Cape district, school board, teachers ordered to stand trial

A Cape Henlopen student's case against the school district, school board and two teachers will go forward to a jury trial, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Baylson on Sept. 12 denied the district and school board's request to dismiss the case, setting in motion a trial scheduled for Nov. 14 in Wilmington.

Roger Wooleyhan and his parents filed a lawsuit in 2010 against the district, school board and 10 district employees after a lower court found him not guilty of an offensive touching charge filed against him in 2008 by Cape Henlopen High School teacher Amanda Jester.

Jester alleged Wooleyhan elbowed her in the chest when she tried to separate him and his girlfriend in a high school hallway. Following the alleged incident, Wooleyhan was arrested and suspended from school in what he claims was a violation of his due process and civil rights. He filed charges against the district, school board and school employees including malicious prosecution, unlawful detention, defamation and emotional distress.

In his decision, Baylson encourages Wooleyhan and the defendants to seek resolution through mediation as opposed to a jury trial. Baylson wrote the arrest and prosecution of a high school student, based solely on an incident with a teacher, without any connection to guns, drugs or serious bodily injury, is unusual.

"Any third party observer must wonder how and why a relatively simple incident, which lasted a few seconds, in a high school hallway has 'morphed' into complex federal litigation," he wrote.

Of the 10 employees originally named in the lawsuit, only Jester and teacher Lisa White must face jury trial along with the district and school board, Baylson ruled. White's attempt to avoid trial on a defamation charge was denied in the same Sept. 12 memorandum in which Baylson ordered the district and school board stand trial.

Due process rights denied

Wooleyhan says the district and school board deprived him of his due process rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, a type of case known as a Monell claim.

Wooleyhan contends his due process rights were violated because the district has an unwritten school policy regarding offensive touching that gave him no opportunity to give his side of the story before the school took punitive action against him.

In making his decision, Baylson said he used testimony from former Cape Principal Ed Waples – a witness for the district and school board.  Waples testified "to the existence of an unwritten policy that any student accused of an offensive touching, regardless of whether he or she is arrested or denies the charges, is automatically issued an out-of-school suspension pending an investigation."

According to court documents, Waples also said "a lot" of students other than Wooleyhan have been suspended.

In allowing the case to proceed to trial, Baylson cited the lack of a written policy and said the unwritten policy "offers nothing more than a sham process."

"The fact that a lot of students have been suspended pursuant to this policy since at least 2002 suggests a jury could also reasonably infer the District and board acted with deliberate indifference to the obvious consequence of depriving their students of the constitutional process," he wrote.

Cape Henlopen Superintendent Kevin Carson said the student policy has been updated to include offensive touching incidents. The policy clearly states what will happen if a student is involved in an offensive touching situation, he said. Carson declined further comment on the case.

Teachers face individual charges

Baylson granted partial summary judgment for five charges against Jester in a May 17 memorandum, leaving her to stand trial in federal court on charges of unlawful detention and state charges of malicious prosecution and defamation. If found guilty at trial, both Jester and White could face punitive damages.

Attorneys for Jester, White and the school district and board did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Wooleyhan's attorney.

Charges against former Superintendent George Stone, former high school Principal John Yore, former Assistant Principal Dianne Mrazcek, School Resource Officer and State Trooper William Matt, Student Services Coordinator Robert Maull and teacher John Walsh have been dismissed, abandoned or granted summary judgment.