1989) (holding that elementary school students, who were required by law to attend school, were entitled to some affirmative protection form abuse by other students during the school day"); see also Stoneking II, 882 F.2d at 723 ("Arguably, our earlier discussion noting that students are in what may be viewed as functional custody of the school authorities during their presence at school because they are required to attend under Pennsylvania law is not inconsistent with the DeShaney opinion."). Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. All records are subject to change and, while every effort is made to ensure the information available is current and accurate, it may contain errors. A psychologist who regularly saw her reported that Brooke was going through an acute crisis. Brooke was having trouble coming out of her room. And its full of great reads, yall. But to accuse him of anything more? 1990) (bus driver sexually assaulted handicapped students; school district and its officials not liable because no evidence of deliberate indifference). For seven years, Brooke Graham has been trying to forget she was the teacher's pet. Doe suggested that the note on the photograph was just a "friendly gesture" and explicitly denied any sexual relations with Stroud. We explained that the bus driver's "failure to protect [the schoolchild] or to render emergency aid [would amount to an] abuse [of] state power, and support [ ] a 1983 action if it rose to the level of callous indifference and was a cause of injury." She had gone to the high school gym with Brooke and her friends one Sunday afternoon and played basketball with Stroud. through Murphy, 914 F.2d at 849 ("Once the state assumes custody of a person, it owes him a rudimentary duty of safekeeping no matter how perilous his circumstances when he was free."). You already receive all suggested Justia Opinion Summary Newsletters. From her first day at high school, Brooke Graham, the only child of the well-known Ford dealer in town, was part of the popular crowd. WebLynn Stroud, a teacher and coach for almost twenty years, was employed by the Taylor Independent School District from 1981 until 1987. We concede that there is no case in our circuit directly standing for that proposition. of Soc. Stoneking II, 882 F.2d at 729, There is a factual dispute over whether Principal Lankford reported the matter to Superintendent Caplinger, a question for the jury to decide. While Doe was there, Stroud suggested to her that they have intercourse. Chip Gaines Bought Larry McMurtrys Historic Texas Bookstore. Not many weeks after the smoking valentine incident, Stroud made his ultimate move: He had sex with Brooke in an empty bedroom at the Stroud home while his family was sleeping. At the start of the year, they said, Stroud liked to pick out a few pretty girls and make them his teachers pets. Coincidentally, on that same day, another schoolgirl contacted Caplinger to report that she too had been victimized by Stroud; he had made unwelcome sexual advances towards her, as well. But in 1990, when a lawyer asked Stroud during a deposition if he had had any sexual contact with either those two girls or with three other former Taylor students who were known to have been especially close to him, he replied that he couldnt give an answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself. Whatever the circumstances, none of the schools administrators ever felt the need to investigate the gossip regarding Stroud, beyond asking him about it. Appellants make much of the fact that they confronted Jane Doe and Coach Stroud about the allegations and that both of them denied any sexual involvement. Women need not endure sexual harassment by state actors under any circumstance, the school setting included. He organized the towns first chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Since his 1981 arrival in Taylor, after a series of coaching jobs in other small-town high schools, Stroud had developed a reputation as a coach who motivated more through friendship than by authority. Eagle Idaho. WebVictoria was the daughter of Fred and Amy (Stolbery) Stroud and sister of Steven Stroud. Holland, TX, is where Jesse Stroud lives today. WebThe 2022 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team represented Duke University during the 2022 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. 183 (1952) (police could not pump a suspect's stomach in order to retrieve evidence). How are you today? . Yet we are being asked to conclude, quite to the contrary, that what we deem to be patently obvious, was not so obvious to these school officials, when, in 1986-87, they learned that plaintiff Jane Doe,1 then only a freshman at Taylor High School, was being sexually molested by her biology teacher. See Yvonne L., 959 F.2d at 890 (defendants liable if they "knew of the asserted danger to [the children] or failed to exercise professional judgment with respect thereto,, and there is "an affirmative link to the injuries."). Stroud was the head strength and conditioning coach at Memphis (1997-99) prior to his three-year head coaching stint at West Alabama. There is no dispute that the burden of establishing an entitlement to qualified immunity is on Superintendent Caplinger and Principal Lankford, the officials seeking to invoke it. He was told he had to be out that day. Her grades plummeted, and she considered suicide. Volk v. Coler, 845 F.2d 1422, 1431 (7th Cir. So, when the state has in some significant way separated the child from the persons otherwise responsible for taking precautions to shield the child from the social milieu, the state assumes a corresponding duty to provide that protection, for a child is ordinarily incapable of fending for himself. WebLived In Coushatta LA, Taylors SC, Montgomery LA, Port Arthur TX. He took them out to lunch on game day. In early 1988 Bridget and Brooke moved to an apartment in North Austin (Ben gave up the Ford dealership, moved briefly to California, then settled near San Antonio). 1989) (outlining the basis for supervisory liability against prison officials); see also City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 389-90, 109 S. Ct. 1197, 1205, 103 L. Ed. Nevertheless, Stroud remained in the employ of Taylor High. by M.T. 1990) (staff person sexually assaulted mildly retarded resident at state institution; officials not liable because no evidence of deliberate indifference); Jane Doe "A" v. Special School Dist. He would give her high grades without requiring that she do any work at all. ), cert. But she would be the last. This story is from Texas Monthlys archives. The Third Circuit has also recognized, in the analogous context of institutionalized, mentally handicapped persons, that the "right to freedom from bodily restraint and the right to safe conditions" includes the right not to be sexually molested, and that such a right is "encompassed within the 'liberty' substantively protected by the fourteenth amendment due process clause." 2d 701 (1991). She still could not bring herself to blame him. You're all set! Superintendent Caplinger, Principal Lankford, and the athletic director spoke with Stroud about the matter. Our recitation of the facts, therefore, is predictably slanted in her favor. Kirwin Seger '20 (Organizational Leadership and Communication) was a Twitter manager at Juniata College. James was born on February 5, 1959 in Jennings, Louisiana. 2d 233 (1990); see generally Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 672, 97 S. Ct. 1401, 1413, 51 L. Ed. In summary, we conclude that public school officials have a duty to police the misconduct of their subordinates and to protect schoolchildren from hazards of which the school officials know or should know. A special relationship between the state and a child arises in a variety of contexts: when a child is confined to a state mental health facility;9 when a state social services agency removes a child from his natural home and places him under state supervision;10 or when a child has been placed in foster care.11 In these instances,12 the state has, to varying degrees, assumed an obligation to protect the child, in much the same way that a capable parent would. You would think it obvious that sexual molestation, when visited upon one of our schoolchildren by her public schoolteacher, would undoubtedly violate her constitutional right to be free from intrusions into bodily integrity. It was also hard to find anyone who did not know the cheerful Lynn Stroud, the defensive coordinator for the Ducks. For a few weeks, everything was normal. When school officials are on "notice of a pattern of unconstitutional acts committed by subordinates," id., the Constitution will not tolerate a practice of deliberate or conscious indifference to the potentiality of harm that is likely to follow. Observing that schoolchildren are "too young to be considered capable of mature restraint," the court explained that a public school. 641, 643 (E.D.N.Y. Our children dont need to be burdened with this bad publicity. Read more here about our archive digitization project. Sobbing, she said, Yes, we did it. The attorney picked up the phone and called superintendent Caplingers office. 2d 447 (1979) (pretrial detainees); see also Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital, 463 U.S. 239, 244-45, 103 S. Ct. 2979, 2982-83, 77 L. Ed. 16, 894 F.2d 1176, 1187 (10th Cir.) Following the denial of their motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds, Superintendent Caplinger and Principal Lankford appealed. He keeps banging and banging. Brooke finally raises her head. Lankford and Caplinger submitted motions saying they should be immune from the lawsuit. Just as a police chief, sheriff, or warden can, under certain circumstances, be held liable for the misconduct of his officers, deputies, or jailers who violate the rights of those persons with whom they come into contact,7 so too can a superintendent or principal be held liable when, by his own actions or inactions, he consciously allows a schoolteacher to violate the bodily integrity of a schoolchild. (quoting Woodard v. Los Fresnos Indep. denied, 463 U.S. 1207, 103 S. Ct. 3536, 77 L. Ed. Incredibly, Caplinger had already received another report that very day about Stroud. I want heads to roll, she would say. No one had to tell them that the football coaches received a special kind of adulation from the kids. Other circuit courts, confronted with instances of sexual molestation in a variety of contexts, have suggested, some quite explicitly, that such misconduct amounts to a deprivation of due process. TAYLOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., Defendants, and Mike Caplinger and Eddy Lankford, Defendants-Appellants. (citations and quotations omitted); accord Hardin v. Hayes, 957 F.2d 845, 849 (11th Cir. Services, 649 F.2d 134, 141 (2d Cir. School Dist., 876 F.2d 437, 438 (5th Cir. Once, going her way, he walked with Brooke to her class. It seems like every time the case goes to court again, someone is ripping apart my reputation, Brooke says, blinking back tears. 2d 411 (1985) (denial of qualified immunity is an immediately appealable order). 1991) (child sexually molested by a man working with a social services agency; agency was deemed a private actor and, thus, not liable under 1983 because it did not act "under color of state law"); P.C. From 2007-09, Stroud was the head strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater, Florida State. [a] special relationship exists "when the State by an affirmative exercise of its power so restrains an individual's liberty that it renders him unable to care for himself." In response to the Valentine, Principal Lankford transferred Brittani (not Jane Doe) out of Stroud's class, but did not investigate the matter further. She never heard from him again. 1990). Our court has since expounded upon the principles of DeShaney, illuminating that. 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