Opinion ID: 797137
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: physical abuse of public school student—defendant lisanti

Text: 18 Our initial task is to determine whether the physical abuse allegations rise to the level of constitutional violations. We begin with the principle that excess force by a [school official] against a student violate[s] the student's constitutional rights. P.B. v. Koch, 96 F.3d 1298, 1302-03 (9th Cir.1996). The consequences of a teacher's force against a student at school are generally analyzed under the reasonableness rubric of the Fourth Amendment, although historically courts applied substantive due process analysis under the Fourteenth Amendment's shocks the conscience test. See Doe, 334 F.3d at 908-09 (9th Cir.2003) (quoting New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 342, 105 S.Ct. 733, 83 L.Ed.2d 720 (1985)) (applying the Fourth Amendment in the school context, requiring reasonableness to be assessed in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction, and explaining the movement from substantive due process to Fourth Amendment review). 19 The teacher's seizure of Preschooler II and her alleged slapping, forced participation in self-beating and slamming were unreasonable in light of the child's age and disability and the context of the events. Preschooler II posed no danger to anyone nor was he disruptive in the classroom. At such a young age and suffering from significant and serious disabilities, autism as well as tuberous sclerosis, Preschooler II was even more vulnerable than the average pre-school child. 20 The School Officials belittle the allegations and claim that LiSanti's conduct cannot be considered anything more than, at the very worst, a failure to conform to best practices. This effort to candycoat the claims ignores the court's obligation to accept the allegations as true and to characterize the alleged abuses in the light most favorable to Preschooler II. See Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. When so construed, the beating, slapping, and slamming of Preschooler II by LiSanti violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of the use of excessive force against public schoolchildren. 21 The School Officials seek to distinguish LiSanti's head beating and slamming from the abuse imposed by the teacher in Doe who taped a healthy second grade boy's head to a tree for five minutes, and from the hitting and punching of several high school students challenged in Koch. The fact that Preschooler II is so severely disabled and was so young at the time of the abuse renders LiSanti's alleged conduct equally disturbing. 22 Unlike the teacher in Doe who abused the student in a single and relatively short incident, 334 F.3d at 908, LiSanti's abusive conduct allegedly occurred over a period of months. Preschooler II's mother alleges that the full extent of the abuse is not known, and Preschooler II cannot be counted on to report it since he was so young at the time and is non-verbal as a result of his autism. Koch involved physical force by a school principal for purportedly disciplinary reasons. The case is instructive in its conclusion that the force allegedly used bears no reasonable relation to the need. 96 F.3d at 1304. Similarly, there was no need here for the claimed excessive force. 23 Although the abuse in Doe and Koch varies in degree and detail from the allegations here, those cases do not set a floor for benchmarking reasonable conduct. Nor do they serve as bookends that require us to shoehorn Preschooler II's case between them. Rather, the cases point to the need to look objectively at the specific circumstances of the school and child. There need not be a case dealing with these particular facts to find [a school official's] conduct unreasonable. Doe, 334 F.3d at 910 (citing Headwaters Forest Def. v. County of Humboldt, 276 F.3d 1125, 1131 (9th Cir.2002)). 24 The allegations of beating and slamming Preschooler II stand in stark contrast to the claims regarding unspecified bruises, scratches, and shoeless walks. The unexplained bruises and scratches, without more, do not rise to the level of a recognized constitutional violation. Under the Fourth Amendment, making a child walk from the bus without his shoes was not unreasonable, either as excessive force or abuse. The teacher was simply attempting to teach Preschooler II not to remove his shoes on the bus. 5 Although the parties dispute the pedagogical basis for this lesson, we do not need to go down that path. Our review is limited to the constitutional challenge. 25