Braden ex rel. M v. Mountain Home School District

903 F. Supp. 2d 729, 2012 WL 5183575, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149967
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedOctober 18, 2012
DocketCase No. 3:10-CV-03118
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 903 F. Supp. 2d 729 (Braden ex rel. M v. Mountain Home School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Braden ex rel. M v. Mountain Home School District, 903 F. Supp. 2d 729, 2012 WL 5183575, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149967 (W.D. Ark. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

P.K. HOLMES, III, Chief Judge.

Currently before the Court are Defendants Mountain Home School District, Charles Scriber, Debbie Atkinson, Michelle McWilliams, Linda White, and Cas[732]*732sie Fowler’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 15) and supporting documents, Plaintiff Scott Braden’s Response (Doc. 25) and supporting documents, and Defendants’ Reply (Doc. 31). Defendants move for summary judgment as to all of Plaintiffs claims, including claims based on violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as state law claims for negligence, intentional discrimination, and outrage. For the reasons set forth herein, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 15) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.

I. Background

Plaintiff Scott Braden, on behalf of his minor child M, brings various federal and state law claims against Defendant Mountain Home School District, where M was enrolled as a student at all times relevant to the facts asserted in the Complaint. Plaintiff also brings claims against certain persons employed by Mountain Home School District (“MHSD”), including Charles Scriber, the school Superintendent; Debbie Atkinson, Director of Special Education; Michelle McWilliams, Principal of Pinkston Middle School; Linda White, Vice Principal of Pinkston Middle School; and Cassie Fowler, M’s teacher.

For purposes of summary judgment, the Court views the facts in a light most favorable to the non-movant, Plaintiff. Canada v. Union Elec. Co., 135 F.3d 1211, 1212-13 (8th Cir.1997) (citing Butter v. Buechler, 706 F.2d 844, 846 (8th Cir.1983)). M was first enrolled as a third grade student at MHSD on November 21, 2007, shortly after M and his father relocated to Arkansas from Colorado. Upon enrolling M in school, M’s father advised MHSD that M had been previously diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Reactive Attachment Disorder Syndrome. M had been receiving special education in a mainstreamed classroom setting in Colorado to address these conditions. M’s father also advised MHSD that he and his ex-wife had adopted M when M was three years old, and that prior to adoption, M had suffered sexual abuse while in foster care.

MHSD received a copy of M’s Individualized Education Plan (“IEP”) and behavior plan from his previous school in Colorado; however, after reviewing M’s records, MHSD officials decided that M was not eligible for special education services. Instead, on December 5, 2007, during M’s third grade year, MHSD placed M in Nelson Wilks Elementary School’s Pathways to Success classroom, an Alternative Learning Environment Classroom (“ALEC”). M’s father was not happy about the placement. He requested instead that M receive behavior therapy and counseling through special education services, similar to those M received in Colorado, and placement in a mainstreamed classroom environment, rather than the self-contained ALEC. MHSD did not accede to M’s father’s wishes and kept M in the ALEC for the remainder of the school year.

At the beginning of M’s fourth grade year, on August 29, 2008, M underwent a comprehensive evaluation conducted by MHSD. After the evaluation was completed, MHSD advised that M did not qualify for special education services because M’s disabilities did not adversely impact his educational performance. M was promoted to the fourth grade, but M’s father was told that M would be placed in an ALEC at Pinkston Middle School, along with fifth, sixth, and seventh graders, rather than in an elementary school classroom with other fourth graders M’s age.1 M’s [733]*733father once again objected to the placement, both because M would again receive his education in an ALEC and because M would be schooled with children who were older than M and potentially more socially and behaviorally advanced than M. M’s father was worried that, considering M’s emotional and behavioral disorders and past history of abuse, M was in danger of being bullied and easily influenced by older students in the middle school ALEC.

As the school year progressed, M’s behavior apparently worsened and M’s father continued to object to his placement. According to M’s father, M was suspended multiple times and given detention for apparently escalating behavioral issues during the months of September and October of 2008. In February of 2009, a new student, GL, entered M’s classroom. Over the course of the next several months of school, from approximately February to May of 2009, GL began exhibiting various inappropriate sexual behaviors in class, including periodically exposing his genitalia in class, simulating masturbation, and, on one occasion, placing his penis on the classroom overhead projector in front of the other students. M’s father alleges that a teacher was at all times present in the classroom when these incidents involving GL occurred, and the incidents were reported to the teachers by students. M’s father further alleges that that no teacher or other MHSD official took meaningful action to stop GL’s behaviors from continuing and to protect M even though MHSD knew that M was (1) an emotionally disturbed former victim of sexual abuse and (2) the youngest child in a class of students one to two grades higher than himself.

M’s father contends, and Defendants do not dispute, that in addition to the inappropriate sexual behaviors described above, there are other incidents in which M was specifically targeted for sexual abuse multiple times by GL in the ALEC and in the presence of students and at least one teacher. M’s father alleges that during science class on April 30, 2009, other students witnessed GL sexually assaulting M by forcing M’s head into GL’s genital area while a teacher was present in the classroom. M’s father reported this incident to M’s teacher but states that he received no response. On May 8, 2009, M’s father notified the school resource officer about the inappropriate sexual behaviors of GL, but he again received no response. Also on May 8, 2009, M exposed himself to another student in the bathroom and received disciplinary action. On May 12, 2009, in the presence of a paraprofessional, GL pulled down his shorts during math class, exposed himself to M, and compelled M to perform oral sex on him, which M did while another student watched.

The May 12 incident was reported to police by school officials. The police report of the incident, which was submitted to the Court under seal (Doc. 20, Exhibit 3)2, describes facts that, if proven to be true, may establish that some, if not all, of the individual Defendants had actual or constructive knowledge that M’s classroom environment was potentially dangerous to M, as well as to other students, and that M’s educational placement subjected him to the danger of being sexually abused or undergoing other emotional trauma.

After the May 12 incident, M’s licensed therapist wrote a letter to MHSD (Doc. 26-3), requesting that M be placed in an alternative classroom setting so that he would not have to return to the classroom where he was sexually abused. However, [734]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Moore v. Hamline University
D. Minnesota, 2024
Deweese v. Munyan
E.D. Arkansas, 2021
Stevenson v. Blytheville School District No. 5
955 F. Supp. 2d 955 (E.D. Arkansas, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
903 F. Supp. 2d 729, 2012 WL 5183575, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149967, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/braden-ex-rel-m-v-mountain-home-school-district-arwd-2012.