By Dr. Robert J. Romano, JD, LLM, Senior Writer, St. John’s University
The Board of Education of Prince George’s County (Maryland) was sued by one of its high school athletic directors, Ms. Makia Staves, in the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland after she was twice ‘passed over’ for a head girls’ basketball coaching position at one of its schools – C.H. Flowers High School. As per her complaint, Ms. Staves alleges that the Board of Education discriminated against her on the basis of sex when it twice failed to hire her for the position, a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000e, et seq. (“Title VII”), Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. (“Title IX”), the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act, Md. Code, § 20-606(a)(1)(i) of the State Government Article, for unlawful employment practices (“MFEPA”), and the Prince George’s County Code, Md., Code, §§ 2-186(a)(3), 2-222 (“County Code”).[1]
By way of background, Ms. Staves has been the athletic director at C.H. Flowers High School since August of 2019. Prior to her current position, Ms. Staves served as the girls’ basketball coach at Francis T. Evans Elementary School (2006-2019), the Head Junior Varsity Girls Basketball Coach at C.H. Flowers High School (2006-2013,) and then the high school’s Assistant Varsity Girls Basketball Coach (2013 to 2014). In addition, she coached Girls Basketball at Riverdale Baptist (2014-2015), before becoming the Head Varsity Girls Basketball Coach at Bowie High School, a position in which she remained until 2019 when she was promoted to her current position of athletic director.
On or about September 13, 2017, the Board of Education posted a vacancy for the position of Head Varsity Girls Basketball Coach at C.H. Flowers High School. On March 20, 2018, after the end of the 2017-2018 season, the position of Head Varsity Girls Basketball Coach at Flowers was again posted.[2] In each scenario, Ms. Staves was the second highest scoring candidate and, because of such ranking, was not offered the position. However, Ms. Staves contends that her interviews were ‘sham interviews’, because the Board’s search committee pre-determined that another (male) coach would be selected and conspired to give her a score that would in essence effectuate that result.[3] Ms. Staves, also claims that the scoring was unfair and inequitable because the high school’s principal gave her a “Qualified (3)” in the Rules and Regulations category, although she answered all the questions correctly and had never been suspended for breaking any team, school or league rules. In comparison, however, three of the four search committee members rated the hired (male) coach “Exceptionally Qualified (5)” and “Highly Qualified (4)” under the Rules and Regulations category even though those same committee members knew that the hired male coach had previously violated MPSSA rules and was suspended because of such.[4]
The District Court for the District of Maryland determined that although Ms. Staves alleges that the Board of Education discriminated against her upon the basis of sex, she however failed to provide any evidence to show that the ‘sham interviews’ were not meaningful or unfair due to her gender.[5] Specifically, the Court found that with regards to the 2017 non-selection that even though Ms. Staves alleges that her score was meaningless – because unlike the other candidates she received the same score in each of the evaluation categories by the four different evaluators – she failed, however, to specify the gender of these other candidates to explain how this evidence supports her sex discrimination claims. In addition, regarding Ms. Staves second non-selection in 2018 and the allegations that this interview was also a sham because the search committee pre-determined that the male coach would be selected for the vacancy and colluded to give her a score that would effectuate that result, the Court found that Ms. Staves proffered no evidence to show that this alleged conduct was due to her gender, nor did she provide any evidence to show that the hired male coach was selected because he was male.[6]
Therefore, since the U.S. District the Court found that Ms. Staves failed to show that she was not selected for the Head Varsity Girls Basketball Coach position under circumstances giving rise to an inference of discrimination on the basis of her sex, determined that she cannot prevail on her claims as per Title VII, Title IX, the MFEPA and the Prince George’s County Code and granted the Board of Education’s motion for summary judgment in accordance with Rule 56 of the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure.[7]
[1] Staves v Prince George’s Cnty. Bd. Of Educ. Civil Action No. 19-cv—2262-LKG.
[2] The current coach being suspended during the 2017-2018 school year, due to violating Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association rules for conducting several out-of-season practice sessions.
[3] Staves v Prince George’s Cnty. Bd. Of Educ. Civil Action No. 19-cv—2262-LKG.
[4] Id.
[5] Id. (In order to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination, based on a failure to hire or to promote under Title VII, a plaintiff must show that: (1) they are a member of a protected group; (2) they applied for the position in question; (3) they were qualified for that position; and (4) defendants rejected her application under circumstances that give rise to an inference of unlawful discrimination.)
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
