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T. W. v. School Board of Seminole County, Florida

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[PUBLISH]

Before BARKETT, PRYOR and HILL, Circuit Judges.

This appeal presents the questions whether a teacher violated a disabled student’s constitutional right to be free from excessive corporal punishment or discriminated against the student solely by reason of his disability, in violation of a federal statute, when the teacher physically and verbally abused the student on several occasions. The student, T.W., was enrolled for several months in Kathleen Garrett’s autism class at a middle school in Seminole County, Florida. On a few occasions, Garrett physically restrained T.W. in response to his disruptive conduct. Garrett also occasionally called T.W. names, provoked him, and used profanity around him. There is evidence that Garrett’s actions aggravated T.W.’s developmental disability, but there is no evidence that Garrett caused T.W. to suffer any serious physical injuries. T.W., by and through his mother, complained that Garrett and the School Board of Seminole County violated his rights under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and that the School Board discriminated against him because of his disability in violation of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794(a). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Garrett and the School Board. Although the events that allegedly transpired in Garrett’s classroom are troubling, we conclude that T.W.’s complaint that Garrett and the School Board violated his constitutional and federal statutory rights fails as a matter of law. We affirm the summary judgment in favor of Garrett and the School Board.

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