Burwell v. Pekin Community High School District 303

213 F. Supp. 2d 917, 168 Educ. L. Rep. 328, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15003
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 14, 2002
Docket2:00-cv-02111
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 213 F. Supp. 2d 917 (Burwell v. Pekin Community High School District 303) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burwell v. Pekin Community High School District 303, 213 F. Supp. 2d 917, 168 Educ. L. Rep. 328, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15003 (C.D. Ill. 2002).

Opinion

ORDER

McCUSKEY, District Judge.

This case is before this court for ruling on Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (# 103). This court has carefully reviewed the voluminous documents and arguments presented by the parties. The record shows that Plaintiff, Patricia Renee Burwell, was a senior at Pekin Community High School during the 1997-1998 school year and graduated in May 1998. Beginning in February 1998, Plaintiff reported that she was the victim of sexual harassment by male students at the school. Pe-kin High School administrators looked into these reports and concluded that no sexual harassment occurred. The administrators determined, instead, that there was a conflict between Plaintiff and her brother, Mark Burwell (Mark), on one side, and some male students at the school, including Nick Joesting, Rob Seaman, Jake Adkins, Scott Nunan, Derek Salisbury and Tim Sullivan, on the other side. The administrators took some action in an attempt to keep these two antagonistic groups separated from each other.

Plaintiff, and her family, were outraged that the administrators at the school did not take her reports more seriously and did not discipline the male students based on her reports. On September 14, 1999, Plaintiff filed her Complaint (# 1) against Defendants, Pekin Community High School District 303 and Pekin Community High School Board of Education. Plaintiff alleged that she was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment that was so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that she was deprived of access to educational opportunities and benefits. Plaintiff alleged that Defendants were therefore liable for intentional sexual harassment in violation of Title IX (20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.). Plaintiff also alleged that Defendants retaliated against her for her complaints of sexual harassment in violation of Title IX.

This court concludes that it is highly questionable whether the conduct reported by Plaintiff could be considered “sexual” harassment under Title IX. This court further concludes that there is no evidence that any sexual harassment suffered by Plaintiff was “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, and so undermine[d] and detracted] from [Plaintiffs] educational experience, that [Plaintiff was] effectively denied equal access to [Defendants’] resources and opportunities.” See Davis v. Monroe County Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629, 651, 119 S.Ct. 1661, 143 L.Ed.2d 839 (1999). The undisputed facts show that Plaintiff received her highest grades the second semester of her senior year of high school, was on the honor roll and graduated with her class in May 1998. Moreover, this court concludes that the administrators had information from a liaison police officer at the school, and other independent witnesses, which showed that some of Plaintiffs complaints may have been unfounded and which showed that Plaintiff and her brother may have had a role in instigating some of the conflicts. The administrators dealt with the reports, from both sides of the conflict, by attempting to keep the two sides separate from each other. This court concludes that the administrators’ actions were not “clearly unreasonable” considering the information they had at the time. This court therefore concludes that it cannot say that Defendants were “deliberately indifferent” to Plaintiffs claims of sexual harassment. Accordingly, following this court’s careful review of the record in this case, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (# 103) is GRANTED. Because of this ruling, this court further concludes that *919 the remaining motions pending in this case are MOOT.

FACTS 1

As noted previously, Plaintiff was a senior at Pekin Community High School during the 1997-98 school year. Mark was also a senior at the high school. Plaintiffs mother, Patricia K. Burwell, was a teacher at the school. In 1997, she had taught at the high school for 29 years. During the 1997-98 school year, the administrators at the high school were: Ken Schwab, superintendent; Paula Davis, assistant superintendent; Tim Ruwe, principal; Joseph Sehwalb, assistant principal; and Roger Fleisher, dean of students.

Plaintiff testified at her deposition that, toward the end of the first semester of the 1997-98 school year, some of the male students, including Joesting and Adkins, sometimes came over to the lunch table where she was sitting with Mark, Amy Behm, Ryan Weller, Nick Boekler and Ryan Carter. Plaintiff testified that Joesting and Adkins would yell “slut, bitch and pussies at us, and try to say that they wanted to fight us, and stuff like that.” Plaintiff testified that the name-calling was directed toward Plaintiff and Behm. Plaintiff did not report this to anyone at the high school. 2 Plaintiff also testified that these male students were members of a gang known as the MOBs. MOB stood for Men Over Bitches or Money Over Bitches. According to Plaintiff, the MOBs congregated in an area known as the cove, which was located directly across from the school counselors’ office. According to Defendants, there was an intramural basketball team at the high school called “M.O.B.” The team used this name during the 1996-1997 school year. Ruwe, the principal, directed the team to change its name during the spring semester in 1998 when play began in late March. There was no team called “M.O.B.” during the 1997-1998 school year.

On February 16, 1998, Mark was driving out of the parking lot, away from school. Mark testified that he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to pull out and Seaman ripped his door open. Mark stated that Seaman grabbed his arm and the steering wheel and tried to drag him out of the vehicle. 3 Mark gave him an elbow and pushed him away: Mark testified that Seaman did not say anything. The Chief *920 of the Park Police was in the parking lot and witnessed the incident. Mark at first declined to press criminal charges, but decided to press charges a few days later. Seaman was later interviewed about this incident and said that he went after Mark because he was told that Mark stole his lunch money. Mark testified at his deposition that Seaman “may have” thought he had stolen money from Seaman at lunch. Mark denied stealing any money from Seaman.

The next day, February 17, 1998, Plaintiff was in her publications class and was talking to another student about the attack on Mark. Joesting, who was also in the publications class, overheard her and said Seaman had done nothing wrong. Joest-ing and Plaintiff began arguing and Joest-ing asked Plaintiff if she wanted him to call her a slut. The teacher came into the room and told Joesting to quiet down. He told her he did not have to take that from an old lady, grabbed a pass from her and left the room. The teacher reported Joesting’s conduct and he received a Saturday school detention as discipline.

On February 18,1998, Plaintiff was driving through the parking lot with Behm. She heard Joesting yell slut. Plaintiff parked her car, and she and Behm walked over to where Joesting and a group of male students were gathered.

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Bluebook (online)
213 F. Supp. 2d 917, 168 Educ. L. Rep. 328, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15003, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burwell-v-pekin-community-high-school-district-303-ilcd-2002.