Thomas v. Clayton County Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 29 September 1999
• Docket Number: No. Civ.A.1:97CV1517A-JEC.,Civ.A.1:97CV1517A-JEC.
• Citation: 94 F.Supp.2d 1290
• Parties: Tiffany THOMAS, et al., Plaintiff(s), v. CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendant(s).
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

94 F.Supp.2d 1290

Tiffany THOMAS, et al., Plaintiff(s), v. CLAYTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendant(s).

No. Civ.A.1:97CV1517A-JEC.

United States District Court, N.D. Georgia, Atlanta Division.

September 29, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Torin Dana Togut, Office of Torin D. Togut, Roswell, GA, Michael Raymond Hauptman, Office of Michael R. Hauptman, Atlanta, GA, Gerald R. Weber, Robert Lo-Pei Tsai, American Civil Liberties Union of Ga. for plaintiffs.

J. Stanley Hawkins, Gary M. Sams, Laura Louise Lones, Weekes & Candler, Decatur GA, for Ralph Matthews, Clayton County School Dist., defendants.

Robert Earl Wilson, Ellen S. Cheek, Wilson Morton & Downs, Decatur, GA, for R.G. Roberts, defendant.

Roger S. Sumrall, Hall Booth Smith & Slover, Atlanta, GA, Arnold Wright, Jr., Freeman Wright & Herman, Atlanta, GA, for Tracey Morgan, defendant.

Jack Reynolds Hancock, Brian R. Dempsey, Hancock & Echols, Forest Park, GA, for Zannie Billingslea, defendant.

Donald Ray Foster, Foster & Foster, Jonesboro, GA, John Alvin Kimbell, Fincher & Hecht, Morrow, GA, for Clayton County, GA, defendant.

Gerald R. Weber, Robert Lo-Pei Tsai, American Civil Liberties Union of Ga., Atlanta, GA, for Sergio Evans, Josh Starks.

ORDER

CARNES, District Judge.

This case is presently before the Court on defendant Tracey Morgan's Motion for Summary Judgment [61], defendant R.G. Roberts' Motion for Summary Judgment [62], defendant Ralph Matthews' Motion for Summary Judgment [64], defendant Clayton County School District's Motion for Summary Judgment [65], defendant Zannie Billingslea's Motion for Summary Judgment [68], defendant Clayton County's Motion for Summary Judgment [72], and defendant Tracey Morgan's Motion to Seal a Page of her Motion for Summary Judgment [84-A]. The Court has reviewed the record and the arguments of the parties and, for the reasons set forth below, concludes that defendant Tracey Morgan's Motion for Summary Judgment [61] should be GRANTED, defendant R.G. Roberts' Motion for Summary Judgment [62] should be GRANTED, defendant Ralph Matthews' Motion for Summary Judgment [64] should be GRANTED, defendant Clayton County School District's Motion for Summary Judgment [65] should be GRANTED, defendant Zannie Billingslea's Motion for Summary Judgment [68] should be GRANTED, defendant Clayton County's Motion for Summary Judgment [72] should be GRANTED, and defendant Tracey Morgan's Motion to Seal a Page of her Motion for Summary Judgment [84-A] should be DENIED.¹

BACKGROUND

I. The events of October 31, 1996

On the morning of October 31, 1996, plaintiff Sergio Evans brought an envelope containing $26.00 to his school, West Clayton Elementary School in Clayton County, Georgia. (Pls.' Resp. to Defs. Clayton County School District & Matthews' Stmt. of Mat. Facts [81] at ¶ 1.) Sergio collected this money by selling candy to raise funds to enable the fifth grade to take a field trip to Tennessee. (Id. at ¶ 8.) Upon arriving at his classroom, Sergio placed the envelope on a table near the desk of his teacher, Tracey Morgan. (Id. at ¶ 9.) A few moments later, after Sergio and Ms. Morgan discovered that the envelope was no longer on the table, Sergio searched around the table and in his belongings in an attempt to locate the envelope. (Pls.' Resp. to Def. Roberts' Stmt. of Mat. Facts [83] at ¶ 4.) In addition, Morgan searched around the classroom for the envelope, taking the trash cans outside of the class to search through them. (Id. at ¶ 7.) Before Morgan left the classroom, the Drug Resistance Awareness Education (hereinafter "DARE") officer, Zannie Billingslea, had arrived to teach the students a drug awareness lesson. (Morgan Dep. at 55-56.) Morgan left the room, leaving Billingslea with the children.

While outside the room, Morgan attempted to call Sergio's mother to ensure that Sergio had brought the money to school with him. (Pls.' Resp. [81] at ¶ 11.) Morgan then brought the trash cans with her to the school's workroom, where she encountered defendant R.A. Roberts, the assistant principal of the school, and Madricia Nettles, a school paraprofessional. (Pls.' Resp. to Def. Roberts' Stmt. of Mat. Facts [83] at ¶ 9.) Morgan explained to Roberts that money was missing from her classroom and asked if she could perform a search to find the money. (Id. at ¶ 10.) Roberts first asked if Morgan had collected all of the fund-raising and lunch monies she was supposed to collect that day. (Id. at ¶ 11.) What occurred next is disputed. Roberts asserts that she authorized a search, but gave Morgan specific limitations as to the extent of the search — authorizing only a search of the girls' purses and the boys' pockets but stopping short of authorizing a strip search of the children. (Roberts' Dep. at 59-60.) Morgan, on the other hand, testified that Roberts authorized a search but did not specify exactly how the search should be performed. (Morgan Dep. at 56, 60-62.) The parties also dispute whether Roberts gave Morgan permission to utilize Billingslea in any search of the children. (Id.; Roberts Dep. at 62.)

After speaking with Roberts, Morgan returned to her classroom and began to search for the missing envelope. (Pls.' Resp. [81] at ¶ 19.) First, as officer Billingslea watched from the back of the room, Morgan looked through the students' personal belongings, including the students' bookbags, desks, and decorative pumpkins on each desk. (Id. at ¶¶ 19-20.) Then, Morgan searched in the female students' purses and had each student remove his or her shoes, allowing her to pat down each student's socks. (Id. at ¶ 19.) Finally, Morgan asked the students to turn out their front pockets and allow her to pat down their back pockets. (Id.) This search did not result in the discovery of the lost envelope and did not suggest any one student as a particular suspect in the disappearance of the envelope. (Id. at ¶ 21.)

Morgan told Billingslea that the money had not been found and asked him to help her in a further search of the children. (Id. at ¶ 24.) At this time, Billingslea suggested to Morgan that some children might be wearing an extra set of pants and that the money might be located in a lower layer of clothing. (Def. Billingslea's Stmt. of Mat. Facts [68] at ¶ 7; Morgan Dep. at 73-74.) Morgan broke the male children up into groups of four and five and sent them group by group to the boys' bathroom with Billingslea. (Pls.' Resp. [81] at ¶ 25.)

At this point, the evidence is in dispute. Some of the boys testified that, once in the bathroom, Billingslea pulled down his pants and underwear to his ankles to demonstrate what the children were required to do.² (Brown Dep. at 20, 22, 26; Casey Dep. at 14, 65-67; Crawford Dep. at 13, 21; Willis Dep. at 14-15; Starks Dep. at 17, 47; CE Dep. at 29; DK Dep. at 14; FN Dep. at 10, 13, 23; IUQ Dep. at 11-12, 20; and ICU Dep. at 12, 20.) Plaintiffs also claim that Billingslea told the children that "if they did not pull down their pants and lift their shirts as he exhibited, then they would be suspended from school or taken to jail."³ (Pls.' Br. [82] at 4-5.) Consequently, the boys dropped their pants,⁴ and some of the boys dropped both their pants and their underwear.⁵ (Pls.' Resp. [81] at ¶ 26.) The search resulted in no discovery of the missing envelope.

While searching the children in the bathroom, Lenard Grace, a student from another fifth grade class, entered the bathroom. (Id. at ¶ 28.) Lenard protested that he was not in Morgan's class and should not be searched.⁶ (Grace Dep. at 10-11.) Despite the protestations, Billingslea told Lenard to loosen his belt and turn out his pockets. (Id. at 11.) Lenard complied, and Billingslea grabbed Lenard by the pants, shaking them to see if anything would fall out. (Id.) Billingslea found no envelope on Lenard, and his "shake down" resulted in no evidence of wrongdoing. After completion of the searches, all of the boys returned to Morgan's classroom, except for Lenard who returned to his fifth grade classroom.

After Billingslea completed his search of the boys, Morgan directed all of the girls in the class to line up in the hall outside the girls' bathroom. (Pls.' Br. [81] at 11.) Morgan took the girls in her class to the girls' restroom in groups of approximately two to five students at a time. (Defs. Clayton County School District & Matthews' Stmt. of Mat. Facts [65] at ¶ 32; Pls.' Resp. to Defs. Clayton County School District & Matthews' Stmt. of Mat. Facts [81] at ¶ 32.) While in the restroom, Morgan conducted a search of the children; however, the scope of the search is in dispute. Plaintiffs claim that the girls were forced to lower their pants and raise their dresses or shirts; the girls were also asked to "pop up" their bras to expose their breasts to ensure that the envelope was not stowed beneath their bras. (Pls.' Resp. [81] at ¶¶ 33-34.) Some girls claimed that Morgan physically touched them as she actually searched their bras and dresses.⁷ (Champion Dep. at 13-14; Australia Nettles Dep. at 11-12; Willingham Dep. at 11, 34; Tiffany Thomas Dep. at 32; Sales Dep. at 12-13; Def. Morgan's Stmt. of Mat. Facts [61] at ¶ 8.) These searches did not turn up any money. (Defs.' Stmt. of Mat. Facts [65] at ¶ 36.)

That afternoon, Tiffany Thomas' father, Gregory Thomas went to the school after his daughter informed him about the search and approached principal Ralph Matthews. (Pls.' Br. [81] at 14.) Mr. Thomas asked about a strip search that had occurred in the school. (Matthews Dep. at 50-51.) Matthews initially denied that a strip search had occurred because he assumed that he "would have been aware if something of that magnitude had occurred that particular school day." (Id. at 51-52.) After speaking to the parent, Matthews ran into Morgan who assured him that no strip search had occurred that day. (Id. at 54-55.) Morgan did inform Matthews that a search had occurred that included the searching of more than one student, and Morgan...