Hendrix v. DeKalb County Board of Education

186 F. Supp. 3d 779, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60602, 2016 WL 2595103
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedMay 5, 2016
DocketNo. 2:14-00052
StatusPublished

This text of 186 F. Supp. 3d 779 (Hendrix v. DeKalb County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hendrix v. DeKalb County Board of Education, 186 F. Supp. 3d 779, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60602, 2016 WL 2595103 (M.D. Tenn. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

KEVIN H. SHARP, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

In this action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Plaintiff Brad Hendrix alleges that Defendants Dekalb County Board of Education and Mark Willoughby retaliated against him after Plaintiff, in his role as a County Commissioner, voted against the purchase of land for new school construction. Defendants have filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 21), to which Plaintiff has responded in opposition (Docket No. 26), and Defendants have replied (Docket No. 2¾). For the reasons that follow, summary judgment will be granted in favor of Defendants.

I. Factual Background1

Plaintiff is a teacher for the DeKalb County Board of Education. The Director of Schools was Defendant Willoughby, who assumed that position in July 2006.

As Director of Schools, Defendant Wil-loughby was the chief operating officer of the school system and ultimately responsible for its overall operation. He personally interviewed and made the hiring decisions regarding the central office staff and school principals. His job also included recommending tenure to the Board of Education, but he only rarely interviewed applicants for teaching positions, and generally did not interview persons for school-[781]*781level positions other than that of principal.2 That is, although Defendant Willoughby was ultimately responsible for hiring teachers, coaches and school personnel, he generally accepted the recommendation of the building principal on the appointment and assignment of personnel within the principal’s particular school. Moreover, Defendant Willoughby generally did not involve himself in the day-to-day operation of an individual school, but left that responsibility to each principal who was to operate his or her school in accordance with school board policy.

Shortly after he became the Director, Defendant Willoughby learned that some teachers were taking vacation days during the school year and claiming sick time so that they would' not lose pay. He advised all school personnel that the practice had to stop. While the employees remained free to attend to personal matters during school days (if they received principal approval) that time would either be charged against personal leave or taken as leave without pay.

Even though Plaintiff does not recall being told that sick days could not be used for vacation, he does recall being told that sick leave was to be used for illness. Nevertheless, Plaintiff admittedly used sick leave to take golf trips during instructional times but claims (without citation to the record) that he played golf on those occasions to relieve stress at the recommendation of his doctor.

In August 2010, Plaintiff was elected to the DeKalb County Commission, and took office on September 1, 2010. In March 2011, the School Board sought approval from the Commission for the purchase of land to be used in the construction of a school. Plaintiff voted against the purchase of the property.

On December 9, 2011, Plaintiff, other teachers, and students went on a field trip to á Chuck- E. Cheese restaurant in Mur-freesboro, Tennessee. Plaintiff left the field trip early to attend a basketball game in Smithville, Tennessee. Dr. Billy Tanner, the Principal of Smithville Elementary School where Plaintiff worked claims that Plaintiff left without prior permission, a contention Plaintiff disputes (again without citation to the ■ record). Regardless, Dr. Tanner recommended to Defendant Wil-loughby that Plaintiff be suspended for one day without pay for that conduct, which Defendant Willoughby approved. Plaintiff appealed his suspension, but it was affirmed by an administrative hearing officer. Plaintiff then appealed that decision to the school board, which upheld the decision but increased the period of suspension to three days.

From the date of the March 2011 land purchase vote until the Chuck E. Cheese incident on December 11, 2011, the only adverse job action Plaintiff identifies as retaliation for his vote was that his before-school car drop-off duties were taken away, and he was instead assigned after-school car pick-up duties. This meant that, instead of having to arrive 15 to 20 minutes early, he left 15 to 20 minutes later. Although Plaintiff believes that this alleged retaliation was orchestrated by Defendant Willoughby, he has no proof, circumstantial or otherwise, to support that belief, and Defendant Willoughby specifically denies being involved in the decision to change Plaintiff from drop-off to pick-up duties.

On May 11, 2012, Plaintiff was issued a Letter of Reprimand and Plan of Corrective Action. The letter, signed by Defendant Willoughby, stated that Plaintiff had [782]*782a history of leaving school and school activities early without obtaining permission and pointed to the Chuck E. Cheese incident as an example. The letter then went on, to state that on April 18, 2012, Plaintiff attended an “Autism program” but left without good cause or permission. In fact, Plaintiff allegedly told a participant at the seminar that he had to leave early because he had a meeting with Defendant Wil-loughby. This was untrue. Plaintiff was informed that the letter would be placed in his personnel file and warned that this was a final notice “to refrain from this unprofessional and insubordinate behavior.” (Docket No. 22-2 at 2). Plaintiff refused to sign the letter.

In May of 2013 the Supervisor of Attendance position in the central office was posted as a result of the incumbent’s decision to retire at the end of the 2012-13 school year. That position requires either an educator license endorsement code “094,” which is specific to Supervisor of Attendance, or a school administrator’s license or endorsement.

Three applicants applied for the position: Plaintiff, David Gash, and Joey Reed-er. All three were facially qualified: Mr. Reeder had held a Supervisor of Attendance endorsement for a number of years; Mr. Gash had an administrator’s endorsement; and Plaintiff had an administrator’s endorsement, but had also filed for a Supervisor of Attendance endorsement by the time he applied and received the endorsement a few days after his application was filed. Of the three candidates, Mr. Reeder was the only one who had prior experience as a Supervisor of Attendance, having served in such capacity from June 1997 to July 1999 under a previous Director of Schools.

Defendant Willoughby selected Mr, Reeder as the Supervisor of Attendance. He claims that he chose Mr. Reeder because he was the most qualified and the only one with prior experience in the position. Defendant Willoughby also claims that, had he not appointed Mr. Reeder, he would have selected Mr. Gash because he had prior experience as an administrator (7 years as the Assistant Principal of the DeKalb County High School), whereas Plaintiff had no experience ás an administrator. Moreover, Defendant Willoughby asserts that even if Plaintiff were the sole applicant, he would not chosen him but rather would have reposted the job because, as became apparent during the appeal of the suspension, Plaintiff had a history of leaving school without permission to attend to personal matters.

Plaintiff can identify no retaliatory actions that occurred between the letter of reprimand of May 11, 2012, and his failure to receive the Supervisor of Attendance position in June 2013.

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Bluebook (online)
186 F. Supp. 3d 779, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60602, 2016 WL 2595103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hendrix-v-dekalb-county-board-of-education-tnmd-2016.