Thompson v. Henke, 5:23-cv-00411

Plaintiffs are parents of two non-verbal, severely disabled children who were sexually abused by a paraprofessional, Greg Henke, while attending Highland Park Elementary School in the Mid-Del School District.
Henke had unrestricted access to the children due to District policies and used this position to commit abuse during school hours, recording and distributing child pornography.
Plaintiffs allege that the District's policies of leaving aides unsupervised with disabled children, failing to enforce internet safety protocols, and lack of proper training facilitated and failed to discover the abuse.
Plaintiffs filed federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Fourteenth Amendment) and Title IX, along with various state law tort claims.
The District moved to dismiss, arguing claims were time-barred, insufficiently pleaded, and that the court should not exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state claims.
The Court addressed federal claims on the merits and considerations for retaining state law claims following dismissal of federal claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Jenkins's federal claims are time-barred	Not time-barred on face of complaint; statute of limitations is affirmative defense	Claims accrued in August 2021; filed after two-year limit	Not time-barred at pleading stage; defense unsuccessful
Whether District is liable under § 1983 (Monell claim)	District customs/policies facilitated abuse; deliberate indifference	No policy/custom caused abuse; no deliberate indifference or causation	Plaintiffs failed to plausibly plead Monell elements; dismissed without prejudice
Whether District is liable under Title IX	District failed to respond to abuse; should have identified and prevented it	No actual notice of abuse by official with authority; no deliberate indifference	No actual knowledge or deliberate indifference; dismissed without prejudice
Whether court should retain supplemental jurisdiction over state claims	State claims arise from same facts; judicial efficiency	Remaining claims only state law; GTCA compliance disputed	Declined; state claims remanded to state court

Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261 (adopts state statute of limitations for federal claims)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (plausibility pleading standard)
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (municipal liability under § 1983 requires official policy or custom)
City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378 (deliberate indifference standard for municipal liability)
Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District, 524 U.S. 274 (actual knowledge and deliberate indifference required for Title IX liability)
Davis ex rel. LaShonda D. v. Monroe County Board of Education, 526 U.S. 629 (sexual harassment by teacher actionable under Title IX)
United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715 (federal courts should avoid needless decisions of state law)
Carnegie-Mellon University v. Cohill, 484 U.S. 343 (remand appropriate when federal claims are dismissed)