Barron v. School Board

3 F. Supp. 3d 1323, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26341, 2014 WL 793344
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 27, 2014
DocketCase No. 8:13-cv-31-T-30EAJ
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 3 F. Supp. 3d 1323 (Barron v. School Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barron v. School Board, 3 F. Supp. 3d 1323, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26341, 2014 WL 793344 (M.D. Fla. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

JAMES S. MOODY, JR., District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon the Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. #24) and Plaintiffs Response in Opposition to the Motion (Dkt. # 34). Upon review and consideration, it is the Court’s conclusion that the Motion should be granted in part and denied in part.

Background

Plaintiff, Caryl-Marie Barron filed a complaint against the Defendant The School Board of Hillsborough County, Florida (the “School Board”) alleging disability discrimination in violation of the Florida Civil Rights Act ■(“FCRA”) and retaliation and interference in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). Plaintiff worked as an Academic Intervention Specialist (“AIS”) at Mort Elementary School (“Mort”) since August 1, 2007. She worked under the supervision of the principal Dr. Beny Per-etz. Barron was subject to a three year probationary period of employment at the time of her hiring. At the end of that period, Dr. Peretz could either nominate Barron for tenure or extend the probationary period for one year. Dr. Peretz chose to extend the probationary period based on several concerns raised in Barron’s performance evaluations. After the extension, Barron’s performance evaluations continued to document areas that needed improvement or were unsatisfactory, and Dr. Peretz did not nominate her for tenure. As a result, on May 11, 2011, the Superintendent for the School Board informed Barron that her employment would [1327]*1327terminate on June 14, 2011, the end of the school year.

Barron was the only AIS at Mort. Her essential duties included providing intensive reading instruction to at risk kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students who were retained in their grade or were otherwise unsuccessful in obtaining reading skills commensurate with their grade level. The position is designed to prevent continued academic failure. Barron was assigned approximately twelve classrooms from which to pull students in groups of three or five for forty minutes of scheduled instructional time during the day. If Barron was absent from work, the students did not receive the specialized instruction for that day.

Barron’s schedule provided that she begin instruction with the students at 8:15 a.m., although she was to arrive at the school at 7:30 a.m. along with the other teachers. Her day ended at 3:30 p.m. Part of her duties included monitoring pedestrian traffic and students in the mornings and afternoons outside of the school building. She scheduled several group sessions throughout the day in between her morning and afternoon duties.

Barron suffers from chronic pain and muscle stiffness as a result of a car accident. She takes several medications to manage the pain including methadone, ox-ycodone and morphine as prescribed by her medical provider. She occasionally used a cane and sometimes required assistance from fellow co-workers to get around the school, or from the parking lot to the school entrance. The pain varied from day to day. Barron’s routine was to wake up early in the morning and begin taking her medication at various intervals to allow the medication to take effect. Depending on the severity of the pain, she had to wait until her stiffness and pain subsided enough for her to drive to work. Once she arrived, she would sometimes take additional time to allow her to adjust to the pain in her car prior to entering the school. This routine led to her being late on several occasions.

Barron exhibited a pattern of lateness beginning in the 2008-2009 school year. In the 2009-2010 school year, Barron had a total of 71 absences, twelve weeks of which were approved FMLA leave and 12.8 hours of lateness. In the 2010-2011 year she had a total of thirteen absences as of March 24, 2011, three of which were FMLA approved and was late a total of 42.8 hours. At one point, Dr. Peretz spoke to her about her attendance and she stated that she had trouble getting around in the morning, but did not request an accommodation or FMLA at that initial meeting.

In her Spring semester 2009 evaluation, she received a “needs improvement” rating for punctuality, as well as adhering to policies and procedures, carrying out assignments, and performing with a minimum amount of supervision. The Plaintiff had not requested accommodation or FMLA leave prior to the Spring 2009 evaluation. Further, other classroom teachers started to complain that she did not pick up students on time or at all without explanation or notification. Dr. Peretz provided Barron with additional supervisory and training support for the AIS program. Barron was late for meetings and trainings, and did not perform well during classroom observations.

In January 2010, Plaintiff requested FMLA leave for twelve consecutive weeks to deal with her physical pain, which the School Board granted. She was on leave from January to April 2010. On January 31, 2011, Barron formally requested an accommodation for her pain issues. She specifically requested that her start time change from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. Dr. Peretz declined her request on the basis that when he adjusted her start time to 8:00 [1328]*1328a.m. last year she would still arrive late, at times arriving between 8:15 or 8:30 a.m. He then revoked the adjustment so that her schedule reverted to an arrival time of 7:30. At the time that Dr. Peretz adjusted her start time, there is no evidence Barron made a specific accommodation request at that point or that she indicated she had a disability, only that she and Dr. Peretz decided to adjust her hours to address the lateness. After denying her formal request, Dr. Peretz had a meeting with Barron to discuss other possibilities, but no other accommodation was requested or provided.

During the Spring semester of 2011, Barron requested intermittent FMLA leave which was granted. Barron took approved leave on nine days, the last of which was June 3, 2011. However she also was absent from work on other days that were not approved. She admits that she failed to provide for a substitute on three of the days she was absent from work, which she attributes to an oversight on her part.

Dr. Peretz documented his concerns with Barron’s performance through several performance evaluations and memo-randa. In one memorandum Dr. Peretz specifically warned Barron that if her performance and attendance did not improve he would not be able to recommend her for tenure. On March 18, 2010, he informed Barron of the specific performance issues and stated that he was recommending that her probation be continued for another year. On November 18, 2010, Dr. Peretz had a conference to discuss performance issues, which he later memorialized in a memorandum. In January 2011, Dr. Peretz issued another memorandum regarding Barron’s performance issues which Barron signed on January 14, 2011. All of this documentation took place prior to Barron’s first formal request for an accommodation. Dr. Peretz and other administrators issued additional written memoranda to Barron documenting specific issues with performance in March 2011, which included issues unrelated to her arrival time in the morning.

Discussion

I. Legal Standard

Motions for summary judgment should be granted only when “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P.

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Bluebook (online)
3 F. Supp. 3d 1323, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26341, 2014 WL 793344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barron-v-school-board-flmd-2014.