Opinion ID: 3047809
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: physical abuse of public school student—

Text: DEFENDANT LISANTI [1] 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 (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). [2] 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. [3] The School Officials belittle the allegations and claim that LiSanti’s conduct cannot be considered anything more PRESCHOOLER II v. DAVIS 3335 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. 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. 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. 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 nonverbal 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. 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 3336 PRESCHOOLER II v. DAVIS 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)). [4] 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. II. CLEARLY ESTABLISHED LAW PROHIBITING PHYSICAL ABUSE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS—DEFENDANT LISANTI [5] By 2002-2003 when Preschooler II was allegedly abused, the right of public school students to be free from excessive force imposed by their teachers was uncontroverted. As early as 1977, the Supreme Court stated that public school students have a constitutional due process right “to be free from, and to obtain judicial relief for, unjustified intrusions on personal security.” Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651, 673 (1977). Even though the Court in Ingraham did not grant certiorari regarding the specific question of whether unreasonable corporal punishment violates substantive due process 5 In Doe, we noted that “it may be possible for a school official to use excessive force against a student without seizing or searching the student, and that the Fourth Amendment would not apply to such conduct.” 334 F.3d at 909. Even assuming a legitimate due process claim under the Fourteenth Amendment, it takes no further analysis to conclude that these actions do not “shock the conscience.” See, e.g., Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 172 (1952) (explaining the substantive due process “shocks the conscience” standard). PRESCHOOLER II v. DAVIS 3337 under the Fourteenth Amendment, it was plain that students have a liberty interest in freedom from unreasonable restraint and mistreatment. Nearly twenty years later, the Court described Ingraham as standing for the proposition that while “children sent to public school are lawfully confined to the classroom, arbitrary corporal punishment represents an invasion of personal security to which their parents do not consent when entrusting the educational mission to the State.” Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 485 (1995). In reliance on Ingraham, the Ninth Circuit, as well as a number of other circuits, held that excessive and unreasonable corporal punishment of public school students violates the students’ constitutional rights. See Koch, 96 F.3d at 1304 (concluding that teacher’s use of excessive force with high school students in 1990 and 1991 violated plaintiffs’ substantive due process rights); see also Metzger v. Osbeck, 841 F.2d 518, 520 (3d Cir. 1988) (holding excessive force in public school context is a violation of substantive due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment); Wise v. Pea Ridge Sch. Dist., 855 F.2d 560, 565 (8th Cir. 1988) (same); Webb v. McCullough, 828 F.2d 1151, 1159 (6th Cir. 1987) (same); Garcia v. Miera, 817 F.2d 650, 653 (10th Cir. 1987) (same); Hall v. Tawney, 621 F.2d 607, 613 (4th Cir. 1980) (same). Following Ingraham, the Supreme Court determined that allegations of excessive force in § 1983 actions should be analyzed under a more specific constitutional provision, rather than through generalized notions of substantive due process. See Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 394 (1989). As a consequence, we now typically analyze excessive force allegations against public school students under the Fourth Amendment. See Doe, 334 F.3d at 908, 909 (“[We] have recognized the movement away from substantive due process and toward the Fourth Amendment . . . . It is clear that the Fourth Amendment applies in the school environment.”) (citations omitted). 3338 PRESCHOOLER II v. DAVIS [6] In light of the clear constitutional prohibition of excessive physical abuse of schoolchildren, and the heightened protections for disabled pupils, no reasonable special education teacher would believe that it is lawful to force a seriously disabled four year old child to beat himself or to violently throw or slam him. Existing law plainly prohibits excessive hitting, dragging or throwing of public school children. See Koch, 96 F.3d at 1304 (“no reasonable [school official] could think it constitutional to intentionally . . . slap . . . and slam students . . . .”). Therefore, LiSanti is not entitled to qualified immunity for the alleged head beating and slamming assaults on Preschooler II.