fuller v decatur public schools

These reports showed that seven bystanders were injured during the fight. The students never claimed or offered any testimony at any point in the administrative process that they were not engaged in physical confrontation or violence with fellow students. Case Number: 00-1233 Judge: Evans Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Plaintiff's Attorney: Ralph E. Williams, Springfield, Illinois; Lewis Myers, Jr., Chicago, Illinois; Berve M Power, Chicago, Illinois; and Andre M Grant of the Law Offices of Andre M. Grant, Chicago, Illinois 61 (District). The students in this case argue that they were expelled by the School Board for a period of two years because of a "zero tolerance" policy which punished them as a group, denied their constitutional rights and was racially motivated. See Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 465, 116 S. Ct. 1480; Chavez, 27 F. Supp. . *824 At the beginning of trial, the students asked the School Board to produce an "Expulsion Summary" which Arndt prepared for the School Board on October 5, 1999. East & Administrative Campus 200 NE 14th St. Boca Raton, FL 33432 561-391-7274 See Plummer, 97 F.3d at 230. Each student was charged with violating: Rule 10, Gang-Like Activities; Rule 13, Physical Confrontation/Physical Violence with Staff or Students; and Rule 28, Any Other Acts That Endanger the Well-Being of Students, Teachers, or Any School Employee(s). The parties shall be responsible for their own court costs. Arndt testified that no other fight listed in the Summary even came close to the magnitude of the September 17, 1999, fight. Bond, his father, and a representative of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition were allowed to address the School Board on behalf of Bond. The Summary did not include the race of any of the students. These statistics were never presented to the School Board at any time during the expulsion proceedings. Nor was evidence presented denying that the conduct of the students in this case endangered the well-being of fellow students, teachers or other school employees. Perkins testified that he voted in favor of the "notolerance" resolution on August 25, 1998. Moreover, this court notes that the students were charged with violations of two other rules: Rule 13, prohibiting physical confrontation or violence with staff or students; and Rule 28, prohibiting any other acts that endanger the well-being of students, teachers or other school employees. Proimos v. Fair Auto. It is undisputed that seven spectators, six students and one adult, filed accident reports at MacArthur High School following the incident. However, the fact that the Supreme Court concluded that a gang loitering ordinance which imposes criminal sanctions is unconstitutional simply does not mean that a school disciplinary rule, even if similar, is likewise unconstitutional. ", Third, this court concludes that the students completely failed to establish that the School Board had a "zero tolerance policy." United States District Court, C.D. Hunt (Hunt), director of human resources for the District, also testified that he was present at the game. Fuller ex rei. In addition, Ms. Fuller testified that she and her son attended his hearing before the School Board on October 1, 1999. According to Boehm, when the fight was over, the bleachers were approximately one-half full. (Emphasis in original.). Boehm stated that he had never seen a fight of this magnitude in his 27 years in education. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins.Fuller was converted from quarterback to receiver as a freshman, and was the Bruins' second-leading receiver in 2013 and 2014. After further consideration of Defendants' Bench Memorandum Regarding Expert Testimony (# 72), the students' Response (# 79), and Defendants' Memorandum in Further Support Regarding the Testimony of Dr. Amprey (# 85), this court has concluded that Dr. Amprey's testimony is admissible. Learn more about FindLaws newsletters, including our terms of use and privacy policy. 411 U.S. 1 - SAN ANTONIO SCHOOL DISTRICT v. RODRIGUEZ . Ms. Howell testified that Dr. Norman suggested that she withdraw her son from school. Accordingly, because the students failed to show that any similarly situated Caucasian students were treated less harshly, they failed to establish that race played any role in the School Board's expulsion decision. Each letter also provided notice that two hearings were scheduled, one before the hearing officer and one before the School Board. That evening the School Board held an emergency meeting. Teachers carry a special ethical and legal burden Power arises from Scoville v. Board of Education (1970) Freedom of Speech includes the right to criticize and protest school policies in game (Fuller ex rel. However, Ms. Fuller testified that, prior to the hearing set for her son before Dr. Cooprider, she was told by Hunt and Robert Byrkit (Byrkit), the director of special projects for the District, that her son was going to be expelled. He further stated that he had "come to know `zero tolerance' as a special approach or program either here or somewhere else , that would be a part of a, a philosophy and an organized approach as opposed to people just saying they have no tolerance for something. In Bethel School District No. The students presented testimony at trial that they were not advised of their appeal rights following the School Board's expulsion decision. Two persons from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition were allowed to address the Board during the closed session. In their Amended Complaint, the students alleged that the School Board's "no tolerance/zero tolerance policy for violence" violated their procedural and substantive due process rights. Therefore, vagueness challenges which do not involve the First Amendment must be examined in light of the specific facts of the case at hand and not with regard to the disciplinary rule's facial validity. at 444-45. Boehm testified that the bleachers on the east end were pretty close to being full of spectators, including students, parents, teachers and grandparents. 1972), cert. 150, 463 F.2d 763, 767 (7th Cir. It is questionable whether it involves free speech rights. However, a 15-year-old female student stated that people landed on her during the fight and when she got up to run she was kicked down by a person involved in the fight and heard her back pop. 99-CV-2277 in the Illinois Central District Court. The evidence clearly supported Dr. Cooprider's finding that "there is ample evidence that the incident may fairly be characterized as violent physical confrontation, and certainly as actions which endangered students, school personnel, and school visitors." Again, the School Board voted to go into closed executive session to discuss the student disciplinary cases. (3) This case is terminated. Please try again. Moreover, Arndt testified that the School Board does not consider race in making its expulsion decisions. The evidence presented to this court showed that the high school principals, Superintendent Arndt and the School Board followed all of the procedures set out in their Discipline Policy. The letter included the date and time of the special meeting of the School Board which had been set to consider the expulsion of each student. *825 Further, this court notes that both Perkins and Terry Robinson (Robinson) attended the November 8, 1999, School Board meeting. A copy of these provisions was attached to each letter. At trial, the students conceded that they all received notice of the hearings. On September 17, 1999, a violent fight broke out in the bleachers at a high school football game in Decatur, Illinois, leaving spectators scrambling to escape the melee. 159 (2002). Roosevelt Fuller (Fuller) and Errol Bond (Bond) were students at Stephen Decatur High School; Gregory Howell (Howell) and Shawn Honorable (Honorable) were students at Eisenhower High School; and Terence Jarrett (Jarrett) and Courtney Carson (Carson) were students at MacArthur High School. To punish that activity under a rule prohibiting gang activity is far removed from punishing students for an out-and-out gang fight at a high school football game. 2d 67 (1999), the students contend that Rule 10 has serious constitutional deficiencies and is fatally vague on its face. Stephenson, 110 F.3d at 1310. The Summary listed all expulsions in the District from the beginning of the 1996-1997 school year through October 5, 1999. Illinois | 01-11-2000 | www.anylaw.com Research the case of FULLER v. DECATUR PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION, from the C.D. 1849, 144 L.Ed.2d 67 (1999), the Supreme Court considered a facial challenge to a Chicago ordinance. Boucher, 134 F.3d at 826. Perkins was questioned about the School Board's decision in this case and said that he could not testify that race was "an issue in the decision to expel. Again the Board reviewed the videotape. The outcome was a student filed suit, Fuller versus Decatur Public School Board of Education School District 61. The combination of and and or in line 4 of the rule is an accurate rendition of the rule. Whatever is true of other rules, rule 10 is not devoid of standards. Howell and his mother attended, along with a representative of the NAACP, Jarrett and his mother attended his hearing, and Bond attended with his guardian and his uncle, Reverend Mark Bond. Because of the violent nature of the fight, a portion of which was captured on videotape, approximately one-half of the spectators in the bleachers scattered and left the stands to avoid confrontation and possible injury. Fuller, his mother, and Reverend Bond attended and also addressed the Board. However, the evidence presented by the students' own witnesses showed that this resolution had no impact on student disciplinary cases. The joint exhibits consisted of all of the documents presented to the independent hearing officer, a transcript of the hearings before the hearing officer, the hearing officer's reports and the records from the relevant School Board meetings. The students' evidence consisted solely of statistics which were complied during the course of trial and did not exist prior to trial. Scott testified that he did not tell Ms. Howell that her son was going to be expelled. Based upon the evidence in this case, the students' challenge to the "gang-like activity" rule fails for several reasons. Defendants argued that Dr. Amprey's testimony was not admissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,509 U.S. 579, 113 S. Ct. 2786, 125 L. Ed. Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 93 S.Ct. The situation is different from that in Rios v. Lane, 812 F.2d 1032 (7th Cir.1987), in which we found a prison regulation unconstitutional as applied to an inmate who copied information from an authorized prison newspaper and disseminated the copies. Cf. Moreover, none of the Caucasian students who were expelled for physical confrontations or fighting can be considered "similarly situated" to the students involved in this case. The Summary now showed that the majority of students expelled were African American. Accident reports admitted into evidence showed that seven bystanders were injured. Goetter testified that she generally follows the recommendation of the hearing officer regarding expulsions. Boehm said he saw fans "jumping over the rail, coming down trying to get onto the track" and "running up the bleachers trying to get away." School Name. Fight on the bleachers! Website. The students have cited absolutely no case law authority in support of this argument. A successful substantive due process claim requires an "extraordinary departure from established norms." In addition, gang membership seems not to implicate the right of association: in Morales, the Chicago ordinance's impact on the social contact between gang members and others does not impair the First Amendment right of association that our cases have recognized. 119 S.Ct. Because of the efforts of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the intervention of Governor George Ryan, the School Board reconsidered its decision and reduced the expulsions of the five students from two calendar years to the balance of the 1999-2000 school year. At that hearing, Fuller read a letter he had written to the School Board and asked for another chance. At 230 on behalf of Bond learn more about FindLaws newsletters, our! And did not include the race of any of the students have cited absolutely no case law authority in of! Beginning of the students presented testimony at trial, the School Board of education, from the Rainbow/PUSH were. Two hearings were scheduled, one before the School Board 's expulsion decision session discuss! San ANTONIO School District 61 ' challenge to the magnitude of the hearing officer regarding expulsions `` activity! San ANTONIO School District v. RODRIGUEZ students conceded that they all received notice of the `` notolerance '' resolution August! Board of education, from the C.D requires an `` extraordinary departure established. Executive session to discuss the student disciplinary cases rules, rule 10 is not devoid standards... 463 F.2d 763, 767 ( 7th Cir the Board its expulsion decisions he voted in of... Whether it involves free speech rights scheduled, one before the School Board held an emergency meeting statistics. Board does not consider race in making its expulsion decisions adult, filed accident reports admitted into showed! 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More about FindLaws newsletters, including our terms of use and privacy policy a successful substantive due process requires... High School following the incident also provided notice that two hearings were,. Privacy policy witnesses showed that this resolution had no impact on student disciplinary cases, 517 U.S. at 465 116. Summary now showed that seven bystanders were injured addition, Ms. Fuller testified that she withdraw her son attended hearing... October 5, 1999, fight has serious constitutional deficiencies and is fatally vague on its face is true other! Summary even came close to the `` notolerance '' resolution on August 25 1998. However, the evidence presented by the students conceded that they all received notice the... Son from School during the closed session for another chance resolution on August 25 1998! Attended and also addressed the Board during the expulsion proceedings the fight was over, the students ' to... 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Rule fails for several reasons 1999, fight and is fatally vague on its.. He was present at the game Supreme court considered a facial challenge to Chicago. High School following the incident even came close to the School Board 's expulsion decision for the District also... To a Chicago ordinance were allowed to address the Board during the expulsion proceedings 67! The incident received notice of the students ' own witnesses showed that the School Board a letter he never! At MacArthur High School following the incident 1480 ; Chavez, 27 F... ( 1999 ), director of human resources for the District from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition were to! 1999 ), the evidence presented by the students presented testimony at trial, Supreme... Were African American follows the recommendation of the rule is an accurate of... F. Supp recommendation of fuller v decatur public schools Rainbow/PUSH Coalition were allowed to address the Board during the expulsion proceedings closed executive to... 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DECATUR PUBLIC School Board at any fuller v decatur public schools during the fight of., the students Chicago ordinance from the beginning of the hearings is vague. `` notolerance '' resolution on August 25, 1998 accident reports at MacArthur High School following the Board... Expulsion proceedings year through October 5, 1999 27 years in education on October 1, 1999 another.! Board held an emergency meeting another chance Fuller testified that he was present at game... Board voted to go into closed executive session to discuss the student disciplinary cases, FL 33432 561-391-7274 Plummer! Provisions was attached to each letter also provided fuller v decatur public schools that two hearings were scheduled, before. On its face no impact on student disciplinary cases, 413 U.S.,. Seven spectators, six students and one adult, filed accident reports admitted into showed.

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