Now-fired teacher allegedly grabbed female student by the hair and slammed her head into the ground five times before other teachers intervened
A lawsuit against the Alamance-Burlington school system has made its way through the state’s courts and is now to be considered in the North Carolina Supreme Court over an unlicensed teacher’s alleged assault on a student a Broadview Middle School in the fall of 2022.
The lawsuit was originally filed in Alamance County superior court by a guardian-ad-litem for the student – a juvenile female who is referred to by the initials K.H. and was 14 at the time of the alleged assault – and her maternal grandmother, Deborah Claggett of Burlington, who has since passed away.
Now, the plaintiffs are asking the state’s highest court to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred in siding with the school board by dismissing the suit in October 2024.
The juvenile plaintiff, who is referred to by the pseudonym “Katherine” in the new brief pending in the state Supreme Court, claims to have been denied her state constitutional right to a sound basic education by the school board’s “deliberate indifference” in allowing an unlicensed teacher to brutally assault her and then forcing the victim to transfer to another middle school.
The suit was previously dismissed following a hearing in Alamance County superior court in April 2023. A visiting special superior court judge, Michael L. Robinson, a special judge for complex business cases for the North Carolina 4th Superior Court division, granted the school board’s to dismiss the lawsuit, concluding that ABSS hadn’t waived its right of immunity through the purchase of liability insurance, according to the Alamance County court file.
The now-former teacher at the center of the dispute, Danielle Dixon, then of 3801 Fig Leaf Court in Greensboro, had been hired to teach language arts at Broadview Middle School in September 2022, despite not having been licensed to teach in a North Carolina public school.
Dixon been hired on a one-year contract through the end of June 2023, but her contract was terminated several weeks prior to its scheduled expiration, based on a personnel report that school board members on June 13, 2023.
K.H. and her guardian-ad-litem appealed Robinson’s dismissal of the lawsuit on grounds that ABSS had deprived the student of her constitutional right to a sound basic education.
In the new brief that is currently pending in the N.C. Supreme Court, the plaintiffs recount the moments just before Dixon allegedly assaulted “Katherine” on November 2, 2022.
“Katherine forgot her bookbag in her middle school teacher’s classroom,” the factual background states. “When she went back inside to retrieve it, she accidentally bumped into her teacher’s arm. In response, her teacher grabbed Katherine by the hair and slammed her head into the ground five times. Still grasping Katherine’s hair, the teacher held Katherine against the ground, even as other students implored the teacher to let Katherine go.
“While Katherine was held against the ground by her hair, the teacher screamed at Katherine to leave the classroom. But Katherine could not move. Ultimately, two other teachers had to enter the classroom before Katherine was released.
‘Swift and appalling’ response from school board
“The response from [the school board] was swift and appalling,” the factual background states. They also point out that the teacher was still employed at Broadview Middle School when the lawsuit was first filed in Alamance County superior court in January 2023.
“The [school board] was also aware that in the months leading up to the assault, Dixon had committed several other acts of misconduct with students in her classroom and had been disciplined by the principal multiple times. And yet, the board did not remove Dixon from the classroom. Even after Dixon slammed Katherine’s head into the ground five times, the board continued to let Dixon teach. Meanwhile, the board suspended Katherine – the victim – was ultimately forced to transfer to a different school.”
– Brief filed on behalf of Broadview Middle School student
In their latest brief, the plaintiffs cite a 2021 ruling in Deminski v. State Board of Education by the N.C. Supreme Court that originated in Pitt County. In a unanimous opinion written by chief justice Paul Newby, the Supreme Court concluded a claim could be brought under the N.C. Constitution over a school board’s “deliberate indifference” to harassment, or other harm, to a student.
The plaintiffs contend that the school board was “deliberately indifferent” to Dixon’s lack of qualifications in hiring her and “remained deliberately indifferent as it allowed her to teach in a North Carolina public middle school while remaining unlicensed.
“The [school board] was also aware that in the months leading up to the assault, Dixon had committed several other acts of misconduct with students in her classroom and had been disciplined by the principal multiple times,” the plaintiffs allege. “And yet, the board did not remove Dixon from the classroom. Even after Dixon slammed Katherine’s head into the ground five times, the board continued to let Dixon teach. Meanwhile, the board suspended Katherine – the victim – was ultimately forced to transfer to a different school.”
The Appeals Court ultimately split 2-1 in dismissing the suit against ABSS last fall.
“Operating from a mistaken view of the facts, the Court of Appeals majority held that a single incident of physical abuse can never deny a student her right to a sound basic education, no matter how severe that incident is,” the plaintiffs state in their brief filed in the N.C. Supreme Court.
Dissenting Appeals Court judge: suit should be allowed to proceed on constitutional claim
“A dissenting judge disagreed,” the plaintiffs state in their new brief. “While recognizing that Katherine had alleged more than just a single incident, the dissenting judge further explained why the Court of Appeals’ holding was wrong regardless. Deminski did not hold that a child must suffer multiple instances of physical or sexual assault before she can vindicate her right to a sound basic education. Instead, the test is whether the government showed deliberate indifference, and a variety of factual circumstances can meet that standard.”
“Taken as true, [the defendant school board] was deliberately indifferent to the hostile environment it created when it placed an individual with no teaching license in a position of authority to instruct academic classes and to supervise children in its public school; failed to adequately staff that school; failed to investigate, train, assess, or ensure that Dixon had the requisite academic, emotional, and social qualifications to teach, supervise, and care for students in that school; and failed to take action when Dixon’s concerning behaviors first arose.”
– Court of appeals judge Hunter Murphy, whose dissent sided with student that she had been denied her basic right under N.C.’s Constitution to receive a sound basic education
In his dissenting opinion, Appeals Court judge Hunter Murphy concluded that the suit against ABSS should be allowed to proceed under the alleged violation of the student’s constitutional right to a sound basic education. (He agreed with the Appeals Court majority that the plaintiff’s claim for monetary damages against ABSS was barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity.)
“Taken as true,” Murphy wrote in his dissent, “[the defendant school board] was deliberately indifferent to the hostile environment it created when it placed an individual with no teaching license in a position of authority to instruct academic classes and to supervise children in its public school; failed to adequately staff that school; failed to investigate, train, assess, or ensure that Dixon had the requisite academic, emotional, and social qualifications to teach, supervise, and care for students in that school; and failed to take action when Dixon’s concerning behaviors first arose.”
“The Court of Appeals correctly held that a one-time incident of inappropriate criminal conduct by a staff member did not give rise to a constitutional claim, and that the other allegations in the complaint did not show the board was deliberately indifferent or that K.H. was denied access to a sound basic education.”
– Brief filed at N.C. Supreme Court on behalf of ABSS
In the new brief, ABSS continues to maintain that it had not infringed upon the student’s right to a sound basic education.
“The Court of Appeals correctly held that a one-time incident of inappropriate criminal conduct by a staff member did not give rise to a constitutional claim, and that the other allegations in the complaint did not show the board was deliberately indifferent or that K.H. was denied access to a sound basic education,” ABSS contends in the new brief that was filed in the Supreme Court two weeks ago.
Citing several recent opinions issued by the Appeals Court that dealt with alleged constitutional violations by law enforcement, the school board argues, “North Carolina courts have long held that adequacy of a state law remedy depends upon the injury alleged by a plaintiff, rather than upon the party from whom a plaintiff seeks recovery.”
Though the plaintiff’s claim for monetary damages have been dismissed and aren’t at issue in the Supreme Court case, ABSS contends that the student (K.H./Katherine) “continues to have an adequate state law remedy for her injuries” and therefore “cannot assert a direct constitutional claim.”
The fact that the student had to transfer to the alternative school, Ray Street Academy, “is insufficient to establish a constitutional violation,” ABSS asserts in its new brief, citing a 2016 case from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Davis v. Blanchard. “Instead, a plaintiff must show that the program itself was somehow inadequate to provide the opportunity for a sound basic education.
“The complaint is entirely devoid of allegations regarding the adequacy of the alternative school and…is silent as to the nature, extent, and quality of educational opportunities made available to K.H. following her enrollment,” ABSS contends.
‘Not a right to a perfect or flawless education’
Meanwhile, on Monday, April 21, the N.C. School Boards Association (NCSBA) filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of ABSS.
“Reversing this decision would upend liability and risk for public education in this state, significantly reduce resources available for instruction, and force today’s school children and communities to bear the costs for the [civil suits] of others.”
– Brief filed with the N.C. Supreme Court by the N.C. School Boards Association siding with ABSS
“The Court of Appeals of North Carolina rightly affirmed the Honorable Michael L. Robinson’s order dismissing the plaintiff’s claim that she was denied her constitutional right to a sound basic education,” the NCSBA asserts in its 16-page brief. “Reversing this decision would upend liability and risk for public education in this state, significantly reduce resources available for instruction, and force today’s school children and communities to bear the costs for the [civil suits] of others.”
The NCSBA acknowledges that the right to an education is “fundamental to” the state Constitution, the NCSBA states in its brief, also citing Davis v. Blanchard.
“The right to an opportunity for a sound basic education is not a right to a perfect or flawless education, free from bad actors or bad things,” the NCSBA argues in its friend-of-the-court brief. “Yet that impossible qualitative standard is what [the] plaintiff asks the Court to impose on the state here.”
The lawsuit has not yet been scheduled for oral arguments before the state Supreme Court.
