A.N.A ex rel. S.F.A. v. Breckinridge County Board of Education

833 F. Supp. 2d 673, 2011 WL 2437809, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63068
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJune 13, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 3:08-CV-4-S
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 833 F. Supp. 2d 673 (A.N.A ex rel. S.F.A. v. Breckinridge County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A.N.A ex rel. S.F.A. v. Breckinridge County Board of Education, 833 F. Supp. 2d 673, 2011 WL 2437809, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63068 (W.D. Ky. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CHARLES R. SIMPSON III, District Judge.

This is an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the legality of a Breckinridge County Middle School (“BCMS”) program offering students the option to participate in single-sex classes. This matter is presently before the court on the motions of the Breckinridge County Defendants1 to dismiss the class action [675]*675representatives for lack of standing,2 (DN 219) and for summary judgment on the claims of the individual plaintiffs3 for damages for the 2007-2008 school year (DN 223).

I. Background

BCMS is a public school of approximately 600 students, both male and female, in grades six through eight, located in Harned, Kentucky. BCMS receives state and federal funding through the Breckinridge County School District, and is thus subject to the requirements of Title IX and other regulations. Plaintiffs4 filed this action against the Breckinridge County Defendants claiming that the single-sex education program utilized at BCMS in the 2007-2008 school year was in violation of both state and federal law. They seek damages for what they allege was unlawful sex discrimination during the 2007-2008 school year. Additionally, Plaintiffs claim that the single-sex program for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years also violated federal and state law.5 The plaintiffs seek only declaratory and injunctive relief for claims after the 2007-2008 school year.

The court certified four subclasses of plaintiffs challenging the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 programs in which students were permitted to choose whether to participate in one or more single-sex classes offered at BCMS. The subclasses consist of those students enrolled in Breckinridge County Middle School who chose to participate in one or more single-sex classes for the 2008-2009 school year (Subclass 1) and the 2009-2010 school year (Subclass 3), and students who chose to participate solely in coeducational classes for the 2008-2009 school year (Subclass 2) and the 2009-2010 school year (Subclass 4). The defendants contend that the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate (1) a redressable injury-in-fact suffered by designated subclass representatives J.J.N., K.A.S., and S.E.A., (2) causation or (3) gender discrimination. Thus, they urge that the requirements of standing have not been met and the class action claims must therefore be dismissed. The defendants also urge dismissal of Subclass 3, as subclass representative G.J. was voluntarily dismissed from this action on October 7, 2009 and no [676]*676subclass representative has been named in his place.

S.E.A. is the Subclass 1 and 4 representative. She represents BCMS students who chose to participate in one or more single-sex classes in 2008-2009. She was assigned to a single-sex related arts class in 2007-2008.6 Thereafter, she chose enrollment in a single-sex related arts class for 2008-2009.7 She also represents Subclass 4 consisting of students who participated solely in coeducational classes in 2009-2010, as she enrolled in all coeducational classes for that year.

J.J.N. and K.A.S. are representatives for Subclass 2, representing all BCMS students who participated solely in coeducational classes in 2008-2009. In 2007-2008, J.J.N. chose to participate in a single-sex class for a short period of time. He requested and was transferred out of the class to a coeducational class after approximately one month. He chose to participate solely in coeducational classes in 2008-2009. K.A.S. was assigned to a single-sex related arts class in 2007-2008, but chose all coeducational classes for the 2009-2010 school year.

Three of the plaintiffs, A.N.A., Z.H.S. and S.L., were in eighth grade in 2007-2008 and thus were affected by the program during only one of the years in issue in this suit. The 2007-2008 school year was the only school year which began without parents being afforded the opportunity to make an election for their children not to participate in single-sex classes.

A.N.A. and Z.H.S. were initially assigned to single-sex math classes for the 2007-2008 school year. When given the option to move to coeducational classes approximately three weeks later, they chose to remain in the single-sex class.

S.L. chose to enroll in coeducational classes for the 2007-2008 school year. Approximately three weeks later when given the option to move to single-sex classes, she chose to remain in coeducational classes.

The plaintiffs have alleged that the BCMS program, purportedly designed in accordance with the provisions of 34 C.F.R. § 106.34 (2007), violates Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a); the Equal Education Opportunities Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1705; the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, and the Kentucky Sex Equity in Education Act, KRS 344.555.

The court dismissed claims asserted against Federal Defendants United States Department of Education (“DOE”) and former United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted (DN 123) and then certified this matter as a class action (DN 125).

[677]*677II. 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 Class Claims

A court “shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). A genuine dispute of material fact arises when there is “sufficient evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the non-moving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The evidence presented must be construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Blakeman v. Mead Containers, 779 F.2d 1146, 1150 (6th Cir.1985).

Under Article III of the Constitution of the United States, federal courts have jurisdiction only over “actual cases or controversies.” See McPherson v. Mich. High Sch. Athletic Ass’n, 119 F.3d 453, 458 (6th Cir.1997); see also U.S. CONST, art. Ill, § 2. The power granted to this court by Article III “is not an unconditioned authority to determine the constitutionality of legislative or executive acts. The power to declare the rights of individuals and to measure the authority of governments ... ‘is legitimate only in the last resort, and as a necessity in the determination of real, earnest, and vital controversy.’” Valley Forge Christian Coll. v.

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833 F. Supp. 2d 673, 2011 WL 2437809, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63068, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ana-ex-rel-sfa-v-breckinridge-county-board-of-education-kywd-2011.