Title: Rouleau v. Williamstown School Board

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

Rouleau v. Williamstown School Board (2005-208); 179 Vt. 576; 892 A.2d 223

2005 VT 131

[Filed 15-Dec-2005]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                                 2005 VT 131

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2005-208

                             DECEMBER TERM, 2005

  Tricia Rouleau and 	               }	APPEALED FROM:
  Kristopher Tremblay                  }
                                       }
       v.	                       }	Orange Superior Court
                                       }	
  Williamstown School Board, 	       }
  Douglas Shiok, Superintendent,       }	DOCKET NO. 115-7-04 Oecv
  Rodney Graham, Alvin Avery,          }
  David Evans, Wayne Emmons, and       }
  Matthew Rouleau	               }	Trial Judge: Amy M. Davenport

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       ¶  1.  Plaintiffs appeal from the trial court's grant of summary
  judgment upholding the Williamstown School Board's disciplinary action
  against plaintiff Kristopher Tremblay.  The disciplinary action arose from
  a May 7, 2004 incident in which two Williamstown Middle School students,
  accompanied by Tremblay, removed pellet guns from Tremblay's house and
  brought them to a field at the school, where one of the students shot
  another student in the leg.  Following a disciplinary hearing, the Board
  prohibited Tremblay from participating in any "co-curricular activities
  and/or school functions through the end of the 2003-2004 school year,"
  warned him that  "[a]ny subsequent incident(s), during the 2004-2005 school
  year through May 21, 2005, that warrant a school suspension will result in
  expulsion for the remainder of the calendar year suspension," and filed a
  report about Tremblay with the Orange County Sheriff's Department. 
  Tremblay and Tricia Rouleau, Tremblay's mother, brought an action in the
  superior court under Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 75, challenging the
  sufficiency of the evidence supporting the Board's decision.  Both sides
  filed motions for summary judgment, and the court found in favor of the
  Board.  This appeal followed.  We hold that the evidence against Tremblay
  was sufficient to support the Board's decision, and we affirm.

       ¶  2.  We review a trial court's grant of summary judgment using the
  same standard as the trial court.  Hardwick Recycling & Salvage, Inc. v.
  Acadia Ins. Co., 2004 VT 124, ¶ 14, 177 Vt. 421,