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CIRCIO Case No. 13-60631

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

Fl FTH CIRCUIT

DONALD JACKSON, as Natural Parent and Next Friend on Behalf of a Minor; MELISSA JACKSON, as Natural Parent and Next Friend on Behalf of a Minor

Plaintiffs — Appellees

V.

JOHN LADNER, Individually and as Superintendent of Pearl Public Schools RAY MORGIGNO, Individually and as Principal of Pearl High School TOMMIE HILL, Individually and in her capacity under Pearl High School TIFFANY DIM., Individually and in her capacity under Pearl High School

Defendants — Appellants

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI

JACKSON DIVISION

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:09-cv-00353-HTW-LRA

APPELLEES BRIEF

ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED

DONALD AND MELISSA JACKSON Post Office Box 54024 Pearl, Mississippi 39288 [email protected] rnissyjxneyahoo.corn Telephone: 601-624-6545 / 601-624-6552

Case: 13-60631 Document: 00512767580 Page: 1 Date Filed: 09/12/2014

Case No. 13-60631

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FIFTH CIRCUIT

DONALD JACKSON, as Natural Parent and Next Friend on Behalf of a Minor; MELISSA JACKSON, as Natural Parent and Next Friend on Behalf of a Minor

Plaintiffs — Appellees

V .

JOHN LADNER, Individually and as Superintendent of Pearl Public Schools RAY MORGIGNO, Individually and as Principal of Pearl High School TOMMIE HILL, Individually and in her capacity under Pearl High School TIFFANY DURR, Individually and in her capacity under Pearl High School

Defendants — Appellants

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI

JACKSON DIVISION

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:09-cv-00353-HTW-LRA

APPELLEES BRIEF

ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED

DONALD AND MELISSA JACKSON Post Office Box 54024 Pearl, Mississippi 39288 donjxn@attnet missyjxn@,yahoo.com Telephone: 601-624-6545 / 601-624-6552


UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FIFTH CIRCUIT

Case No. 13-60631

JOHN LADNER, INDIVIDUALLY, RAY MORGIGNO, INDIVIDUALLY, TOMMIE HILL, INDIVIDUALLY, AND TIFFANY DURR, INDIVIDUAL

APPELLANTS/DEFENDANTS

VS

DONALD AND MELISSA JACKSON AS NATURAL PARENTS AND NEXT FRIENDS ON BEHALF OF MIRANDA "MANDI" JACKSON, A MINOR

APPELLEES/PLAINTIFFS

CERTIFICATE OF INTERESTED PERSONS

The undersigned certifies that the following listed persons have an interest in

the outcome of this case. These representations are made in order that the Justices

of the Court of Appeals may evaluate possible disqualification or recusal

Honorable Henry T. Wingate, District Court Judge

Miranda "Mandi" Jackson, Plaintiff

Donald Jackson, Parent and Next Friend of Plaintiff

Melissa Jackson, Parent and Next Friend of Plaintiff

John Ladner, Defendant

Ray Morgigno, Defendant


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Tommie Hill, Defendant

Tiffany Durr, Defendant

Michael J. Wolf, Attorney for Defendants

Roy Smith, Attorney for Defendants

Arthur "Skip' Jernigan, Attorney for Defendants

APPELLEES MIRANDA "MANDI" JACKSON, DONALD AND MELISSA JACKSON, AS NATURAL PARENTS AND NEXT FRIENDS OF PLAINTIFF

/s/ Donald W. Jackson DONALD W. JACKSON

/s/ Melissa B. Jackson MELISSA B. JACKSON


TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF INTERESTED PERSONS i i i

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES vi

RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT OF ISSUES 1

RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT'S STATEMENT OF FACTS 3

CONCLUSION 1 0

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 1 1

iv


STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT

The Plaintiff's request oral argument. Defendant's use of case law addresses

issues that are not relevant in this case and it must be clear to the court that none of

the Facebook communications occurred during school hours, using school

computer's, nor during after school events. Defendant's wish to hide behind a

cloak of qualified immunity when the events were indeed willful and malicious.


TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

CASES

Harlow v. Fitzgerald 457 US 800, 818 (1982) 1

vi


RESPONSE TO DEFENDANTS' STATEMENT OF ISSUES

I. Qualified immunity is not applicable if Defendants violated a clearly

established statutory or constitutional right of which a reasonable person

would know. Harlow v. Fitzgerald 457 US 800, 818 (1982). Given

Defendants' employment as qualified teachers and school administrators, it

is reasonable to assume they are familiar with basic tenets of the United

States Constitution and its Amendments. Defendant Hill has taught at Pearl

High School for thirty-one years, including courses in American

Government, which would further impugn her knowledge of constitutional

rights. Remaining Defendants possess Masters or Doctorate degrees which

should include at minimum awareness and knowledge of basic American

government. Therefore, Defendants Durr, Morgigno and Ladner would have

reasonable knowledge of constitutional rights. Defendants' knowledge of

constitutional rights shows they purposefully, not mistakenly, violated

Mandi Jackson's constitutional rights. Based on this analysis, Defendants

are clearly not entitled to qualified immunity.

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2-7. Defendants have violated several of Mandi's clearly established rights.

Anyone who has an email account, online banking account, or lock on the door of

their residence can clearly see that the Defendant Hill was unreasonable to demand

and access Mandi Jackson's password protected private Facebook account,

ownership of which is Don and Melissa Jackson's — not Mandi Jacksons. Hills'

demand for this information is no different than a demand for a key to Mandi's

house to search her bedroom for her diary or hand written correspondence.

Further, by disseminating the information contained within the private emails,

Defendants Durr, Hill, Morgigno, and Ladner violated Mandi Jackson's right to

privacy. Punishing Mandi for the content contained within the private email and

condoning this punishment shows a violation of Mandi's rights to free speech and

right to due process and commission of various torts.

In personal conversation with Don and Melissa Jackson, Defendant Ladner

advised that he had told Morgigno to "fix the situation" but Morgigno told Don

that he could not punish Hill since she had once been his own teacher and tennis

coach. Defendant Ladner verbally threatened Melissa by saying that Mandi would

be ostracized if the lawsuit were to continue. The fact is, Raymond Morgigno was

principal of Pearl High School and his ambitions were to become Superintendent

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of the Pearl School District. Tommie Hill is not only a teacher at Pearl High

School but was also a sitting alderman for the City of Pearl; Raymond Morgigno

knowingly needed her vote in order to be appointed Superintendent — In which she

did and he is now in the superintendent position!

RESPONSE TO DEFENDANTS' STATEMENT OF FACTS:

Tommie Hill admits in her own statement that Don and Melissa Jackson

received from Dr. John Ladner (Exhibit AA1) that the purpose for requesting the

Facebook sign on information and passwords was because on September 10, 2007,

Whitney Exum's (cheerleader) mother Angela confronted Hill and Tiffany Durr

about photos that had been posted to Whitney's public Facebook page that showed

Whitney drinking and smoking at her dad's house the weekend before. Angela

Exum pulled Whitney from cheerleading and moved her to Brandon school

district. Tommie admits this in writing as well as verbally in a parent teacher

meeting between Melissa Jackson and Gina Morgigno. It was the night of

September 10, 2007 that Tommie passed around the notebook for the cheerleaders

to write down their Facebook information. Tommie was looking for pictures of the

girls drinking or doing any other illegal activity. Mandi had none of this on her

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page and anything that Tommie needed could have been easily viewed on each

cheerleader's public Facebook page. While the defendant's may argue that Mandi

did not protest, Mandi was underage at the time and was not at an age to neither

agree to this nor be interrogated by Tommie Hill.

While many of the cheerleaders deleted their accounts before Hill could

access them, Melissa provided copies of public pages to Hill that included pictures

of drinking and partying, a survey on Ashley Holifield's (Sr. cheerleader) public

access page asking "Am I Fuckable?", none of which Hill was concerned with.

Any indication of threats made by Mandi was not even brought up until the

defendant's lawyers got involved. Mandi was a freshman, being harassed by a

senior — this is a pretty common occurrence. Melissa had already made complaints

with the administrators about Mandi being bullied to no avail. Considering that

Mandi and Kristen Ellis (Sr. cheerleader) have been around each other for years

and have never really gotten along, this incident would have resolved itself had

Hill and Durr not gotten involved. Kristen Ellis and Mandi's older sister, Amber

were good friends and Kristen has been a staple at the Jackson home for years. By

the time that Hill accessed Mandi's private email, the argument between Kristen

and Mandi was a nonissue as Kristen had apologized to Amber as amends. The

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original email even begins with Mandi saying "no disrespect Kristen but..."

(Exhibit already on file — Appendix Ex. 7). The email can be construed as two

acquaintances arguing, not threatening to kill each other. Kristen even admits to

the other cheerleaders harassing Mandi because "that's what friends do" is stick up

for each other. In the email, Mandi brings up Melissa being involved in Kristen

Ellis being pulled over for public drunk. Kristen denies this happened but Melissa

will testify that it did occur on prom night, a year or more prior to Mandi being in

high school. No charges were filed and Kristen was allowed to have her parents

drive her home. This incident could be what Kristen is still upset about.

Tommie Hill claims that Mandi was disciplined with a two week suspension

from the squad but on September 11 Mandi was also taken off of the competition

squad. Kristen Ellis's punishment is "painting" which is what cheerleaders do —

that's the fun stuff— and it was during her Senior Week so how would that

possibly be punishment? That is akin to saying she punished the cheerleader by

making her cheer.

The defendants state that only after tryouts for the next season did the

Jackson's decide to sue. The fact is that the Jackson's had multiple meetings

between all defendants involved. Mandi was being tormented by the older

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cheerleaders from the beginning of her freshman year because Melissa was a

police officer and they felt that Mandi was behind some of them getting in trouble

for drinking, having alcohol on school grounds, even getting speeding tickets —

none of the arrests or tickets even being given by Melissa Jackson. Not only was

Mandi being harassed by the older cheerleaders, she was definitely not being

protected by any of it by the teachers and administrators. Melissa provided Dr.

Ladner with a statement of events (Exhibit AA3, original with full names) that

spoke of the blatant preferential treatment and disregard for the rules. Only after

Dr. Ladner failed to respond (because he said Melissa would just "settle down and

forget") did the Jackson's decide to address the school board (Exhibit AA4,

Melissa's presentation)

Furthermore, the defendants begin their Statement of Facts on a skewed

time line. The cheerleaders did participate in the Feed the Families program on

August 29, 2007 at which time words were exchanged between Mandi Jackson and

Kristin Ellis but no threats were made to either Kristen or anyone else in the verbal

exchange nor private email conversations. In reality, nothing was ever said about

"threats" until the school hired their attorneys and had to pull something clever out

of their hats. At the time of the Feed the Families program the cheerleaders and

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coaches Tommie Hill and Tiffany Durr all rode a "short" bus to the program and

back. Mandi sat toward the front of the bus near Hill and Durr while Kristen sat

toward the back so any further conversations that would have ensued would have

been easily overheard by Hill and Durr.

Comparing the dates of the private emails and the date Hill accessed the

account, there is an obvious discrepancy. In Hill's affidavit on file, Hill states she

accessed Mandi's account on September 10, 2007, the day after a trip to WLBT.

The date stamp on the first email between Mandi and Kristen is August 30, 2007

and references the WLBT trip the previous day. Therefore, if Hill was concerned

about an immediate threat to any student, she could have contacted Mandi's

parents or law enforcement or would have attempted to illegally access Mandi's

Facebook emails at that time instead of waiting until September 10 and asking for

Facebook access from all of the cheerleaders. Even more, Kristen Ellis could have

provided the information directly to Hill if she had any concerns about threats from

Mandi. Hill admits in her affidavit that she did not witness the alleged

conversation between Mandi and Kristen. Without proof of Mandi's alleged

participation in the bus conversation, Hill did punish Mandi severely, including

demanding Mandi's Facebook private login information, wrongfully accessing

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Mandi's private Facebook email correspondence, then suspending her from the

squad for two weeks, removing her from the competition squad, and prohibiting

her from practicing with the team for the remainder of the 2007-2008 school year,

even though Don and Melissa Jackson were still having to pay for all participation

events.

There was never any bullying by Mandi. Mandi was a Freshman at the time,

being harassed by Seniors that got away with posting photos of cheerleaders

drinking (even wearing their cheerleader jackets and other identifying objects);

Ashley Holifield (senior cheerleader) was arrested at school for possession of

alcohol on school grounds and was under house arrest with an ankle bracelet

monitor — she still participated in all cheerleading and tennis activities sponsored

by Tommie Hill. Pictures were provided to the school resource officer of a party

that several cheerleaders participated in — nothing happened to them because Hill

said it didn't happen at school. Mandi was being ostracized because the cheer

team felt that she was telling about these parties to Melissa Jackson, a police

officer with the City of Pearl. None of this information came from Melissa

Jackson as the school resource officer will testify to in trial.

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CONCLUSION

Defendants acted willfully, wantonly, and with malice aforethought to

violate Plaintiff's constitutional rights to privacy, free speech, free association and

due process. During the process of violating these rights and then punishing,

humiliating and causing Plaintiff to be shunned and ostracized, Defendants acted

abusively with malice, libel, slander, defamation and in bad faith. Due to the

extensive, unfounded abuses of Mandi by all Defendants, Defendants are not

entitled to qualified immunity on any count. Donald and Melissa Jackson ask that

the original District Court ruling denying Qualified Immunity be upheld for each

of the individually named Defendants.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, this the 9 th day of September, 2014.

DONALD W. JACKSON, as Natural Parent and Next Friend on Behalf of a Minor;

MELISSA B. JACKSON, as Natural Parent and Next Friend on Behalf of a Minor

/s/ Donald W. Jackson Donald W. Jackson

/s/ Melissa B. Jackson Melissa B. Jackson

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

Donald W. Jackson and Melissa B. Jackson do hereby certify that notice of this

filing was sent via United States Postal Service, postage pre-paid on September 9,

2014 to:

Michael J. Wolf Page, Kruger & Holland, P.A. Post Office Box 1163 Jackson, MS 39215-1163

Arthur Jernigan, Jr. Jernigan, Copeland & Anderson Post Office Box 2598 Ridgeland, MS 39158

Roy A. Smith Daniel, Coker, Horton & Bell Post Office Box 1084 Jackson, MS 39215

This, the 9 th day of September, 2014

/s/ Donald W. Jackson Donald W. Jackson

/s/ Melissa B. Jackson Melissa B. Jackson

11


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This is not about just the cheerleaders and dancers, and it is not meant to "bash" Ashley Holifield and Kristen Ellis. Whatever those girls do is their own parents' problem, just as my kids are my responsibility. These are just things that I know about. There are plenty of other pictures available that involve other students at Pearl High School but that is not the purpose.

• September 10 — Mrs. Hill asked all of the cheerleaders for their Facebook user names and passwords — initiated because Whitney Exum got in trouble for having pictures of her smoking and drinking. Mandi gave up this information because she did not know what else to do. She told me that day that there was some offensive language in her email and I told her not to delete it or touch her Facebook because first, Mrs. Hill was not looking for that information, she was looking for pictures, and secondly because I would be checking her Facebook also. Mandi had been telling me of problems between her and Kristen since the beginning of school and I told her to stand up for herself but to still respect Kristen's position as cheerleader captain. Hill checked the Facebook pages later that day while the girls were at MS Cheerleading Academy. Had Hill asked for my permission to view Facebook I probably would have, given it to her, but she had no business using her position to coerce this information from the kids. I am a responsible enough parent to check up on what my kids do, both online and off.

• September 11 — Mrs. Hill pulled Mandi from practice in the commons and talked to her about what was found on Mandi's Facebook. Mandi was sat out for 2 weeks of football games because of the cussing on her Facebook email — between Mandi and Kristen Ellis.

• September 11 PM — Night practice at Mississippi Cheerleading Academy, Mandi was sat out from competition squad by Cory Boyd. The squad had voted on alternates at the first part of the year and the two alternates were Cindy Smith and Cole McFarland. Those two girls are the ones that are supposed to sit out for competition unless there is an injury or someone quits. One girl went up that night because Whitney Exum moved; another girl went into Mandi's position. Mandi was the only remaining non competing member.

• September 11 PM — Cory is riding Kristen Ellis around on his motorcycle, at high rates of speed, immediately after practice. Witnessed by Amber Jackson and Mandi Jackson.

• Next week — Kristen seen riding in Cory's Jeep before another practice. Witnessed by Don and Missy Jackson. Should a.coach that is paid by the school system be fraternizing with our girls in this way? It is as inappropriate as a teacher doing the same.


I . September 12 — Missy Jackson met with Mrs. Hill regarding the Facebook punishment. Mandi had shown me the email between her and Kristen before I met with Mrs. Hill. I explained to Mrs. Hill that Mandi had told me she had some language on her Facebook email and that she would be in trouble at home and I would not let her touch any of it to delete it. I told her if she was embarrassed by it then it never should have been said. I also explained to her that I was ok with the 2-week game sit down because her punishment at home would have been more than that. I was very upset, however, that. Mandi was the only person to get into any trouble over this when she was the ONLY cheerleader that did not get on Facebook and delete things. Teaching my child to be honest is what has gotten us into all of this. Hill even said she had considered throwing Mandi off of the squad completely because of her actions on Facebook, yet it was ok to have the other girls openly drinking. I also showed Hill other Facebook pages from Kristen Ellis and Ashley Holifield giving details of how they deleted their Facebook pages via Internet access from their phones. Mrs. Bush in the front office knew of the pictures of Ashley and Ellis drinking that was posted on their sites. Many other teachers knew of this too. I had seen both Facebook's and both had pictures and offensive language in the public access portion of Facebook, whereas Mandi had no bad language other than the private emails between her and Kristen and absolutely no offensive pictures. I made Mandi apologize to Hill and to Kristen Ellis for cussing.

• When I saw all of the repercussions Mandi was experiencing due to the Facebook invasion I contacted Shelley at the Department of Education, she advised me to make notes of the conversation between me and Hill, but told me that Pearl School District does what they want to do, not necessarily following the rules and feel they are above the law.

• Ashley Holifield was drinking in pictures, which she had posted on Facebook, that were turned into the police department (NOT by me); she did not mist any practices and still competed in competitions. She was eventually arrested for having alcohol in her car on school property, she is currently under house arrest yet still playing tennis under Mrs. Hill, is there no code of ethics in tennis? Why does someone get punished so severely for something so minor and a repeat offender such as Ashley Holifield or even Kristen Ellis not get even a slap on the wrist? Breanna McQueen was in the same pictures and nothing happened to her because Hill says it didn't happen at school, yet the cheerleaders and parents all signed a code of conduct that included school and non-school activities and how they appeared in public. Well the private email that was in Mandi's Facebook in no way happened at school either.


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• Mrs. Morgigno was a witness to the meeting with Mrs. Hill and Missy Jackson and I asked her to file a formal complaint of harassment against Kristen Ellis. Mrs. Hill continued to say that there were no problems with harassment on the

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squad but all of the freshmen girls were being treated badly, as well as Cindy Smith, who did not try out this year because of all the problems with the squad.

I • Hill pulled Mandi aside at the Jackson Prep game that she was suspended from (September 13) and told Mandi that she needed to be sitting on the sidelines with her in full uniform, which had not been told to Mandi. But, Mandi left her friends

1 and sat on the sidelines with no complaints.

• Mandi sat out the two games and then sat out over three months during the

I competition season with NO mat time, which severely affected her tumbling abilities. Being sat out on September 11 was the FIRST time she had ever sat out practices. I continued to pay $80 a month while she was getting NOTHING from

I it. At least 3 months of sitting out practices, regional competition (November 10) and state competition (December 15). After competition season, the girls showed up at the gym and played around because competition time was over while instead

I they should have been practicing and getting ready for tryouts. Cory does not get paid to play with the girls, he gets paid to teach.

I • At the Regional Competition at the Brandon High School, Mandi was in her full uniform on the sidelines and followed the girls in warm up still not being advised in what to do by Mrs. Hill nor Mrs. Durr. Her role was to follow Hill and Durr

I around — why the humiliation? Why couldn't she have sat in the stands and cheered the girls on? At the State Competition at the Jackson coliseum she had to be in full uniform on the sidelines and acted as a coat rack for the girls by

I carrying jackets, cell phones, cheer bags, cameras, etc. She had helped the girls with their stunts in warm up and followed them everywhere again not being

I advised what to do by Mrs. Hill nor Mrs. DIU. Not only was this completely

demeaning, we once again were getting nothing for the money we were spending. It was pure fate that the two girls that ruined the entire competition routine

Ihappened to be Holifield and Ellis.

• Mandi was ostracized terribly because the squad felt that because Mandi's mom is 1 a cop, Mandi was somehow responsible for Ashley getting caught with alcohol in

her vehicle at school, even though Ashley was the one bragging to everyone at school about having it. Mandi had nothing to do with it and Missy didn't even

I find out about it until after Ashley was arrested. Mandi had Ashley taunting her during practice and other cheerleaders shunning her. Ashley later apologized via a mutual friend (but not to Mandi) when she found out that another girl (Allie

I Haller) was being blamed for telling about the pictures, parties and drinking. Connor Mullins was being threatened for telling also. Connor had been at one of the parties and there were pictures posted on Facebook of her holding a shot glass.


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I I • Cheerleader tryouts — Cindy Smith, Mandi Jackson, Rebecca Robinson, Carleigh

Braswell, Cole McFarland, Meagan Gullette and Ashlee McDowell were all in Mrs. Durr's class room during their class time at the end of the school day and

I Mrs. Durr pulled out an example of the score sheet for cheerleading tryouts and was explaining how everything would be scored on tryout day. She explained that if you do one nice running back hand spring you would get more points doing one

I good bhs than attempting to do two or three ugly back hand springs. The week of tryouts everyone had to prove that they had the correct skills to be on the varsity cheerleading squad. On the day of tryouts, during our warm up time, Durr, Hill

l and Pitts were sitting about two chair lengths away from the "impartial" judges. They were whispering to the judges and pointing out some of the girls. One of the judges smiled and winked at Rebecca Robinson, witnessed by Cole McFarland

I and Mandi Jackson and I am sure other cheerleaders saw it also. During the individual tryouts, they were still seated as they were during warm up. After the last person was through with their tryout, the judges were seen leaving, Hill, Durr

I and Pitts were in the room with the tryout score sheets for over an hour before the girls were called in to get their envelope that says if they made it or not. How impartial is it to have the judges and coaches sitting together — why would the

I coaches even be in the room during this time and especially be left alone with the score sheets with no one else in the room?

I • In all of our years of cheerleading tryouts, the sponsors say that they were going

to take a certain number of girls and then take everyone; they also said that there would be a JV squad last year, which didn't happen. Then this year, Mrs. Hill told

I everyone that there was 'going to be 16-18 girls on the 2008-2009 Varsity Cheerleading Squad. At the end of tryouts as we were about to get our envelopes that say if we made it or not, Mrs. Hill pops out of nowhere and says that there

I would be only 12 girls on the squad. While she repeatedly told us there would be only 12 girls, surprisingly there are 13?

I • The next week at school, Durr left the scoresheets on her desk and walked out of the class room to make a phone call; Carleigh Braswell, Rebecca Robinson and

I Meagan Gullette were drawing on the board and Carleigh noticed the score sheets on Durr's desk and took a quick look at everyone's final score, which are supposed to be extremely confidential. Then Durr walked in the room and

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Carleigh ran away from the desk quickly before Durr would notice. Durr picked up the sheets and took them with her outside of the classroom. Carleigh told Cole McFarland that she had seen some of the scores and told Mandi, Cole and the rest

Iof the girls that were in the room the order of the girls and point differences.

• Cole McFarland and her parents Martie and Darrel McFarland had later had a

I meeting with Durr, Hill and Morgigno and had seen the score sheet which is impossible to decipher because it was nothing but numbers and according to Cole's parents, are all in the same handwriting and were not the score sheets

I shown to the cheerleaders and their parents.

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I • The day after tryouts, Mrs. Hill was at the tanning bed where I had taken the girls. She came over and sat down with me asking how Mandi was doing because Mandi had left tryouts in a hysterical mess. I told her Mandi was not doing well

1 I and Mrs. Hill said, "Mandi will be fine, she is resilient". She told me that Mandi did not try her best at tryouts and that she was near the bottom of the scores. I

I don't see how that is possible — that would mean she was only above the two new girls that had never cheered before and had absolutely no tumbling abilities and that all of the junior high girls who had very little experience were better than

1 Mandi. That is ridiculous, that would mean that she has gotten WORSE in the three years she has been cheering and practicing with Cory. Hill told me that Mandi would sometimes sit down during practice because her arm or back was

I hurting. Well Mandi broke her arm in July 21305 at the gym during cheer practice and it does still bother her a little bit but she has never let that stop her from cheering at games or practicing as hard as she could. She had a bruised tailbone

I due to cheerleading and the chiropractor and orthopedic surgeon told her to sit out on practice for 2 weeks. She wouldn't do it because she was afraid she would let the team down. She had a concussion from a 4 wheeler accident and still never

I missed a practice. There is not one girl on the team that has as much dedication and spirit than Mandi does.

I • Cole McFarland, Ii ■reigan cgerleader that was not chosen for this year's squad, was repeatedly told to do crunches at night by Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Durr although none of the other girls where being told this. Hill said the reason Mandi did not

I make the squad was because she didn't try; yet Cole threw 3 running and 2 standing backhand springs, which she had never done before tryout day and did not make the squad either.

I • Layna Carr — was lectured in front of all the girls about dating blacks (because there were rumors going around about her being pregnant by a black guy). While

I I agree with Mrs. Hill on her feelings regarding this, the public humiliation was not necessary. Layna was not allowed to tryout because of grades. She has

Isevere ADHD, which is being addressed by her mom.

• Jessica Hall and Christy Chambers both had below acceptable grades (per another

I parent) according to the school handbook but still participated in a dance

competition at Disney world in Florida. This proves that grades will be overlooked as necessary.

I • Allie Haller was told on the day of dance team tryouts that she would not make the dance team because she could not keep her mouth shut and caused problems.

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She immediately went to Morgigno's office to tell him and also told David Silvas, the school resource officer, what was said. She was very upset and didn't even try out that day because of the confrontation.

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• Dancer, Michelle Trent, was told to lose 5 pounds 2 weeks before their Disney World competition

• Olivia Howard attended dance clinic/tryouts and was told by Durr that she needed to lose 10 — 15 pounds before she would be considered for the dance team. Olivia told Cole McFarland and Mandi Jackson about this conversation after school as they were waiting to be picked up from school, and didn't try out because of this conversation with Durr.

• While I agree that there is a physical expectation for cheerleaders and dancers, I disagree with the public humiliation that some of these girls have been subjected to. Is it ok to tell one of the teachers to lose 10 —15 pounds in order to keep her job? No way!

• Meeting with Mr. Morgigno, he advised he would contact us back and never did. He was concerned but was more worried about upsetting Mrs. Hill since she was his teacher and tennis coach at one time. An administrator needs to be willing to step on toes to do the right thing. I have always felt that Mr. Morgigno was an asset to the school but how many complaints about the same people does he have to get in order to see where the problem lies?

Cheerleading and dance is the most expensive extracurricular activities at Pearl High School. The number of girls on a squad should not make any difference, as a high school team should be about cheering the school on and a competition team could be chosen from the cheer team. This is a break down of cheer expenses that we have paid every year Mandi has been in cheerleading.

$1200 - $1400/yr on uniforms, practice clothes, shoes, camp fees (mandatory) $960/yr on MS Cheerleading Academy ($80 per month year around) (mandatory) $20 Cheer Clinic (mandatory) $600 / yr ($45 - $100 month) for private tumbling lessons $50 other camp clothes - Pinama City (mandatory) $150 — Panama City expenses $25 each for choreographers (mandatory) $50 every year- for secret pal presents ($25 cheer camp & $25 Christmas) (mandatory) $40 candy bag/treats to give to all of the freshman football players (mandatory) Bill Ray photos (mandatory) Spirit club fundraisers (mandatory) Program book ads Presents for Hill/Durr/Cory (mandatory) Gas money, t-shirts, videos of competitions X-rays, chiropractor, physicals (mandatory), competition music, braces/wrap/pre-wrap, doctor visits due to injuries


We spend WELL over $3000 a year for cheerleading. If the parents can afford to do that why would the school take it away? Neither the school nor the sponsor is out ANY money for the cheerleaders. We even help raise money for the Spirit Club/Touchdown Club. None of this makes any sense.

Not only was Mandi punished by a two week suspension, she was taken off of the competition squad, she got no mat time for practice, didn't make cheerleader for 2008- 2009, but also because of the emotional stress (since tryouts were on the Friday before 9 weeks tests); she did very poorly on 9 weeks tests and is now grounded until further notice. All of this is related, it is not coincidence, and you have to wonder how many times a person can be punished for doing the right thing while others can drink etc. and be held to a higher standard at Pearl High School. When does the "good" kid decide it's a lot easier to be among the "others"? That is exactly the example that Pearl schools are setting.

The above items are NOT coincidence; they are all cases of purely preferential treatment. Well why would girls like Ashley Holifield or Kristen Ellis be given preferential treatment to girls who behave themselves and have parents that are always willing to participate in any school event that comes up. Mandi is a good student, goes to church, has well over 100 volunteer hours in the community for 9 m grade year alone, and gets along well with others. I have always helped with fundraisers, selling ads, anything and everything that the Pearl schools need. I have volunteered hundreds of hours for security for Pearl schools and have been there supporting Pearl and my kids since both were in kindergarten. I have never been more disappointed with administrators at this school than I am right now.

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:ARL HIGH SCHOOL op Pirate Cove • Pearl, Mississippi 39208 1'601-932-7931 • 601-932-7992 Fax

Richard Smithhart Assistant Principal

601-932-7938

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:Durr about the cheerleading complaints brought to ..• fhey have respondedto the complaints and would love

the school board if you deem necessary. I am Hill and Mrs. Durr have provided.

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In response to the first couple of points made by the Jacksons, we feel it is necessary to ., explain how the situation started and how we were made aware of any problem. While the team was at the news station for the Food for Families competition, the camera man asked that we get quiet because we were going on air. Mandi continued to talk and one

‘,Pgat of captains asked her to be quiet. ( This lead to a conversation on the bus ride home that I .0 , did not hear because they were in the back and no one was speaking loudly.) Evidently, - Mandi was upset with Kristen and wrote her on Facebook. In the Facebook conversation, Mandi used profanity and threatening remarks. We had talked to the team several times about refraining from putting personal information, pictures etc. on the Internet because it

\C•e' r would lead to bad publicity for the school, the team and themselves. Another girl was_ rediAN caught (by her mother) drinking and smoking and she was removed from the squad. -T

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lead us to ask the girls for their name and password and we told them that we would check it later that afternoon. Some of the girls said that they did not have a Facebook and the others wrote the information down in a notebook. I did check later and found tilt: mail between Mandi and Kristen. None of the girls were coerced into giving the information. Mandi was suspended for 2 weeks but did return to cheer at the last game of her suspension. The other girl was given extra duties because she had not used as severe - 111.4. ei.344% profanity or any threatening remarks. The other cheerleaders' pages did not have anything that violated team rules. We were not informed by Mrs. Bush or other teachers rtic.-1No-& about pictures and profanity on Facebook and since we did not witness it, we could not punish anyone. wc.-st-

Fv.n*A-m± The girls did not vote for the alternates for the competition squad. The competition squad is made up the best combination of team members. This decision is made by the coaches and choreographer. It is sometimes necessary to make adjustments from the original decision for various reasons(injuries, skills, attitude, or for positions needed to make stunts work). This misunderstanding could have come from the team writing down names of girls that worked the hardest and also those that did not give 100%. It did not have anything to do with the competition team.

We never witnessed or observed Mandi being harassed and she never informed us that she did not feel comfortable or that anyone was harassing her. We do not want any child to feel mistreated.

As it has always been for the cheerleaders who are not part of the competition team, they dress in uniform and accompany us on the competition floor. This is not done to humiliate the girls; rather it is done to allow them to still be a part. This is not always due to punishment or not making the competition team. Sometimes those who accompany us on the floor are those who have injuries. We feel it is important to allow these girls to participate because should we have placed in the competition, they would have been included in the awards ceremony - much like all of the football players celebrate a victory though many of them do not get any playing time on the field. By accompanying us, they are in the pictures and would get medals if we won. - P■Pc (NCI...h W2-0 A k

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iiitken the chiropractor and then she told us that she was DutAintention to keep her from the gymnastics class but to

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ic skills. Instead of being told that they would ei•i• .154,Ckhand spring than any ugly series, Mrs. Durr told • •4,,,:;., •-:•%" • • 1i-1#:three points for one backhand spring and up to five

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would be determined by the natural break in the gwen This year the natural break occurred after the ...stk.: There were actually 13 cheerleaders since two of

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*eir skills. Those who are not flexible are given leen told to lose a pound. It is not their weight that lity. and health.

rn. I did talk to several girls this year about kwas done privately and with only good intentions.

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Reading my complaint tells you what I have issues with - the unfair tryouts, the invasion of privacy, the blatant favoritism and the numerous repercussions my child faced.

In reading the teachers response, they would have you believe that Mandi is a lazy troublemaker and that I am Psycho Cheerleader mom — neither of which is true. Their response was juvenile at best. The unfair tryouts are not addressed; at least one student mentioned in my complaint was reprimanded for a statement she made, the harassment was discussed to one of the teachers in Mrs. Morgigno's presence. The teachers want you to believe that Mandi was made to be a part of the team when she was not — she even had a ribbon taken away from her at the Brandon competition and never returned, she sat out months of practices during competition season and all I can say of their response is - I was there and I saw it, the 2 alternates "not voted for" were clearly listed as alternates in the state competition program and apparently they think my witnesses to multiple events, including myself, are obviously deaf and blind. They failed to answer questions and instead attempted to place blame. Give me your email addresses and passwords and then tell me you haven't been violated. There are numerous other things that cannot be addressed in 3 minutes.

To me, a teacher should be a role model, someone who offers encouragement, pushes a child to excel and helps a child to grow. A cheerleader should be a good representative to the school, a leader in the school and community and their job is to support the school in sports and evoke school spirit. In my case, the teachers don't share my definition of either. Mandi has been treated unfairly, she now doesn't get a letterman's jacket, she is signed up for a class that, for now, will be rescheduled, she is limited in sports she can pursue and she has been taught that honesty does not pay. She will also suffer from my not participating in events that I have in the past and that I have played a key role in with her sister.

I realize it is hard for the school to obtain sponsors, I think the administrators need to realize how hard it is to get parents involved also. I have been involved in the Jr. High and High School for many years and have devoted hundreds of hours volunteering where needed. With the multiple complaints that have come from myself and others just this year, I would hope that the members of this school board can see that these actions are not accidental — they are intentional and malicious. Look beyond the fake front and see the real problem.

Let me also make it clear to everyone that I am not a parent that thinks cheerleading will get my child anywhere in life. I teach my kids to excel academically and participate in their community. I also teach them to stand up for what is right, as we are doing now.

A couple of questions I would like for you to consider: How many football players do we have? How much money does the school spend on them?


How many football coaches have we gone through in the past 10 years? Why are there 13 girls representing such a large school and team when it cost the school basically nothing and the school gains parental support and fundraising. When does any of this begin making sense?

After recent events, I feel I need to clarify that my complaint involves two teachers and a couple of administrators involving the unfair treatment of my child. I am not targeting any child or group of children in that school, I have a very busy life of my own and I am much more professional than that. However, I will not turn my head from anything that comes to my attention, whether it involves a cheerleader, dancer, soccer player, etc. My issues with the administrators are only in regards to this incident and to think otherwise is ludicrous.

I appreciate the time you have given me. If any of you want clarification on any matter, my phone number is at the top of my complaint.


United States Court of Appeals FIFTH CIRCUIT

OFFICE OF THE CLERK LYLE W. CAYCE

CLERK

TEL. 504-310-7700

600 S. MAESTRI PLACE

NEW ORLEANS, LA 70130

September 15, 2014

Mr. Donald Jackson P.O. Box 54024 Pearl, MS 39288 Ms. Melissa Jackson P.O. Box 54024 Pearl, MS 39288 No. 13-60631 Donald Jackson, etal v. Pearl Public School District, etal USDC No. 3:09-CV-353 Dear Mr. Jackson, Ms. Jackson, The following pertains to your brief filed on 9/12/2014. You must correct/change/add the following within 14 days from the date on this notice:

Certificate of interested persons, see 5TH CIR. R. 28.2.1.

Statement regarding oral argument, see 5TH CIR. R. 28.2.3.

Table of contents is required, see FED R. APP. P. 28(a)(2).

Table of authorities, see FED R. APP. P. 28(a)(3).

Signature, see FED R. APP. P. 32(d).

Seven (7) sufficient copy requirement, with red covers, see 5TH CIR. R. R. 31.1.


Sincerely, LYLE W. CAYCE, Clerk

By: _________________________ Dawn D. Victoriano, Deputy Clerk 504-310-7717 cc: Mr. Arthur Freeman Jernigan Jr. Mr. Roy Allen Smith Jr. Mr. Michael Jeffrey Wolf


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