Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools

551 F.3d 438, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 25, 2009 WL 22859
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 6, 2009
Docket08-1008
StatusPublished
Cited by70 cases

This text of 551 F.3d 438 (Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools, 551 F.3d 438, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 25, 2009 WL 22859 (6th Cir. 2009).

Opinions

MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which WHITE, J., joined. VINSON, D.J. (pp. 451-61), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-Appellants David Patterson and Dena Patterson (collectively referred to as “the Pattersons”), appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee Hudson Area Schools (“Hudson”) on the Pattersons’ claim that Hudson violated Title IX by allowing their son, DP,1 to be harassed by other students. The Pattersons’ sole argument is that the district court erred in finding that, as a matter of law, Hudson was not deliberately indifferent to the alleged sexual harassment of DP.

Because we believe that the Pattersons have established that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Hudson was deliberately indifferent to the stu-denton-student sexual harassment of DP, we REVERSE the grant of summary judgment and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURE

Because this case involves a motion for summary judgment, we will detail the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmov-ing party, the Pattersons. DP was a student of Hudson schools during all relevant time periods. Beginning in 2002, during DP’s sixth-grade year, various classmates of DP began teasing DP, calling him names, and pushing and shoving him in the hallways. DP was pushed into lockers and called names such as “queer,” “faggot,” and “pig” by various students on a daily basis. Joint Appendix (“J.A.”) at 668-70 (DP Dep. at 28-30). DP reported at least some of these instances to the school and was told “kids will be kids, it’s middle school.” J.A. at 672 (DP Dep. at 33). DP also began receiving psychological treatment from Dr. Gretchen Warwick, Ph.D.2 [440]*440According to Dr. Warwick, this harassment caused DP to be distraught, anxious, and angry.

The type of harassment DP faced in sixth grade escalated during DP’s seventh-grade year, when he was called names such as “fat,” “faggot,” “gay,” “queer,” “pig,” and “man boobs” on a daily basis. J.A. at 672-74 (DP Dep. at 33, 36-37). DP believes he was called these names more than 200 times during his seventh-grade year. He also was frequently pushed in the hallways. Additionally, DP was called “Mr. Clean” by his peers, a derogatory term that referred to DP’s supposed lack of pubic hair.

On one occasion, DP attempted to stop a female classmate, BC, from tormenting another student. In response, BC slapped DP. Though, upon learning about the incident, band teacher Crystal Bough, told DP she “w[ould] take care of it,” the Patter-sons were never contacted by the school, nor did Ms. Bough report the incident to the principal. J.A. at 678-79 (DP Dep. at 44-45). The Pattersons learned from DP that he had been assaulted at school. This incident led to further teasing, including teasing from geography teacher John Red-ding, who asked DP later that same day in front of a full class of students: “[H]ow does it feel to be hit by a girl[?]” J.A. at 680 (DP Dep. at 46). The class laughed at DP.

DP wanted to quit school by the end of the first semester of seventh grade. Principal Greg Rozeveld3 offered to mentor DP through this hard time. However, according to Mrs. Patterson, when DP first began to meet with Principal Rozeveld, DP was released from class early to attend the meeting. The first visit went smoothly, but Principal Rozeveld was not in his office when DP arrived for the next three visits. On these occasions, DP would return to class, which caused the teacher to decide to stop sending DP early to meet with Principal Rozeveld. Instead, she waited until she released the problem students to go to the office to have their planners signed at the end of the school day. After only a couple of weeks, DP expressed to Mrs. Patterson that he no longer wanted to go with the problem students because other students were beginning to think he was a trouble-maker. DP stopped going to meet with Principal Rozeveld shortly thereafter.

These incidents caused DP to withdraw to the point that he began eating lunch in the bandroom by himself to avoid his tormentors. His interim grades were also low; however, DP did receive higher final grades.

The Pattersons and DP repeatedly reported several incidents of harassment to Hudson. As the district court accurately detailed, DP and the Pattersons reported the following incidents:

1. Sixth Grade:
a. Dave Patterson spoke to a teacher about teasing directed at [DP] and how [DP] felt upset and humiliated.
b. [The Pattersons] attended parent teacher conferences to talk about the name calling, etc.
c. [The Pattersons] met with Principal Rozeveld to discuss the pushing, shoving and name calling of [DP],
2. Seventh Grade:
a. [The Pattersons] and school counsel- or Susan Mansfield (“Ms.Mansfield”) discussed the fact that [DP] was [441]*441having a hard time at school in November and/or December, 2002.
b. [The Pattersons] and several teachers met to discuss [DP]’s anxiety about being (i) bullied and teased, (ii) the victim of sexually offensive name calling, and (iii) pushed into lockers.
c. [The Pattersons] met with Principal Rozeveld just before Christmas 2002 about [DP] not wanting to come back to school because of teasing, bullying, and being called “gay”, “fag”, “queer.” [The Pattersons] also discussed the impact of those things on [DP]’s schooling, his feelings of being ostracized and his suffering grades. Names of perpetrators allegedly were provided. They also discussed the incident of [DP] being slapped by [BC] and Mr. Red-ding teasing [DP] about it.
d. During the second semester of seventh grade, [the Pattersons] discussed problems [DP] endured with Ms. Mansfield and other staff.
e. [The Pattersons] communicated with school staff throughout [DP]’s seventh grade year over academic and social issues. The [Pattersons] asked staff what, if anything, [DP] was doing to cause his peers to tease and taunt him. [The Pattersons] claim that they were told consistently that [DP] was doing nothing wrong.

Patterson v. Hudson Area Schools, No. 05-74439, 2007 WL 4201137, * 1-2 (E.D.Mich. Nov.28, 2007) (unpublished opinion and order).

During the summer between seventh grade and eighth grade, Ms. Mansfield, along with social worker Tammy Cates, filled out a referral form to have DP evaluated for special education services. This evaluation established that DP is emotionally impaired as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. An Individual Education Placement Team was convened and an individual education program was developed. Pursuant to the program, DP was assigned to attend teacher Ted Adams’s resource room during one period of the day for all of the eighth-grade year. Mr. Adams was helpful in teaching DP how to cope with his peers. All parties agree that DP had a successful eighth-grade year; by using the resource room, DP was able to learn effectively.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
551 F.3d 438, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 25, 2009 WL 22859, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-hudson-area-schools-ca6-2009.