Johnson v. Independent School District No. 47

194 F. Supp. 2d 939, 2002 WL 539078
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedApril 4, 2002
Docket00-CV-2073 JMR/RLE
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 194 F. Supp. 2d 939 (Johnson v. Independent School District No. 47) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Independent School District No. 47, 194 F. Supp. 2d 939, 2002 WL 539078 (mnd 2002).

Opinion

ORDER

ROSENBAUM, Chief Judge.

Defendant, Independent School District No. 47, serves Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, and its environs. The Sauk Rapids High School is a part of the District. Plaintiff, K.M., a special needs student, was enrolled at the school during the 1999-2000 school year.

This case arises from the school’s seemingly-innocuous publication of its yearbook. *941 It has devolved into a case in which plaintiff claims she suffered peer sexual harassment at the school, as well as a number of injuries under state law. It is a case where the Court, in the end, concludes that, while children are not always kind, their unkindness does not always rise to a compensable federal claim. As a result, defendant’s motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is hereby granted.

I. Background

This case developed during plaintiffs junior year. Thomas Blair was the school principal; Mary Kathryn Sorenson was the school yearbook advisor. Joleen Koop-man was plaintiffs school case manager. Jon Leintz was another school case manager. Plaintiff played the flute in the school band. In mid-September, 1999, three yearbook staff members approached plaintiff in the band room and asked if they could take her picture for the yearbook. She agreed, but asked that the picture be “clean.”

As they left the band room, the yearbook staff members said “one time at band camp ...,” and asked plaintiff if she had ever attended band camp. She said she had no idea what they were talking about. They told her the quote was from the movie “American Pie” and suggested she see it. 1 Plaintiff denies she gave them permission to use the quote with her picture, and that she knew they might use the quote in conjunction with her photo. The staff indicates plaintiff gave her consent. When plaintiff arrived home that evening she asked her older sister what the quote meant. Her sister explained the reference and urged plaintiff not to see the movie.

Following the photo session, plaintiff claims she was verbally harassed by two fellow students — “R.R.” and “B.” According to plaintiff, R.R. spoke to her approximately 20 times between mid-September and December, 1999, making statements such as “Did you have fun with your flute last night?” and “Does it turn you on?” There is no record reference to any physical contact between plaintiff and either of the identified-students. The teasing primarily took place in the school hallways, out of the teachers’ and administrators’ sight.

Plaintiff states she reported the harassment to Ms. Koopman and Mr. Leintz in the fall of 1999, and was told “they would take care of it.” Mr. Leintz and Ms. Koopman deny that plaintiff brought any specific concerns of any gender-based harassment to their attention in 1999. Instead, they claim plaintiffs only expressed concerns were characteristic of general teasing, such as teasing her for the loudness of her voice. Plaintiff, however, says she told each counselor about the “one time at band camp” quote, but is clear that she did not understand what it meant and did not tell the case managers about the words’ sexual connotation. The case managers agree they did not understand what it meant either. After December, 1999, plaintiff states the teasing subsided, up until the events in May, 2000.

A. Pre-Yearbook Distribution

The record is not absolutely clear when the school staff learned that the words *942 “one time at band camp” were printed within the text of the yearbook and the connotation of the phrase. According to plaintiff, she mentioned it in March; the staff claims they were not informed until early May. In the final analysis, the Court does not consider the date to be disposi-tive. For purposes of this motion, the Court resolves the matter in favor of the nonmoving party and assumes it to March, 2000. Radaszewski v. Telecom Corp., 981 F.2d 305, 310 (8th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 908, 113 S.Ct. 2338, 124 L.Ed.2d 248(1993); Fed.R.Civ.P. 56.

Plaintiff says another student told her the phrase was the yearbook’s band page title in March. Plaintiff states she told Ms. Sorenson she had heard it was the band page’s title, and she did not like it or think it was appropriate. She did not tell Ms. Sorenson why it might be inappropriate, nor did she suggest to a school staff member that the phrase might caption her photograph. It appears the yearbook was composed on a computer, and plaintiff asked Ms. Sorenson to show her the computer’s version of the band page. Because this request occurred between classes, and time was short, Ms. Sorenson promised she would look at it later. Plaintiff agrees that Ms. Sorenson did so, and the viewing showed the band camp page was not titled “one time at band camp.”

In May of 2000, shortly after speaking with plaintiff about the yearbook, Ms. Sor-enson discussed plaintiffs concern with Brenda Kipka, her predecessor as yearbook advisor. Ms. Sorenson asked Ms. Kipka if she thought “one time at band camp” was inappropriate. Ms. Kipka said the reference seemed normal, but Leah Thompson, a student teacher, overheard the conversation and explained the sexual context of the phrase, 2 and opined that the phrase would be inappropriate.

Later in May, 2000, plaintiff learned “one time at band camp” was going to be next to her picture in the yearbook. She told Ms. Sorenson, but by this time the yearbook had gone to the publisher and was printed and bound. Faced with this reality, Ms. Sorenson and Ms. Kipka discussed possible ways to address the caption, which they now understood to be inappropriate.

Ms. Kipka told Ms. Sorenson she had used “stickers” in the past. In her deposition, Ms. Sorenson testified that stickers were:

the best option, that we could cover the caption, that there would be no embarrassment to [K.M.], that students wouldn’t know. And in the past, they [students] have not paid attention to the stickers and it would be the only way that students could get their books, which they had paid for.

Ex. 2, at 82. Ms. Sorenson also consulted with Mr. Blair about the situation and possible solution. Ms. Sorenson said she felt distributing the books on schedule with a nearly imperceptible correction would minimize attention to plaintiff. Sanders Aff., Ex. A. Ms. Sorenson telephoned the yearbook printing company and asked about stickers that could not be removed, and if removed, would leave an opaque residue which would render the underlying phrase illegible. Stickers were then ordered.

*943 When the yearbooks and stickers arrived, Ms. Sorenson tested a sticker on the roll they came on, checking to see if it could be peeled off.

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

Related

Prasad v. George Washington University
District of Columbia, 2019
Prasad v. George Wash. Univ.
390 F. Supp. 3d 1 (D.C. Circuit, 2019)
Greene v. Hense
District of Columbia, 2019
Fox v. Pittsburg State University
257 F. Supp. 3d 1112 (D. Kansas, 2017)
Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools
551 F.3d 438 (Sixth Circuit, 2009)
Theno v. Tonganoxie Unified School District No. 464
377 F. Supp. 2d 952 (D. Kansas, 2005)
Burwell v. Pekin Community High School District 303
213 F. Supp. 2d 917 (C.D. Illinois, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
194 F. Supp. 2d 939, 2002 WL 539078, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-independent-school-district-no-47-mnd-2002.