Opinion ID: 212834
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evaluations in the Spring of 2005

Text: The Board argues that Silverman was selected for non-renewal in 2005 because she was the least effective of the probationary special education teachers at the school. To support this assertion, the Board offers Karvelas's testimony and her contemporaneous written notes regarding Silverman's teaching. In February 2005, Karvelas stopped by the classrooms of each of the probationary teachers working with special education students to observe their teaching. Karvelas testified that during a visit to Silverman's classroom she noticed a student wearing headphones and listening to a Walkman during the lesson. Her observation notes indicated that Silverman was simply standing rather than engaging with the student while this occurred. Silverman disputes this description, stating in her affidavit that she never saw a student wearing headphones or using a Walkman during a lesson. Karvelas also testified that during her periodic walks through the halls of the school, she noticed that another of Silverman's classes, co-taught with another teacher, was always rowdy. Karvelas stated that, according to her notes, on one occasion she had to stop to reprimand the class because the students were very loud and exhibited uncontrollable behavior. Silverman denied that any of her classes engaged in uncontrollable behavior, though she admitted that Karvelas stopped to reprimand her class. The district court concluded, and we agree, that Silverman's disagreement with Karvelas's evaluation does not present a genuine issue of material fact about the reasons for the Board's decision not to renew her contract. Though the Board admits Silverman performed well enough to meet the expectations of her job, the situation changed when Karvelas was told she had to choose one of the probationary special education teachers for non-renewal. That situation makes this case different from Duncan v. Fleetwood Motor Homes of Indiana , the case on which Silverman relies. In Duncan, the employer argued both that the employee was performing up to its expectations, and also that he was unable to meet the physical demands of the job. We held that those contradictory positions could not withstand scrutiny and concluded the employer's stated reason could be deemed pretextual. 518 F.3d at 491. Here, by contrast, the Board has not advanced a contradictory rationale for its decision not to renew Silverman's employment. In light of the difficult financial situation, Karvelas was required to select one special education teacher for non-renewal. The Board's position that all the teachers, including Silverman, were meeting the Board's expectations, but that Silverman was the least effective among them, is not internally inconsistent. Silverman's argument that the Board's position evolved between the EEOC proceedings and the proceedings in the district court likewise does not get her very far. Silverman takes the position that the EEOC's reasonable cause determination must be afforded consideration because it makes discrepancies in the Board's argument more salient and her argument more credible. The EEOC's determination itself, stating only that the agency found reasonable cause of discrimination and retaliation, in no way shows any evolution in the Board's position or its arguments. Insofar as Silverman intends to argue that the Board's position changed between the proceedings before the EEOC and those before the district court and that such a change constitutes evidence of pretext, she presented evidence to that effect in the district court by offering the Board's EEOC position statements. Although in some cases one can reasonably infer pretext from an employer's shifting or inconsistent explanations for the challenged employment decision, Appelbaum v. Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, 340 F.3d 573, 579 (7th Cir.2003), the district court did not find any change in the Board's position here to be inconsistent, and neither do we. Moreover, as the Board points out, both parties' arguments evolved over the course of their dispute, as frequently occurs in litigation. Silverman also contends that the parties' conflicting factual accounts show a genuine issue of material fact. She asserts that Karvelas inappropriately based her judgment on one or two incidents she observed during which she noted that Silverman was not engaged with the students or not in control of the classroom. According to Silverman, her classroom manner was appropriate. Based on this dispute, Silverman argues that the Board's motion should have been denied. We again disagree. Taking Silverman's account as truethat Karvelas's account is wrong and that her notes were not substantiated by the events at the timeSilverman has still failed to offer evidence that the reason given by the Board was dishonest. To defeat the Board's motion, she must point to evidence suggesting that the Board itself did not give an honest explanation of its reason. Silverman's argument is like many that arise in employment discrimination cases where the employee disagrees with an employer's negative assessment of the employee's performance. See, e.g., Ptasznik v. St. Joseph Hospital, 464 F.3d 691, 697-98 (7th Cir.2006) (accepting employer's non-discriminatory justification of inexcusable performance and concluding that a court should not interfere in employment decisions simply where [it] believe[s] an employer has made a poor choice). If such disagreements were enough to avoid summary judgment and go to trial on an indirect proof case, summary judgment would become extinct and employer's evaluations of employees would be supplanted by federal juries' evaluations. We have said in substance more times than we can count that when an employer articulates a plausible, legal reason for discharging the plaintiff, it is not our province to decide whether that reason was wise, fair, or even correct, ultimately, so long as it truly was the reason for the plaintiff's termination. Giannopoulos v. Brach & Brock Confections, Inc., 109 F.3d 406, 411 (7th Cir. 1997); accord, e.g., Stockwell v. City of Harvey, 597 F.3d 895, 902 (7th Cir.2010) (noting that subjective evaluations of job candidates are consistent with Title VII); Stephens v. Erickson, 569 F.3d 779, 788 (7th Cir.2009) (recognizing that the role of the court is not to second-guess employers' business judgments); Ptasznik, 464 F.3d at 697 (We do not sit as a super-personnel department with authority to review an employer's business decision), quoting Ballance v. City of Springfield, 424 F.3d 614, 621 (7th Cir.2005). Nevertheless, an employer's negative evaluation of the plaintiff's performance is not always the last word. If the plaintiff can raise a genuine issue about the honesty, not merely the accuracy, of the employer's stated evaluation, the case may need to be tried. An employee may demonstrate that the employer's reasons are unworthy of credence through evidence showing (1) that the proffered reasons had no basis in fact, (2) that the proffered reasons did not actually motivate his discharge, or (3) that they were insufficient to motivate discharge. Mechnig v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 864 F.2d 1359, 1365 (7th Cir.1988) (emphasis in original, quotation marks omitted). See also Cliff v. Board of School Commissioners of the City of Indianapolis, 42 F.3d 403, 412 (7th Cir.1994) (recognizing Mechnig framework in context of plaintiff-teacher's claim that defendant-Board's non-discriminatory basis for not renewing her contractnegative performance reviewswas pretextual). Silverman rests her case on the first type of evidence described in Mechnig, asserting that the Board's stated reason had no basis in fact. Such arguments require strong evidence that could leave a disinterested observer doubting the honesty of the stated reason. See, e.g., Hague v. Thompson Distribution Co., 436 F.3d 816, 823 (7th Cir.2006) (concluding that it is insufficient for a plaintiff to show that an employer's decision was mistaken or ill-considered where it is undisputed that an employer honestly believes a non-discriminatory rationale for termination); McCoy v. WGN Continental Broadcasting Co., 957 F.2d 368, 373 (7th Cir.1992) (noting that the issue of pretext in age discrimination context addresses whether the employee honestly believes in the reasons it offers for its employment decision). Silverman simply has not provided any evidence beyond her mere disagreement with Karvelas's evaluation to indicate that the Board did not in fact base its decision on Karvelas's recommendation and assessment of her performance as it has argued. We explained this requirement with respect to age discrimination in Futrell v. J.I. Case, 38 F.3d 342, 346 (7th Cir.1994): If the evidence does not amply support a plaintiff's claim that the defendant's explanation is unworthy of credence, judgment as a matter of law is entirely appropriate. The same conclusion follows in a Title VII analysis. Thus, even looking directly at Karvelas's evaluations and their factual bases, it is irrelevant to a summary judgment analysis whether Karvelas mischaracterized Silverman's classroom management skills. We simply do not weigh the prudence of employment decisions made by firms charged with employment discrimination. See id. An employer can fire an employee for any reason, fair or unfair, so long as the decision to terminate is not based on age or some other protected category. Kier v. Commercial Union Insurance Cos., 808 F.2d 1254, 1259 (7th Cir.1987). Most detrimental to Silverman's claim is the undisputed fact that Karvelas observed one of Silverman's classes in February 2005, well before she learned of the pregnancy, so that negative evaluation could not possibly have been affected by any supposed bias against pregnancy. Neither has Silverman provided any evidence to call into question Karvelas's written observations regarding other teachers, all of which were positive. It is not sufficient for Silverman to argue, as she has, that all the teachers were good but because the one teacher whose employment was not renewed was pregnant, her pregnancy must have been the deciding factor for her selection. We are left with no evidence from which a reasonable jury could infer pretext and discriminatory animus. In the absence of any whiff of disapproval by the Board of her pregnancy, Silverman cannot avoid summary judgment with an unadorned claim that a jury might not believe the Board's explanation. Giannopoulos, 109 F.3d at 411.