Project Reflect, Inc. Smithson Craighead Middle School v. Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education

947 F. Supp. 2d 868, 2013 WL 2250718, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72250
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedMay 22, 2013
DocketNo. 3:13-cv-00341
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 947 F. Supp. 2d 868 (Project Reflect, Inc. Smithson Craighead Middle School v. Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public 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
Project Reflect, Inc. Smithson Craighead Middle School v. Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education, 947 F. Supp. 2d 868, 2013 WL 2250718, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72250 (M.D. Tenn. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

KEVIN H. SHARP, District Judge.

Plaintiff Project Reflect, Inc. Smithson Craighead Middle School, a nonprofit charter school, and two parents of children enrolled in the school bring this putative class action lawsuit against the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education (the “Board”) and individual defendants Metro Nashville Public Schools (“MNPS”) Director of Schools Jesse Register and MNPS Office of Innovation Executive Director Alan Coverstone. In it, they allege that the Defendants violated their rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution when the Board, relying on the recommendation of Register and Coverstone, voted on November 13, 2012, to revoke Smithson Craig-head’s charter, effectively shutting down the school at the end of the current academic year. Among other forms of relief requested, Plaintiffs ásk the Court to issue a Preliminary Injunction' preventing Defendants from closing Smithson Craighead and from interfering with its operations. (Docket Nos. 2 & 8).

In response, Defendants have filed Motions to Dismiss (Docket Nos. 12 & 14) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), and, with respect to the individual Defendants, on the grounds that they are entitled to qualified immunity from suit. They have also asked the Court to stay discovery pending resolution of the qualified immunity issue (Docket No. 21) and have responded to the Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Docket No. 24). Plaintiffs have responded to the Motions to Dismiss (Docket No. 23), and Defendants have replied (Docket No. 29).

For the reasons explained herein, the Court will grant Defendants’ Motions to [872]*872Dismiss and deny as moot all other pending motions.

FACTS 1

Project Reflect, Inc., has started several educational initiatives with MNPS since 1994 designed to address the academic and developmental needs of low-income students. Project Reflect, Inc. Smithson Craighead Middle School has operated a public charter elementary school in Nashville since 2003, after the Board approved their 2002 application and renewed it in 2008. In 2008, Project Reflect, Inc., presented to MNPS and the Board an application to open and run a charter middle school targeting minority, underprivileged, and Title I students.

The Board granted this charter, and Smithson Craighead Middle School (SCMS) opened in an MNPS “abandoned school” in August 2009. The leaky, flooding, and deteriorating facility necessitated that SCMS move to Madison before its third year of operation, and due to student displacement associated with this move, standardized test scores were low. Despite the parties being signatories to a “collaboration compact” in which they pledged to support one another, Cover-stone did not visit or proidde support or notification of areas of concern for SCMS when he determined the school needed assistance.

On November 13, 2012, the Board voted 8-1 to revoke SCMS’ charter because it was underperforming academically. However, test scores were improving incrementally, the school was safe, and it had been taking steps since February 2012 to turn around the academic performance of the school. At the November 13 board meeting in which Coverstone and Register presented their recommendation to revoke the charter, Dr. Carolyn Baldwin Tucker addressed the Board during the public comment period and urged them not to revoke SCMS’ charter. Parents and representatives of SCMS were not allowed to speak other than during the public comment period. SCMS was not notified of the decision to recommend closure of the school until November 9, 2012.

The school has deteriorated since the Board’s November 13 action. Parents have withdrawn students and sent them to other schools; teachers have transferred; students could not concentrate on their standardized tests; when MNPS officials have visited the campus, they have created stress for students,and faculty by their very presence as “closers of the school.” As of April 1, 2013, enrollment dropped 20%, forcing the school to adopt undesirable schedule, curriculum, and-operational changes. Its programming has suffered, and it has experienced economic harm.

LEGAL STANDARD

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require a plaintiff to provide “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). In deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court will “construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept its allegations as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.” Directo, Inc. v. Treesh, 487 F.3d 471, 476 (6th Cir.2007); Inge v. Rock Fin. Corp., 281 F.3d 613, 619 (6th Cir.2002). The Court must assume that all of the factual allegations are true, even if they are doubtful in fact. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). However, “[i]n addition to the [873]*873allegations in the complaint, [the Court] may also consider other materials that are integral to the complaint, are public records, or are otherwise appropriate for the taking of judicial notice.” Ashland, Inc. v. Oppenheimer & Co., Inc., 648 F.3d 461, 467 (6th Cir.2011) (citation omitted). In contrast, legal conclusions are not entitled to the assumption of truth. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

Generally, a complaint does not need to contain “detailed factual allegations,” although its allegations “must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “Blanket assertions” or a “formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action” are not sufficient. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 556 n. 3,127 S.Ct. 1955. In other words, “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). The factual allegations must “allow[ ] the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. at 1949-50. This is a “context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 1950. “In the context of Section 1983 municipal liability, courts have interpreted Iqbal’s standards strictly.” Hutchison v. Metro. Gov’t, 685 F.Supp.2d 747, 751 (M.D.Tenn.2010); Maness v. Boston Scientific, 751 F.Supp.2d 962, 966 (E.D.Tenn.2010) (explaining that Twombly applies to state-law claims in federal cases).

ANALYSIS

Plaintiffs’ Complaint under. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleges that Defendants deprived Plaintiff Project Reflect, Inc.

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947 F. Supp. 2d 868, 2013 WL 2250718, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/project-reflect-inc-smithson-craighead-middle-school-v-metropolitan-tnmd-2013.