ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

information for personal use as Woods was doing. Woods violated the Family Education Rights
Privacy Act (FERPA) with her copying.
Next, Woods contended that she was terminated in retaliation for her discrimination
claim. For such a claim to succeed, the Woods had to show that a causal connection existed
between her discrimination report and her termination, and the temporal proximity of the two
must lend itself to a reasonable inference that the termination happened because of the
discrimination report. Five months elapsed from her report of discrimination to her first
notification of possible termination. Thus, the temporal proximity was not close enough between
the two acts to infer that the termination was the effect caused by Woods’ discrimination report
according to the court.
Finally, Woods argued that her termination was also done in retaliation under the First
Amendment. The court was not persuaded. All of Woods’s reports on these issues occurred in
the form of grievances and private meetings with supervisory personnel. While discrimination in
a public work setting is most likely a public concern, Woods never crossed the threshold of being
an employee speaking of a public concern. She spoke in her official capacity about her own
individual work setting. Moreover, Woods never submitted any admissible evidence on this point
thus rendering it moot. As the court aptly noted, the problems inherent to this case had little to do
with race and a lot to do with personality issues on Woods’ and the clique’s part.
Disposition: The defendants were granted summary judgment on all points.
Citation: D’Angelo v. School Board, 497 F.3d 1203, (2007 U.S. App.).
Key Facts: Michael L. D’Angelo was hired as the principal of Kathleen High School by
School Board of Polk County in Florida in June 2002. Kathleen was an underperforming school
earning a letter D grade on statewide accountability measures. Within 1 year, D’Angelo had
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