Lee v. Natomas Unified School District

93 F. Supp. 3d 1160, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24253, 2015 WL 871969
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedFebruary 27, 2015
DocketNo. 2:13-cv-00181-MCE-EFB
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 93 F. Supp. 3d 1160 (Lee v. Natomas Unified School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Natomas Unified School District, 93 F. Supp. 3d 1160, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24253, 2015 WL 871969 (E.D. Cal. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR., Chief Judge.

Through the present action, Plaintiff Brason Lee (“Plaintiff’) claims he was retaliated against by the Natomas Unified School District (“Defendants” or “NUSD”) for advocating on his daughter’s behalf with respect to the provision of special educational services. According to Plain- ' tiff, Defendants’ conduct in this regard ran afoul of both Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794, (hereinafter “Section 504”) and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (“ADA”). Currently before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, or alternatively for summary adjudication as to certain claims. (ECF No. 14). For the reasons set forth below, Defendants’ Motion is DENIED.1

BACKGROUND2

Plaintiff is the parent of a student (“Student”) who previously attended Two Rivers Elementary in the Natomas Unified School District (“NUSD”). Beginning in 2007, when she had not yet turned three years of age, Student began receiving speech and language services from NUSD. Student was eligible for such services under the Speech and Language category of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (“IDEA”).

In 2009, while Student was still in preschool, NUSD conducted a psycho-educational assessment (“Assessment”), which concluded that Student had a disability which fell along the Autism spectrum. Based on this Assessment, NUSD determined that Student should continue to receive speech and language services from NUSD. Decl. of Suzanne Johnstone (“Johnstone”), ECF No. 14-8, ¶ 6. Plaintiff disagreed with a number of the conclusions in the Assessment and was active in voicing that disagreement. Plaintiff authored a letter to the NUSD Board of Trustees (“Board”) in September of 2009, setting forth his disagreement with the Assessment in an attempt to have it removed from Student’s record. Id. at 119.

Although the Board found the Assessment was proper, Plaintiff continued to request that the Assessment be removed from Student’s record in subsequent correspondence with NUSD. Id. He authored numerous written communications in that regard, which Plaintiff claims represented an effort to advocate on behalf of his daughter’s rights. These communications included allegations that the Director of NUSD’s Special Education Program, Suzanne Johnstone (“hereinafter referred to as Director”), and other NUSD staff, acted unlawfully and/or unethically, and falsified records as to compliance with Student’s [1163]*1163Individualized Education Program (“IEP”). Johnstone at ¶ 10. In providing the needed speech and language therapy-services, Student’s March 22, 2010, IEP called for sixty (60) sessions per school year, at twenty-five (25) minutes each, with licensed speech and language pathologist Sean Green (“Green”). Id. at ¶ 7. Green scheduled these sessions at a rate of approximately two times per week. Id. Plaintiff believed that NUSD was failing to comply with the terms of the IEP and subsequently falsifying records to show Student had received services when she had not. Id. at ¶¶ 10,12, 21.

In July 2010, Plaintiff approached Green to allege that his daughter was not receiving the speech therapy outlined in her IEP. Deck of Sean Green (“Green”), ECF No. 14-7, ¶¶ 5-7. Green claims he tried to assure Plaintiff that Student’s speech therapy had started, but Plaintiff stated that this was “hard to believe.” Id. On another occasion, Plaintiff asked Green to meet him outside of campus, but did not state the purpose for the meeting, and refused to make an appointment with him at school to discuss Student’s program. Id.

On October 8, 2010, Plaintiff emailed a copy of an article titled “Administrative Pressures to Practice Unethically: Research and Suggested Strategies” to Student’s first grade teacher, as well as to Sean Green. Johnstone at ¶ 11. On October 6, 2010, Plaintiff emailed Dr. Susan Heredia, a NUSD Board member, to complain that Student was not receiving her scheduled speech therapy. Decl. of Bobbie Plough (“Plough”), ECF No. 14-5, ¶4. In this correspondence Plaintiff made accusations that NUSD staff had engaged in “periodic alterations in speech services” as retaliation for a “parental challenge.” Id. This e-mail was shared with Bobbie Plough (“Superintendent”), the then Superintendent of NUSD, who proceeded to tell Plaintiff that she would contact Green to ensure his compliance with Student’s IEP. Id. at ¶¶ 4-6.

Plaintiff responded to the Superintendent’s e-mail on October 11, 2010, and copied that response on all NUSD Board members, as well as on Plaintiffs own attorney. Id. at ¶ 7. Plaintiff stated that he would “hold [Superintendent] personally accountable for the truthfulness and accuracy of all information provided to [Plaintiff] from [that] date and [would] consider any continued acts of deception or misrepresentation by NUSD officials as acts endorsed by [Superintendent] and the Board.” Id. The Superintendent perceived those statements as an accusation that she and the Board would attempt to deceive Plaintiff in future communications regarding Student. Id. Two days later, on October 13, 2010, the Director e-mailed Plaintiff, summarized the scope of services provided in Student’s March 22, 2010 IEP, and reported on the number of speech and language therapy sessions provided. Johnstone at ¶ 12. She additionally assured Plaintiff that Student would receive all contemplated sessions during the IEP year. Id.

Following additional correspondence from Plaintiff to the Superintendent, to Two Rivers Principal Leslie Sargent (“Principal”), to NUSD’s Board of Trustees, and to Sean Green himself, the Superintendent became concerned that Plaintiff was challenging staffs credibility and integrity. Plough at ¶¶ 9-10. She was also concerned about Plaintiffs ultimatums in demanding specific time periods for particular responses, as well as the inferences Plaintiff purported to draw from any failure to meet those deadlines. Id. at ¶ 10. Because she felt “annoyed and harassed” by this course of conduct, Superintendent Plough asked the Director to contact NUSD attorneys to see whether all future communications with Plaintiff could be [1164]*1164routed through counsel as opposed to NUSD staff. Id. On October 22, 2010, an e-mail was sent to Plaintiff instructing him to direct all future communications to NUSDs’ attorney. Id. at ¶ 11.

Plaintiff approached Green the following day on school grounds, stating that “[NUSD] is in trouble, we are talking about felonies, so be careful.” Green at ¶ 10. Plaintiff also asked Green whether he treated Plaintiffs daughter like his own child, which Green claims he found bizarre and threatening. Id.

On October 24, 2010, Plaintiff wrote a letter to the Office of Special Education Programs (“OSEP”) of .the U.S. Department of Education, which was copied to the Principal, the entire NUSD Board, the Director of the Sacramento Special Education Local Plan Area, Green, Student’s classroom teacher, and “other interested parties.” Plough at ¶ 12.

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

Related

(PC) Ellis v. Williams
E.D. California, 2025
Valli v. Mayorkas
S.D. California, 2023
Harry Gers v. New Roads School
C.D. California, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 F. Supp. 3d 1160, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24253, 2015 WL 871969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-natomas-unified-school-district-caed-2015.