Watson v. Bd. of Educ. for Prince George's Cnty.

Decision Date20 October 2021
Docket Number2006-2019
PartiesPATRICE WATSON v. BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland

Circuit Court for Prince George's County Case No CAL19-04007

Arthur, Leahy, Woodward, Patrick L. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

OPINION [*]

Leahy J.

In 2016, Ms. Patrice Watson was the Principal at C. Elizabeth Rieg Regional School (the "School"), a Prince George's County Public School ("PGCPS"). On September 2, 2016, a contract duty nurse allegedly physically assaulted a student, striking him first with her hands and then with a shoe, on a school bus. After boarding the bus, Ms. Watson and another school employee physically removed the student from the bus. This incident was investigated by the Prince George's County Police Department, Child Protective Services, and the PGCPS. Ultimately, criminal charges were brought against the nurse for assault and reckless endangerment. Ms. Watson was placed on paid administrative leave on September 15, 2016 for failing to report the incident.

Ms. Watson, accompanied by a representative of her union, the Association of Supervisory Administrative School Personnel ("ASASP"), participated in a pre-disciplinary Loudermill hearing on January 19, 2017.[1] At the hearing, Ms. Watson was informed that in addition to the charge of failure to report, she was also charged with physical assault of a student. The next week, Ms. Watson was told by her union representative that PGCPS intended to terminate her employment, and that her choices were to either resign or be terminated. Over three weeks later, on February 16, 2017, Ms. Watson submitted her resignation in lieu of termination. On October 17, 2017, PGCPS recommended the revocation of Ms. Watson's teaching certificate, and a separate administrative proceeding took place to revoke her teaching certificate.

On August 21, 2018, Ms. Watson filed concurrent charges of discrimination and retaliation with the Prince George's County Human Relations Commission ("the HR Commission") and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). She subsequently filed a complaint against the Board of Education for Prince George's County ("Board") in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County on February 8, 2019.

On April 22, 2019, she filed an amended complaint alleging breach of contract; involuntary resignation; deprivation of procedural due process in violation of the Maryland Constitution, Declaration of Rights, Art. 24; defamation per se; gender discrimination in violation of the Maryland Constitution; and retaliation/hostile work environment. The Board responded with a motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment.

A hearing was held on the Board's motion on November 1, 2019. The court granted the Board's motion, finding that there was no genuine dispute of material fact that Ms. Watson: (1) voluntarily resigned; (2) failed to exhaust her administrative remedies; and (3) had notice of the charges against her at the Loudermill hearing.

Ms. Watson noted this timely appeal and poses five questions[2] for our consideration, which we have reordered and recast as four:

I. Did the circuit court err, as a matter of law, in granting summary judgment on Ms. Watson's defamation claim?
II. Did the circuit court err, as a matter of law, in granting summary judgment on Ms. Watson's breach of contract claims?
III. Did the circuit court err, as a matter of law, in finding that Ms. Watson failed to timely exhaust her administrative remedies regarding her gender discrimination and retaliation claims?
IV. Did the circuit court err, as a matter of law, in dismissing Ms. Watson's procedural due process claim on the ground that she received adequate due process regarding her termination of employment?

We affirm, in part, and reverse, in part, the judgment of the circuit court. As a preliminary matter, we hold that Ms. Watson waived her defamation claim by conceding during the November 1, 2019 motions hearing that the statute of limitations had expired.[3] Turning to the remaining claims, we first hold that the circuit court did not err by granting summary judgment and dismissing Ms. Watson's breach of contract claims because she failed to exhaust her contractual remedies before seeking adjudication in the courts. Second, we hold that Ms. Watson's constitutional claim was not preserved below. Third, we hold that the circuit court did not err by granting summary judgment and dismissing Ms. Watson's retaliation claim under SG § 20-1013 because she was required to first file a timely complaint with either the HR Commission, the Commission on Civil Rights, or the EEOC, and she failed to do so. Fourth, we hold that the court's grant of summary judgment dismissing Ms. Watson's retaliation claim in relation to the revocation of her teaching certificate as untimely under SG § 20-1202 was in error because the claim was filed within the applicable two-year limitations period. Finally, because Ms. Watson's resignation was voluntary and there was no adverse state action against her, we hold that the circuit court did not err by granting summary judgment on her procedural due process claim.

BACKGROUND[4]

The Incident

On September 2, 2016, the student involved in the incident was en route to the C. Elizabeth Regional Center on a PGCPS school bus. As summarized in a PGCPS Department of Security Services Memorandum dated January 5, 2017 ("DSS Memorandum"), video footage obtained from the school bus showed "several adults having physical contact with [the Student] after [he] attempted to touch [the] Private Duty Nurse." The nurse responded by striking "the student with her hands, then her shoe . . . while on the school bus." Another PGCPS employee then "attempted to remove [the s]tudent from the school bus but ran into opposition by the student." This employee then "was joined on the bus by Principal Patrice Watson who physically aided [the employee] as he had [the s]tudent in a head lock and pulled the student office [sic] the bus. Bus attendant [] did not intervene and Bus Driver [] had already left the bus prior to the alleged incident."

An incident summary prepared by Instructional Director, Dr. Tricia Hairston, clarifies that "the Department of School Security notified the area office that Ms. Watson, Principal, was recorded on a school bus video allegedly observing a staff member . . . aggressively handling a student in an attempt to redirect his behavior[, ]" and that "Ms. Watson did not contact child protective services or the Employee and Labor Relations Office" to report the incident. The summary also includes a handwritten note, made by Dr. Hairston on September 23, 2016, stating that video footage further revealed that "Ms. Watson was pulling on the student[']s arm in an aggressive manner."

Ms. Watson relayed a different account in her affidavit.[5] Ms. Watson attested that the student had "multiple disabilities, which include cognitive disability, autism and emotional behaviors," as well as a history of behavioral problems. When she first approached the bus, Ms. Watson attested that she was met by the private duty nurse, who said she'd been attacked, and yelled that she would not "take it anymore." According to her affidavit, Ms. Watson then boarded the bus and saw the student in the front seat with another employee who was attempting to "get [the student] off the bus."

Ms. Watson related in her affidavit that she directed this employee to step to one side and then stated that

I called [the student's] name, and I reached my hand out to him and I proceeded to reach for his left hand (principle of engagement, CPI, 2016). I pull back as he spat, kicked; and I reached again to assist [the student] out of the seat (wrist/arm hold, CPI 2016). We counted as we walked down the stairs to change position to (Two person's Medium-level hold, CPI, 2016) until we got him in the building.

The student was then taken into the guidance office with his classroom teacher.

Ms. Watson attested that, after getting the student into the School, she returned to the bus to obtain referrals from the bus driver and the bus aide. Ms. Watson claims that "[a]t no time did the bus driver or bus aide tell [her] that the private duty nurse . . . hit [the student][, ]" and that she only learned of the incident when Child Protective Services called her at 11:37 a.m. on September 2, 2016.[6]

Report and Administrative Leave

Ms. Watson claimed in her affidavit that she reported the bus incident that afternoon to Dr. Tricia Hairston. However, the DSS Memorandum reports that she "never advised Dr. Hairston of any involvement [in the incident] by her or any other staff members."

On September 15, 2016, Dr. Hairston, Dr. Gwendolyn Mason, and Ms. Sabrina Jones arrived at the School and showed Ms. Watson a video clip of the incident. Ms. Watson attested that she was told that she "needed to write a report of abuse and submit the paperwork to Child Protect[ive] Services." Ms. Watson was reluctant to write the report, because she did not agree that she had seen the "inappropriate behavior" she was asked to report. Instead, she "submitted the write-up based on the lens in which [she] saw" what happened.

Ms. Watson attested that, "[w]ithin [] 30 minutes of sending the letter to Dr. Mason[, ] [s]ecurity came into [her] office" and Dr. Hairston informed her that, "effective immediately," she would be "placed on administrative leave for 'Failure to Report.'" Wanda Battle, of Employee and Labor Relations, told Ms. Watson that she would receive a letter in the mail concerning her administrative leave. Ms. Watson attested that she never received this letter.

Loudermill Hearing and Resignation

On January 5, 2017, the PGCPS...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT