Isabella A. v. Arrowhead Union High Sch. Dist.
Isabella A. v. Arrowhead Union High Sch. Dist.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff is a student at Arrowhead Union High School ("Arrowhead") and a member of the girls' soccer team. She brings this action against the school administration pursuant to
Defendants, collectively referred to herein as "Arrowhead," have moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state any viable claims for relief. (Docket # 15). The motion is fully briefed and, for the reasons stated below, it will be granted in part and the case will be remanded to state court.
*10561. LEGAL STANDARD
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) allows a party to move to dismiss a complaint on the ground that it fails to state a viable claim for relief. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To state a claim, a complaint must 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 other words, the complaint must give "fair notice of what the...claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly ,
2. RELEVANT FACTS
The following facts are drawn from Plaintiff's complaint. Plaintiff is a sophomore at Arrowhead. As a member of the girls' soccer team, Plaintiff agreed to act in accordance with the school's Parent/Athlete & Co-Curricular Code of Conduct. The code of conduct warns that a student athlete will be suspended from participation in school athletics if, among other things, the student possesses, consumes, or sells alcohol or engages in "criminally related activity," including violations of state law or municipal or county ordinance. (Docket # 1-1 at 22). The code provides that for a first offense, the student will be suspended from thirty percent of the games of the current season. Id. at 23.
During the weekend of February 10, 2018, Plaintiff invited approximately a dozen fellow students over to her home for a party. Some of them brought alcohol and consumed it at the party. Plaintiff did not possess, provide, distribute, or consume any alcohol at the party, nor did she ask anyone to bring alcohol or know that it would be brought.
Arrowhead administration officials became aware that underage drinking had occurred at Plaintiff's home. According to a transcript of a voicemail left for Plaintiff's father by school administrator Laura Myrah ("Myrah"), Arrowhead officials found photographs depicting Plaintiff posing with others at the party with beer cans visible in the background. Id. at 29. Additionally, interviews with other students who attended the party confirmed the presence of alcohol there. Id.
On February 22, Arrowhead Activities Director Ryan Mangan ("Mangan") and Associate Principal Debra Paradowski met with Plaintiff to present their belief that she had hosted a drinking party and to gauge her response to the allegations. Plaintiff ultimately admitted that she hosted the party and that alcohol was present. As a result, Mangan informed Plaintiff that she was suspended from athletics and that he would contact her parents.
*1057On February 23, Mangan notified Plaintiff and her parents in writing that she had been suspended from participating in thirty percent of the soccer games that season due to her violation of the Code of Conduct. That amounted to four games' worth of suspension. Mangan's letter stated that she had been suspended for "hosting and possessing alcohol the weekend of February 10." Id. at 27. Upon receiving the letter, Plaintiff appealed the suspension in accordance with the Code of Conduct to the Appeal Committee.
On March 20, the Appeal Committee held a hearing to consider Plaintiff's appeal. The school district and Plaintiff's father and her attorney presented evidence and testimony at the hearing. The Appeal Committee upheld the suspension. Plaintiff alleges that the decision was based on her hosting of the February 10 party rather than possession of alcohol, as the photographs discussed above were not submitted during that hearing.
Plaintiff then appealed the Appeal Committee's decision to the Personnel Committee. Plaintiff had the opportunity to provide written submissions to the Personnel Committee. On March 28, the Personnel Committee met to consider Plaintiff's appeal of her suspension. Plaintiff was notified by letter on April 9 that the Personnel Committee upheld the suspension.
After receiving the April 9 letter, Plaintiff's father called Myrah to demand further explanation for the suspension decision. She left him a voicemail in response, noting that the evidence they considered included the interview with Plaintiff, interviews with other student attendees, the photograph of the February 10 party, and another photograph showing Plaintiff and another student on a separate occasion pretending to drink wine from a wine bottle. Myrah explained that the suspension was appropriate both because of the code's prohibition on the possession of alcohol and its prohibition on criminal activity, which in this case was contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Further, said Myrah, the suspension could be justified because hosting a party where alcohol was consumed by minors was unbecoming a student athlete.
3. ANALYSIS
Plaintiff advances three related constitutional claims. First, she alleges that Arrowhead's conduct during the suspension process violated her right to procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. Second, applying principles of substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, she alleges that she was arbitrarily deprived of her constitutionally protected interest in participation in high school athletics. Third, she claims that Arrowhead violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause when it suspended her but not the other, similarly situated students at the party. The Court will address each claim in turn. Finally, the Court will consider Plaintiff's remaining claim under Wisconsin state law for a writ of certiorari.
3.1 Procedural Due Process
Plaintiff's procedural due process claim arises under the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits state officials from depriving individuals of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Colon v. Schneider ,
To be entitled to due process, a plaintiff must have a liberty or property interest at stake; not every deprivation rises to the level of constitutional concern. Protectible interests "are not created by the Constitution. Rather, they are created and their dimensions defined by an independent source such as state statutes or rules entitling the citizen to certain benefits." Goss v. Lopez ,
The Seventh Circuit has not squarely addressed whether participation in high school athletics is a protected interest. Numerous other Circuits have, however, and the vast majority hold that it is not. Hamilton v. Tenn. Secondary Sch. Athletic Ass'n ,
While the Seventh Circuit has not expressly considered this question, signs suggest that it would join the majority. In Schaill v. Tippecanoe County School Corp. ,
To stem this tide of adverse authority, Plaintiff says that Wisconsin is unique in its creation of a protected property interest in interscholastic athletic participation. In support, she offers a single decision: Butler v. Oak Creek-Franklin School District ,
For present purposes, the key feature of Butler is that the judge found the student had demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that he enjoyed a protectible property interest in participation in high school athletics.
To support the conclusion that the athlete had an expectation in continued participation, the court examined the relevant rules and regulations governing school athletics.
The Court respectfully declines to follow Butler . First, it is not bound to do so, as decisions of district courts are not binding precedent for anyone, not even the same judge in a later case. Camreta v. Greene ,
The primary difficulty with those sources, explained Smith , is that they mandate only certain procedures, not specified substantive predicates leading to prescribed outcomes. Id. at *2. For example, the cited state statutes govern how law *1060enforcement records could be used in meting out student discipline without stating that student athletes must be allowed to play in the absence of discipline. See id.
This Court agrees with the thorough and careful reasoning of Smith . Butler 's key sources of rights offer at best procedural protections for student athletes, and it is well-settled that due process does not reach procedural entitlements. Cevilla v. Gonzales ,
Notably, Plaintiff's analogy to Butler fails on the facts, even were the Court to adopt Butler 's view of the law. Plaintiff leans heavily on Arrowhead's athletic code of conduct, which she reads as creating an expectation of continued participation in Arrowhead sports for players who follow the rules. But Arrowhead's code of conduct for extracurricular activities clearly states that "[a]thletics are a privilege and not a right and are made available to students who abide by the rules and regulations as outlined by Arrowhead and the WIAA." (Docket # 1-1 at 21) (emphasis in original). Later, the handbook emphasizes that "[p]articipation in the athletic program at Arrowhead is entirely voluntary and is a privilege that can be revoked." Id. at 22 (emphasis in original). Quite unlike the student in Butler , then, here Plaintiff knew full well that athletic participation was a privilege only. To be sure, the Arrowhead handbook does not "strongly impl[y]" that Plaintiff need only observe the applicable rules to continue playing on Arrowhead sports teams. Butler ,
In an effort to shore up the reasoning of Butler against Smith and the other authorities discussed above, Plaintiff *1061cites
A school board shall permit a pupil who resides in the school district and is enrolled in a home-based private educational program to participate in interscholastic athletics in the school district on the same basis and to the same extent that it permits pupils enrolled in the school district to participate.
Consequently, this Court joins the majority of courts that have faced this issue and finds that Plaintiff enjoyed no protectible property interest in continued participation in Arrowhead's soccer program. Because Plaintiff has not alleged the deprivation of a constitutionally protected interest, her procedural due process claim fails without consideration of whether or what procedure she was actually afforded. Roth ,
3.2 Substantive Due Process
Plaintiff's next claim is for violation of her substantive due process rights. Substantive due process is a concept that has developed to protect against certain state action regardless of the fairness of any procedural protections the plaintiff was afforded. Cnty. of Sacramento v. Lewis ,
Plaintiff concedes that she is not complaining of the deprivation of a fundamental right. As a result, she can succeed in her challenge to Arrowhead's suspension only if she shows that it was egregiously arbitrary. See Dunn v. Fairfield Comm. High Sch. Dist. No. 225 ,
*1062Plaintiff cannot surmount this high bar. Arrowhead temporarily suspended her from participating in soccer matches after it concluded that she hosted a drinking party at her home. Disciplining those who permit alcohol consumption at a party, even if they do not themselves supply the alcohol or drink it, is well within the school's legitimate prerogative to prevent underage students from indulging in alcohol. Plaintiff does not challenge this conclusion. (Docket # 19 at 10).
She does, however, contest the premise, arguing that she did not in fact violate the code of conduct because being present when drinking occurs is not a violation of the code. Id. at 11. In her view, the school acted arbitrarily by punishing her for conduct not violative of the rules. Id. at 11. Moreover, she makes clear in her complaint that Arrowhead was not permitted to offer constantly shifting justifications for the suspension, including possessing alcohol, hosting a drinking party, violating state or local law, and engaging in conduct unbecoming an athlete. See (Docket # 1-1 at 10-12).
She is wrong for at least two reasons. First, because the Court is engaging in deferential rational basis review, the school's action must be upheld if any legitimate justification for it can be conceived. Heller v. Doe ,
Second, in school discipline cases the Supreme Court has made clear that federal courts are not fora for relitigating evidentiary minutiae. Wood v. Strickland ,
For all these reasons, the Court finds that Plaintiff's substantive due process claim is without merit and must be dismissed.
3.3 Equal Protection
Plaintiff's final claim is for denial of equal protection of the law. If the state classifies the plaintiff based on race, alienage, national origin, or when the classification impinges on a fundamental right, strict scrutiny is applied. Vision Church v. Vill. of Long Grove ,
Plaintiff's equal protection theory has two aspects. First, she complains that she received a four-game suspension from the soccer team for actions that did not actually violate the code of conduct. For reasons adequately covered above, her interpretation of the code of conduct is not controlling. Arrowhead's decision to suspend *1064her for hosting a drinking party was rationally related to legitimate purposes. Sabol ,
Second, Plaintiff argues that she was suspended from athletics while other Arrowhead students who attended the party and did not drink received no suspension, and one student who did drink received only a one-game suspension. This argument goes nowhere, as these students are not similarly situated to Plaintiff. Racine Charter One, Inc. v. Racine Unified Sch. Dist. ,
3.4 Certiorari
The final claim that needs to be considered is Plaintiff's request for a writ of certiorari under Wisconsin common law. Certiorari exists to provide judicial review of the decisions of municipalities, administrative agencies, or inferior tribunals. Ottman , 796 N.W.2d at 420. This claim must be dismissed without considering its merits, as it lies outside the Court's subject-matter jurisdiction.
First, the parties are residents of this State, so diversity jurisdiction under
Section 1367(c)(3) allows a district court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a state-law claim where the court has dismissed all the claims within its original jurisdiction.
*1065Carnegie-Mellon Univ. v. Cohill ,
4. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the Court finds that Plaintiff has not plausibly alleged a violation of her constitutional rights. As a result, the Court is obliged to grant Defendants' motion to dismiss those claims with prejudice. As to the state-law certiorari claim, it must be remanded to the state court for its consideration.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Defendants' motion to dismiss (Docket # 15) be and the same is hereby GRANTED in part as stated herein;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff's claims under
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this action, including Plaintiff's remaining claim under Wisconsin law for a writ of certiorari, be and the same is hereby REMANDED to the Waukesha County Circuit Court for further proceedings.
The Court can consider Myrah's statements in the voicemail, including her report about the photographs and other interviews, as Plaintiff herself attached the voicemail transcript to her pleading, it is central to the case, and nothing in her complaint or her arguments on the present motion even hint that Myrah was lying. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(d) ; Hecker v. Deere & Co. ,
Plaintiff's complaint says nothing about this February 22 meeting. Defendants accuse Plaintiff of deliberately concealing the fact that it occurred. (Docket # 16 at 3 & n.2). In her response brief, Plaintiff is again silent on the matter. See (Docket # 19 at 7-10). The Court reports the February 22 meeting only for consistency of the narrative; whether it actually occurred has no bearing on the disposition of this case.
The court also found there was no protectible liberty interest implicated in the case, Butler ,
Indeed, these statutes are even less helpful to Plaintiff's cause now than they were when Smith and Butler were issued. The statutes have been amended, and they now allow law enforcement records to form the "sole basis" for "taking action against" the student under the school athletic code.
Arrowhead could also have rationally believed that Plaintiff was lying about her level of participation in the drinking aspect of the party. At the present stage, the Court must accept as true her allegations that she did not drink and did not know anyone else would do so. But at the time it made its suspension decision, Arrowhead did not have to extend Plaintiff any presumption of truth.
It is worth pointing out that Plaintiff completely ignores the line of case law regarding deference to a school's interpretations of its rules. In fact, she cites not a single case in the one-page section of her brief devoted to her substantive due process claim. (Docket # 19 at 10-11).
Though not discussed by either party, there is likely an additional reason Plaintiff's substantive due process claim cannot stand: she has adequate alternative state-law remedies available to her. The Seventh Circuit teaches that "in cases where the plaintiff complains that [she] has been unreasonably deprived of a state-created property interest, without alleging a violation of some other substantive constitutional right or that the available state remedies are inadequate, the plaintiff has not stated a substantive due process claim."Kauth v. Hartford Ins. Co. of Ill. ,
Plaintiff's complaint sets forth seven items delineated as "claims for relief": (1) a claim of denial of procedural due process; (2) a claim of denial of substantive due process; (3) a claim of denial of equal protection; (4) a claim of deprivation of constitutional rights under
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ISABELLA A. a minor, BY her parents DAVID A. and Kiersten A. v. ARROWHEAD UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT, Arrowhead Union High School Board of Education, Arrowhead Union High School Board of Education Personnel Committee, Ryan Mangan, and Laura Myrah
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published