC families. Mr. Samuleson refused to resign as coach, and the Board renewed his contract.

There were other problems as well. After a game in January 2003, the middle school girls' basketball coach engaged Mr. Samuelson in a physical altercation: He walked up to Mr. Samuelson and forcibly attempted to drag him off the court and outside of the arena. LSC's athletic director intervened and separated the two men. The day after the incident, every member of the girls' varsity team signed a petition refusing to play under Mr. Samuelson, although they in fact continued to compete. The physical altercation also affected Mr. Samuelson; three weeks later, he was ordered by his physician not to coach because of the stress the incident had caused him.

Early in February 2003, Superintendent Blad asked Athletic Director Gilliland and Principal Handel to provide him with recommendations about the girls' basketball program under Mr. Samuelson. Both men recommended that the Board not renew Mr. Samuelson's contract or the contracts of the assistant coaches. Director Gilliland's evaluation criticized Mr. Samuelson's coaching technique and work ethic. The recommendations primarily focused on (1) the unrest among players, parents and coaches, (2) Mr. Samuelson's poor fund-raising and unauthorized spending of team funds and (3) his coaching ability.

Superintendent Blad submitted Principal Handel's and Director Gilliland's recommendations to the Board. He also personally recommended that the Board terminate Mr. Samuelson's contract. His memorandum to the Board stated in part that the girls' basketball program was "totally dysfunctional." R.74, Ex. H. It described the "constant series of complaints from players and their parents about Mr. Samuelson" regarding his treatment of players, his lack of organizational skills and his inability to work cooperatively with his assistant coaches. Id. It further stated that Mr. Samuelson "never follows the appropriate chain-of-command and frequently gets himself in trouble by doing things that are outside of the responsibilities of his position (i.e. Purchasing new team uniforms without the permission of the Athletic Director or Principal and without the money to do so.)." Id.

Mr. Samuelson declined an invitation to submit a self-evaluation to the Board for consideration along with the other recommendations. On February 14, he e-mailed Superintendent Blad and Assistant Superintendent Adams and asked them about the proper method by which to file a Title IX suit. He also inquired about the remedies available to him if LSC retaliated against him in response to his past and present Title IX complaints.

On February 17, Superintendent Blad composed and transmitted a memorandum to Mr. Samuelson...