Sawyer v.

Williams

INDEX OF MATERIALS Krista Sawyer v. Corey Williams and West Boston School Board

CASE SUMMARY.. TAB A FACT PATTERN TAB B WITNESS STATEMENTS: For Plaintiff: Krista Sawyer TAB C Coach Brady Jones TAB D Troy Howard TAB E For Defendants: Coach Corey WilliamsTAB F Anthony Harvey TAB G STATEMENT OF LAW INVOLVED IN THE CASE TAB H

JURY INSTRUCTIONS TAB I VERDICT FORM TAB J VOCABULARY . TAB K NOTES.. TAB L WORK PRODUCTTAB M

Case Summary
Krista Sawyer, a high school student, was the only female out of 100 students to try out for the West Boston School football team led by Coach Corey Williams, and one of three students trying out for the position of kicker. Despite her winning performance during a try-out scrimmage, her male competitors were both given positions on the team while she was cut. Krista feels that she is a victim of sex discrimination.

Fact Pattern
Krista Sawyer is a fifteen-year-old student in her first year at West Boston High School (West Boston), the only public high school in West Boston, Massachusetts. The West Boston School Board (the Board) runs West Boston and makes all decisions about who works there. There are about 1,600 students enrolled at West Boston. West Bostons football team, the Pilgrims, is known as one of the best high school football teams in Massachusetts. Corey Williams (Coach) has been the Pilgrims head coach since 1996, when the Board hired him. In 1998, a group of Boston sports reporters picked Williams as Coach of the Year, an annual award given to the best high school football coach in the city. At the beginning of every school year, Coach holds a week-long tryout to pick thirty West Boston students to play on the team. A student who does not get picked for the team is cut, meaning that player cannot try out for the Pilgrims again until the following season. Any student enrolled at West Boston may try out for the team. In each of the past three seasons, at least 100 students have attended some part of the tryout for the Pilgrims. During the first half of every tryout day, all the players do general football drills, like running, blocking and tackling. During the second half of each day, the students are divided into groups depending on what position each wants to play, and then do drills of skills particular to that position; quarterbacks do throwing drills, and kickers do kicking drills, for example. On the last day of each seasons tryout, Coach divides the students into two teams, who then play against each other in an intrasquad scrimmage called the Black and Blue Game (West Bostons colors are black and blue). The Black and Blue Game is played just like a regular football game. At the end of the game, Coach announces who has made the team and who has been cut. Due to roster-size limits, Coach picks only two players for each position, plus a handful of reserve players. Krista Sawyer recently moved to West Boston and enrolled at West Boston High School as a first-year student in September 2010. Before she moved to West Boston, Krista lived in Cold River, New York. Krista began playing organized football when she was eight years old. Although she played several different positions during her earlier years, by the time she began playing for Cold River Middle Schools football team at age eleven, she played almost exclusively as a place kicker. At the end of Kristas eighth grade season as a member of the Cold River Middle School football team (under Coach Brady Jones), the Cold River Rag, a local newspaper, printed an article calling Krista the best middle-school field goal kicker in the Upper Hudson Valley Conference. Krista planned to continue playing football at West Boston after her move. In September 2010, Krista attended the entire week of tryouts for the West Boston Pilgrims. She was the only girl to attend any part of tryouts that season. In fact, no girl had ever before tried out for the Pilgrims. During each day of tryouts, Krista did the general drills with all of the rest of the students, then did the kicking drills with two other students (Troy Howard, a senior, and Anthony Harvey, a freshman) who wanted to kick for the team. Krista, who is five feet two inches tall and weighs 120 pounds, was smaller than every other student at the tryout including Troy (61, 180 pounds) and Anthony (60, 184 pounds). Troy and Krista started dating just before football season and continue to date now.

During the kicking drills, all three kickers made most of the field goals they tried from twenty yards away. Only one of the kickers, Troy, made most of the field goals tried from thirty yards away. Kristas were straight enough but too short, and Anthonys were long enough but too wide. When Coach divided the students into teams for the Black and Blue Game, he put Troy and Krista on opposite teams. Anthony missed the game with a minor hamstring injury, which he tweaked when he attempted (and missed wide right) a 40-yard field goal in warm-ups. Near the end of the game, the score was tied, and Kristas team had the ball with time for only one more play. Coach told Krista to go onto the field and try to kick the field goal. Krista made the field goal from thirty yards away, and her team won the game. After the game, Coach announced that Troy and Anthony made the team, and that Krista did not. He suggested that she try out for the cheerleading squad instead. Krista filed this lawsuit in September 2010. She claims that she was cut from the team because she was a girl, rather than for anything having to do with her football abilities. She also claims that, because she was so upset that she was cut from the team for being a girl, she started to do poorly in her classes. She has sued the defendants for $50,000 for emotional pain and suffering.

Statement Krista Sawyer

My name is Krista Sawyer and I am a freshman at West Boston High School. I came here from New York where I grew up. I played football back in New York ever since I was eight years old. I have always loved football, especially being a kicker, and I was a very good kicker, as well I was named the best middle school field goal kicker in my conference. My dream in life is to play football in college. When I came to Boston, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was try out for the football team. Before tryouts, I was at the grocery store with my mom and I saw this really cute boy. He must have seen me too, because he came up to me and said his name was Troy Howard. We started talking and the next day he took me to the movies and weve been dating ever since. A week later he told me that he was going to try out for the kicking position on the football team. I was too scared to tell him that I was going to be trying out for the same position, so I just told him that I hoped he made the team. I was really nervous when it came time for tryouts because Troy didnt know that I was trying out with him and I knew I would be the only girl there. What made me even more nervous was the fact that I was the smallest person there, as well, but I told myself that, no matter what, I was going to try my best. Since I was the best middle school kicker in my conference in New York, I thought I had a pretty good chance of making one of the two spots for kicker. Troy was really good and I was hoping that we would be the two kickers on the team (he was hoping for the same thing, although he was quite surprised to see me at tryouts). However, another guy, Anthony Harvey, was also trying out for the kicker position. Anthony was kind of rude to me and always made fun of Troy and me because he knew we were dating. Basically, if Anthony had accidentally broken his kicking leg I would not have been upset. During the kicking drills all three of us did pretty well until we had to kick from farther away (about thirty yards). I struggled, but so did Anthony (because he wasnt a good kicker), so I still felt good about my chances of making the team. When we scrimmaged, Coach Williams put me and Troy on separate teams. Although I was upset, Anthony got injured and that cheered me up right away. I ended up kicking the game-winning field goal from thirty yards away and at that point, I thought I was definitely going to make the team. After that, Troy came over and told me that I was definitely better than Anthony; hes so sweet. At the end of the game, Coach Williams called out the players who made the team and he picked Troy (which I expected because hes so good), but then he picked Anthony! What a pig! I was really upset and confused as to why he didnt pick me. I did just as well (if not better) than Anthony during tryouts and while HE was injured, I got the chance to kick during a real scrimmage, and I made the field goal! After Coach Williams selected the team, I went and talked to him. He told me that I should try out for the cheerleading squad instead. I was so mad when he said that to me. Do I look like a cheerleader!? 4

Ever since then, I have been really depressed and have not been able to do well in class because of it. My parents are really concerned, especially my mom, who said she wants to have a few words with Coach Williams. I really thought that I should have made the team and I think the only reason that I didnt is because I am a girl.

Statement Coach Brady Jones

My name is Brady Jones. I live in Cold River New York, and I have been the Head Coach of the Cold River Middle School football team for the past 15 years. We have had a very successful program: 98% of the players have obtained passing grades, football players have had fewer discipline problems than the general student population, most of our kids have gone on to play at Cold River High School, and weve even won our conference championship four times. I have known Krista Sawyer since she was a fifth grader. I regularly attend Pop Warner football games in Cold River to meet the coaches and to encourage players to try out for the middle school team. Krista stood out because she was a terrific linebacker and kicker. At the time, she was about the same size as the boys with whom she played, and I was impressed with her tenacity and spunk. When she came to Cold River as a sixth grader, she tried out to become the kicker and won the job. Krista was the third girl that I have coached, and she was by far the most talented. She was the starting kicker all three years that she was at Cold River Middle School. Krista was a very good kicker for her age. She was very accurate and rarely missed a kick within 20 yards. In practice, I even saw her kick several field goals of over 30 yards. The Cold River Rag, our local newspaper, called Krista the best middle-school field goal kicker in the Upper Hudson Valley Conference. I agree. Krista was disappointed that she would not get to play at Cold River High School, but she told me that she planned to continue playing football at West Boston after her move. I received an email from Krista last fall, in which she said that she tried out for and did not make the high school team. She said that the coach did not think she had a strong enough leg. During middle school, this was not the case, as Krista was only a little smaller than the boys with whom she played. In addition, in the summer before her eighth grade year, Krista enrolled in our off-season strength program and was able to increase the length of her field goals by almost five yards. I do remember thinking, however, that when she went to Cold River High School she might have difficulty keeping up with the boys, who would be significantly bigger than her. But Krista had tenacity, and I knew she would give it her all. I dont really know Coach Williams and dont know why he cut Krista. I met him once at a coaches conference. He struck me as arrogant he repeatedly mentioned how successful his program was but Id like to think he made his decision based on the fact that Krista was not the best player and not because she is a girl.

Statement Troy Howard

My name is Troy Howard and I am a senior at West Boston High School. I have been the starting kicker for the football team for the past three years. Every year I always have a backup kicker whos not really that good, but the Coach always has two kickers in case I get injured (which never happens). This year, I met a girl before tryouts. Her name is Krista Sawyer and she told me that she had just moved from New York. She was really cute and we soon started dating. Things didnt get complicated until football tryouts began. When I got there, Krista was on the field in pads and a helmet like she was ready to try out with all of us. I thought that she wanted to be cute and come on the field so she could cheer me on, but then she said that she was actually trying out for the kicking position with me! I was very surprised, and then she told me how she played football in middle school, and how good she was. I had never been on the football field with my girlfriend before, let alone another girl, but I wanted to be supportive because she was obviously nervous, so I told her I hoped wed both make the team. There was this other kid, Anthony Harvey, who was also trying out for the kicker position and he thought he was the best player in the world. He came in with new cleats, new pads, even a football signed by Tom Brady (which was fake). He is a real jerk, especially to Krista. He kept telling her that she didnt belong on the football field and how much better he was than her. Krista was definitely better than Anthony and when I found out that Anthony made the team over her I flipped out. I told Coach Williams that I would leave the team if Krista wasnt on it, and he told me not to let a girl get in the way of my football career. After Coach Williams chose the team, I never went near Anthony, and he never came near me, mostly because he knows that I really dont like him. Coach Williams knows that Krista was better than Anthony, and although its not right, I really think that he didnt want to deal with having a girl on his football team. I think that he would be embarrassed and laughed at by all the other coaches in the league.

Statement Coach Corey Williams

My name is Corey Williams and I am the Head Coach of the West Boston High School football team. Ive been at West Boston for 14 years now, and Ive earned the reputation of having one of the best football programs in the city. Because of the strong reputation of my program, I make sure that all my players are in top shape, and are the best at their respective positions, and this year was no different. This year we had three students try out for the kicker position, one senior and two freshman. The senior, Troy Howard, has been my starting kicker for the past three years; he is very dependable and unless something drastic happened, I expected him to be our starting kicker this year. The two freshmen trying out for the second spot were Krista and Anthony. I had known Anthony since he was a middle school football kicker, and I knew that he had skill. He had great power, but was a little inaccurate at times. I knew nothing about Krista because she had just moved to Boston from New York. Krista was the first girl to ever try out for the football team, so it was certainly a new experience for everyone. During tryouts, Krista seemed to be pretty accurate with her kicks but did not have the leg power like Anthony. As a coach, it is almost impossible to teach a player how to kick farther, because thats a matter of power and muscle, whereas its very easy to help a player work on accuracy, because its only a matter of technique. When Krista made the game winning field goal in the scrimmage, I was very happy for her because she was struggling from that distance earlier in tryouts. When it came down to my decision on who made the team, I chose Anthony over Krista because although he got injured, he is only a freshman so he has plenty of time to recover. Once he does, all we need to do is work on his technique and this time next year, we could have a great kicker. Krista, on the other hand, did very well and I applaud her effort but I cant teach her how to kick farther, regardless of how accurate she is. I told her to try out for the cheerleading squad not as an insult to her, but because this way shell still be able to contribute to the team. Shell be able to travel with the team, shell be surrounded by other girls so she should be more comfortable, and shell still be on the field but instead of playing, shell be cheering.

Statement Anthony Harvey

My name is Anthony Harvey and I am a freshman at West Boston High School. Ive been playing football since middle school and when I first met Coach Williams in seventh grade, he told me that I was good enough to play for the high school team. When I got to tryouts I knew that Troy Howard was going to be there, but I thought that I was good enough to beat him for the starting kicker position. When I saw Krista at tryouts, I was shocked because I have never played football with a girl before. I wasnt too worried about her because I knew from the beginning that I was better than her, so I focused more on beating out Troy. I did pretty well throughout tryouts, I missed a few field goals by inches but other than that I considered myself just as good as Troy (if not better). When I saw Krista kick, it was like watching a five-year-old trying to kick a football; she could kick it straight, but not far at all. She kept trying and trying, but she could never really kick farther than twenty yards. I suffered a serious injury right before the scrimmage, so Coach Williams let Krista take my spot. To everyones surprise, she ended up making a thirty yard field goal. She says that it was her skill that allowed her to make it, but if you ask me, Id say that there was a strong wind pushing the ball, AND the kick itself was very wobbly, and it barely went in. Coach Williams made the right decision in picking me because I was clearly the better kicker. I think it was brave for Krista to try out, but I think she would do better at another sport like soccer or field hockey.

Summary of Law Involved in the Case

The law says that public schools cannot discriminate against anyone based on gender.1 This means that when a girl tries out for a sport at her school, the coach cannot keep her off the team just because she is a female.2 If a coach does keep someone off a team because of their gender, the coach and the school have broken the law. In order to prevail on her claim of discrimination, the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Coach Williams had a discriminatory motive in cutting Krista from the team. By a preponderance of the evidence means that you must be persuaded by the evidence that the claim is more probably true than not true. The defendants may rebut the plaintiffs case by showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision to cut Krista was due to an alternative nondiscriminatory reason, such as her skill level. So, if the jurors think that Coach Williams probably kept Krista off the team because she is female, then Krista should prevail. If the jurors think Coach Williams probably kept Krista off the team for some other reason then she should lose.

See 20 U.S.C. 1681(a) (No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . . .). 2 See Mercer v. Duke Univ., 190 F.3d 643, 648 (4th Cir. 1999) ([B]ecause appellant has alleged that Duke allowed her to try out for its football team . . . , then discriminated against her and ultimately excluded her from participation in the sport on the basis of her sex, we conclude that she has stated a claim . . . .). 10
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Jury Instructions
Members of the jury, you are about to begin your final duty, which is to decide the fact issues in this case. Before you do this, I will instruct you on the law. You have been called here today to decide whether Plaintiff Krista Sawyer has a claim of discrimination on the basis of sex against Defendants Corey Williams and West Boston School Board. Under federal law, public schools may not exclude an individual from participation in an education program or activity on the basis of sex. In order to prevail on her claim of discrimination, the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Coach Williams had a discriminatory motive in cutting Krista from the team. By a preponderance of the evidence means that you must be persuaded by the evidence that the claim is more probably true than not true. Evidence of discriminatory intent may be shown through direct evidence, such as a statement by Coach Williams expressing a biased or stereotypical view, or through circumstantial evidence, such as the sequence of events leading to the decision to cut Krista. However, the defendants may rebut the plaintiffs case by showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision to cut Krista was due to an alternative nondiscriminatory reason, such as her skill level. In other words, if you think that Coach Williams probably kept Krista off the team because she is female, then Krista should win. If the jurors think Coach Williams probably kept Krista off the team for some other reason then she should lose. Your verdict form has special questions for you to answer based on the issues I have just instructed you about. If you determine that the plaintiff is entitled to damages, you should indicate that amount on the verdict form as well. You will return the verdict form with your answer to the special questions. You have approximately 5 minutes for deliberation. A unanimous decision is the goal, although in view of the time restriction, the court will accept a majority decision. You may now retire to deliberate.

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Jury Verdict Form

KRISTA SAWYER v. COREY WILLIAMS, et al. 1. Has the Plaintiff proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Plaintiffs sex (gender) was a motivating reason for Defendant Corey Williamss decision to cut plaintiff from the football team? ______Yes ______No

If the answer to Question 1 is No, you must find for the Defendants. Your foreperson should sign and date this form. However, if the answer to Question 1 is Yes, you should answer Question 2. 2. Have the Defendants proven by a preponderance of the evidence that the Defendant Corey Williams had an alternative non-discriminatory reason for cutting Krista from the team? ______Yes ______No

If the answer to Question 2 is No, you must find for the Plaintiff. Your foreperson should sign and date this form. However, if the answer to Question 2 is Yes, you should answer Question 3. 3. Have the Defendants proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant Corey Williams would have made the same decision to cut Krista if Plaintiffs gender had played no role in the decision? If the answer to Question 3 is Yes, you must find for the Defendants. If the answer to Question 3 is No, you must find for the Plaintiff. We the Jury find for: ______ The Plaintiff ______ The Defendants ______________________________ ______________________________ Date 12

Foreperson of the Jury