Opinion ID: 2995199
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Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ill 2d at 5-6, 349 N.E.2d at 387. The

Text: district court thus properly granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants with regard to Horwitz’s defamation claim. E. Dismissal of the Section 1983 Claim The district court dismissed Horwitz’s 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983 claim. Horwitz alleged in her complaint that the School Board acted with reckless indifference to plaintiff’s concerns resulting in a deprivation of her civil rights and that Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne were involved in a conspiracy to silence her advocacy for her students, discredit and ultimately terminate her. The conspiracy resulted in a violation of her rights and duties as an advocate for children pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the First Amendment. Essentially, Horwitz has brought a First Amendment retaliation claim under sec. 1983. We review a district court’s decision to dismiss a complaint under 12(b)(6) de novo. See Pleva v. Norquist, 195 F.3d 905, 911 (7th Cir. 1999). Such a dismissal is proper only if looking at the pleadings, taking all the facts alleged by Horwitz to be true and construing all inferences in her favor, she fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Id. First, we assess whether the district court properly dismissed the sec. 1983 claim against Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne. Horwitz has sued these defendants in their official and individual capacities. With respect to the individual capacity issue, it is necessary that we consider whether Horwitz has successfully established a First Amendment retaliation claim. In order for Horwitz to establish a sec. 1983 claim based on the First Amendment, she must demonstrate that: (1) her conduct was constitutionally protected and (2) her conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the defendants’ challenged actions. See Thomsen v. Romeis, 198 F.3d 1022, 1027 (7th Cir. 2000). To determine whether Horwitz’s speech was constitutionally protected, we need to ask whether her speech addressed a matter of public concern, and if so, then we must consider whether Horwitz’s interest in speaking outweighs the interest of the state in efficiently providing services. See Kokkinis v. Ivkovich, 185 F.3d 840, 843-44 (7th Cir. 1999). To determine whether Horwitz’s speech was a matter of public concern, we consider the content, form, context, and motivation of her speech, although content is the most important factor. See Button v. Kibby-Brown, 146 F.3d 526, 529 (7th Cir. 1998). We will assume, without deciding, that the essay Horwitz submitted to Wilmette Life in the fall of 1997 criticizing the school district addresses a matter of public concern and that her interest in speaking outweighs the interest of the state in efficiently providing services. Nonetheless, we cannot conclude that Horwitz’s essay in any way was a substantial or motivating factor in the defendants’ ultimate decision that Horwitz should be terminated. The essay was submitted to Wilmette Life on October 9, 1997 and Horwitz was terminated on April 23, 1999; approximately eighteen months had passed between the time Horwitz had engaged in speech that was constitutionally protected and her termination. These two events are simply too remote in time to infer that Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne believed that Horwitz’s termination was necessary based solely on this essay. As already noted, several other incidents occurred between Horwitz and the school between the fall of 1997 and April of 1999 that played a role in the decision to terminate her. Horwitz has not successfully mounted a First Amendment retaliation claim against Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne. Although we have decided that Horwitz’s sec. 1983 claim against Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne in their individual capacities has failed, we still must address whether her claim survives against these defendants in their official capacities. Since Horwitz has brought her suit against these particular individuals in their official capacities, the trial judge must identify those officials or governmental bodies who speak with final policymaking authority for the local governmental actor concerning the action alleged to have caused the particular constitutional or statutory violation at issue. Jett v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., 491 U.S. 701, 737 (1989). It is necessary to initially determine which officials have final policymaking authority because [o]nce those officials who have the power to make official policy on a particular issue have been identified, it is for the jury to determine whether their decisions have caused the deprivation of rights at issue by polices which affirmatively command that it occur or by acquiescence in a longstanding practice or custom which constitutes the standard operating procedure of the local governmental entity. Id. (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). The district court said that it did not even [have] ’bare allegations’ from which to string together an argument that the individual Defendants enjoyed final decision-making authority. Horwitz v. Board of Educ. of Avoca, No. 98 C 6490, 2000 WL 1100858, at  (N.D. Ill. June 7, 2000). Deciding whether a specific official has final policymaking authority is a question of state law. See Duda v. Board of Educ. of Franklin Park Pub. Sch. Dist. No. 84, 133 F.3d 1054, 1061 (7th Cir. 1998). We have said that nothing in the [Illinois] School Code allows us to infer that a superintendent or principal has been delegated policymaking authority with respect to personnel decisions. Id. Furthermore, there is no reason for us to believe, based on the Illinois School Code, see 105 ILCS 5/10-12, that the president of a school board has final policymaking authority. We agree with the district court that Horwitz has not provided us with any basis to conclude, beyond her own bare allegations, that either Dr. Sloan (superintendent of schools of Avoca District No. 37), Dr. Biancalana (principal of Avoca West School), or Ballantyne (president of the Avoca School Board) is a final policymaker. Horwitz’s claim against Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne in their official capacities was appropriately dismissed by the district court. What remains to be considered is Horwitz’s sec. 1983 claim against the Board. Horwitz’s sec. 1983 claim against the Board, which is an agency of the municipal government, see Smith v. Chicago Sch. Reform Bd. of Trs., 165 F.3d 1142, 1148 (7th Cir. 1999), may not be based on respondeat superior. Id. Monell places the burden on Horwitz to demonstrate that an official policy or custom of the Board’s caused her injury. Id. at 1148-49. Horwitz in her complaint states, On several occasions, including January 1998, the plaintiff or a representative informed the school board of the numerous violations of plaintiff’s rights regarding age discrimination and deficient educational practices. The school board maintained a policy of ignoring such violations in reckless disregard of the truthful and well substantiated allegations. Horwitz, in her complaint, further alleges that the Board improperly issued its first and second notice of remedial warning, inappropriately compelled her to undergo a psychological exam, and apparently ordered her not to express her opinion about special education situations to parents on the basis that since she was not certified in special education her opinion was not authoritative, even though Horwitz claims she has an obligation under the IDEA statute to express her opinion on such matters. The rest of her complaint focuses more exclusively on the behavior of particular individuals, like Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne. She acknowledges such an emphasis in her complaint, when she states, In engaging in the acts and conduct aforesaid, defendants and each of them were acting under color of the Illinois School Code, a statute of the State of Illinois. Such acts and conduct, having been done and taken by, and with the approval and ratification of persons in policy-making positions constitute a policy of defendant Board Of Education. However, we have concluded that Dr. Sloan, Dr. Biancalana, and Ballantyne do not have policymaking authority and furthermore the Board cannot be liable for these defendants’ actions based on respondeat superior. Quite simply, Horwitz’s complaint does not adequately explain how the Board maintained a policy or custom that was directed at suppressing her right to free speech. Thus, the claim against the Board was properly dismissed.