Full opinion text
BLACK, Circuit Judge: These consolidated appeals involve student-on-student sexual harassment. Jane Doe, an eighth-grade student at Spark-man Middle School, was raped in a bathroom after school officials decided to use her as bait in a sting operation to catch CJC, another eighth-grade student, in the act of sexual harassment. On appeal, Doe argues the district court erred in (1) granting summary judgment to the Madison County School Board (Board) on her Title IX sexual harassment claim and (2) granting summary judgment to the Board, Principal Ronnie J. Blair, Assistant Principal Teresa G. Terrell, Assistant Principal Jeanne Dunaway, and Teacher’s Aide June Ann Simpson on her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 equal protection claims. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the grant of summary judgment to the Board and Terrell on Doe’s § 1983 equal protection claims. We reverse, however, the grant of summary judgment to the Board on Doe’s Title IX claim and to Blair, Dunaway, and Simpson on Doe’s § 1983 equal protection claims. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. The Parties At the time of the rape on January 22, 2010, Doe was a 14-year-old girl and an eighth grader. From the time her mother became ill and later passed away in 2007, Doe grew up in foster homes scattered throughout North Carolina. In 2008, Doe moved to Huntsville, Alabama, to live with her siblings’ stepmother, Patricia Jones, before starting seventh grade. While in Huntsville, Doe attended seventh grade and a portion of eighth grade at Sparkman Middle School, which is operated by the B.oard. CJC, a 15-year old male, was also an eighth-grade student at Sparkman. Four Sparkman officials are named as defendants in this suit: Ronnie J. Blair, Teresa G. Terrell, Jeanne Dunaway, and June. Simpson. Blair was the principal at Sparkman. All assistant principals and teachers reported directly to Blair, and Blair retained ultimate authority for operation of the school. Terrell and Dunaway were the assistant principals at Sparkman. June Simpson was a teacher’s aide for physical education classes. B. Board’s Sexual Harassment Policies Prior to and during the 2009-2010 school year, the Board adhered to the following policies concerning the resolution of sexual harassment complaints and the retention of complaint-related documents and student disciplinary records. 1. Investigation and Discipline Each year, school administrators assigned a team of teachers to instruct the students about Sparkman’s sexual harassment policies. Both the 2009-2010 Student Code of Conduct and Board Policy Manual in effect on January 22, 2010, include sections addressing student sexual harassment. According to the Code of Conduct, the principal is ultimately responsible for handling all harassment complaints. The Code of Conduct states that students may report harassment to the “[p]rincipal, assistant principal, a teacher, or to whomever he/she feels the most comfortable.” Students may fill out a student sexual harassment complaint form, though Principal Blair cannot remember seeing this form or recall a single instance in which a student used the form. The person receiving the harassment complaint “shall make the complaint known to the [principal,” and the principal “shall investigate the complaint and take appropriate action.” Similarly, the Policy Manual provides that the school official to whom a complaint of sexual harassment is made “shall make the complaint known to the [principal of the school, except in cases where the complaint is against the [principal.” The principal “shall investigate the complaint and take appropriate action.” The record contains few details about the training used to implement the sexual harassment policies outlined in the Code of Conduct and the Policy Manual. According to Principal Blair, the Board’s central office conducted all sexual harassment policy training. Blair reportedly attended an after-school workshop about sexual harassment conducted at Sparkman, but the record does not reveal any documentation from this workshop, a list of who attended, the year it occurred, or the details of the training. Assistant Principal Dunaway remembers attending sexual harassment training at the Madison County Administrator Academy, but that program has since been discontinued. Again, the ree-ord contains no documentation of these training sessions. At the time of her deposition, Assistant Principal Dunaway was not aware the Code of Conduct had any section addressing sexual misconduct or harassment. Sparkman did not revisit the sexual harassment policy with its employees every year, and no records were kept about sexual harassment training. Principal Blair cannot remember the identity of the Title IX coordinator in 2010; does not know how employees would discover the identity of the Title IX coordinator; and testified students were not told the identity of the Title IX coordinator. Rather than give each teacher a copy of the sexual harassment policy, a large binder containing the entire Policy Manual was kept on file at the media center and principals’ office. Despite Teacher’s Aide Simpson’s entreaties to Blair and other faculty members, she received “no proper training” on how to handle sexual harassment complaints. Principal Blair testified that when a student alleged another student committed sexual harassment, all school personnel were required to report the allegation up the chain-of-command to him if the complaint was “of significance.” Blair was responsible for overseeing the investigation of sexual harassment complaints. The assistant principals and other staff members could also investigate complaints of sexual harassment, but they were required to report such allegations to Blair. Blair was not always the person in charge of disciplinary action with regard to sexual harassment; Dunaway and Terrell, as assistant principals, could also be in charge. Principal Blair crafted a “catch in the act” policy establishing three exclusive types of evidence sufficient for the school to discipline a student for sexual harassment. First, if students were “caught and proven” performing a sexual act, that would be grounds for disciplinary action. Second, physical evidence of sexual harassment could be sufficient. Third, discipline was warranted if a student admitted guilt. In contrast,' “one person saying” sexual harassment occurred “against another person’s word does not work.” If a student complained that another student propositioned him or her for sex, that fact alone was not enough to warrant discipline “because you’ve got one word against another without witnesses.” Principal Blair informed other staff members, including Teacher’s Aide Simpson, that students had to be “caught in the act” of sexual harassment to impose discipline. Assistant Principal Dunaway testified that “[sjtudents in middle school, especially with the use of social media, tend to make up a lot of stories about people and if we disciplined every child for every rumor, we would have no children at our school.” 2. Re'cordkeeping Upon receiving a complaint of sexual harassment or any other disciplinary infraction, school officials conducted an investigation, which often involved interviewing witnesses. An investigation normally produced two types of documents: (1) administrator notes and (2) witness statements. There was no school-wide policy regarding the retention of administrator notes made during an investigation. Administrators were authorized to arbitrarily destroy or preserve these notes. By contrast, there was a specific policy regarding witness statements. If the sexual harassment allegation was not proven, the witness statements were quickly destroyed. If the sexual harassment allegation was proven, school officials kept the witness statements in a student’s paper file located in the principals’ office. During the summer shortly after the end of the academic year, all student conduct files (including both administrator notes, if any, and witness statements) were shredded. The identity of the school staff member who performed the shredding is unknown. After the shredding, the only remaining evidence of a sexual harassment infraction was an entry in the school’s disciplinary computer database called iNOW. The database contains a barebones description of each incident, without any accompanying electronic or paper files revealing the precise nature of the infraction. Each entry contains an infraction code noting the nature of offense — such as “sexual harassment” or “inappropriate touching.” When asked how the school differentiated between inappropriate touching versus sexual harassment, Terrell testified “one is more serious than the other.” The infraction codes were meant to allow administrators to evaluate the cumulative and recidi-vistic nature of a student’s conduct. The infraction codes were not a systematic method of classifying misconduct, but instead an ad hoc determination made solely by Kathy Abernathy, the school secretary. Assistant Principal Terrell testified that she would not tell Abernathy which code to enter, but instead just “hand[ed] her the paperwork.” Assistant Principal Dunaway likewise “handed [Abernathy] the paperwork and she ... filled it out.” Terrell believes Abernathy had been trained in the central office about iNOW coding, but she does not know the nature or date of this training. C. Events Prior to the Rape on January 22, 2010 CJC, a 15 year-old eighth grader, attended Sparkman Middle School during the 2009-2010 school year. Prior to his rape of Doe on January 22, 2010, CJC had accumulated a disciplinary history of violence and sexual misconduct. We break this history into four parts: (1) CJC’s recorded disciplinary history in the iNOW database prior to January 2010, the month of the rape; (2) allegations he had been propositioning girls to have sex with him in January 2010; (3) an allegation of “inappropriately touching” a girl on January 13, 2010; (4) and allegations he had repeatedly propositioned Doe to have sex with him for two weeks prior to the rape. 1. CJC’s Recorded Disciplinary History Prior to January CJC’s disciplinary record consists of short summaries of incidents logged in the Board’s iNOW computer system. Over 18 months preceding the rape in January 2010, CJC had five infractions for sexual misconduct and four infractions for violent or threatening behavior. There is no supporting documentation of these incidents due to the shredding policies described above, and none of the administrators remember any details about the incidents. The first relevant entry on CJC’s record is dated September 24, 2008, when he was a seventh grader at Ardmore High School (Ardmore). CJC received five days of in-school suspension for “[i]napp [p]ublic [djisplay of [a]ffect,” described in the notes as “[tjouching girls in inappropriate places. Writing inappropriate notes to girls asking them to have sex with him.” In another incident at Ardmore, he “[h]it another student” and received three days of in-school suspension. After transferring to Sparkman during his seventh-grade year, CJC continued to tally disciplinary infractions for violent and sexual misconduct. On December 17, 2008, CJC received an unspecified amount of out-of-school suspension for “[flighting” because he “[h]it another student several times on bus.” On February 4, 2009, CJC received out-of-school suspension for “[mjaking inappropriate comments to ' a young lady,” coded as “[sjexual harassment.” In September 2009 during eighth grade, CJC received an unspecified amount of out-of-school suspension for “[hjarassment” because he “[ojffered to pay another student to beat up a girl also stated that would he would like to kill her.” On October 23, 2009, CJC was suspended from riding the bus for saying “F — ■ You” to the driver. On October 28, 2009, CJC received in-school suspension for “[i]nap-propriate touching” coded as “[disobedience.” On November 18, 2009, CJC was again suspended from the bus for “refusing to obey driver and keep hands off a female student,” with the infraction coded as “[m]inor disruption on bus.” One week later, CJC received in-school suspension for “[k]issing” coded as “[disobedience.” On December 15, 2009, CJC received in-school suspension for “[v]erbal confrontation with another student” coded as “[disobedience.” Three days later, CJC received out-of-school suspension for “[tjhreatening another student” and “intimidation” while serving his in-school suspension. Assistant Principal Terrell did not know why the school listed CJC’s infraction for “[mjaking inappropriate comments to a young lady” as “sexual harassment,” but listed his failure to “keep hands off a female student” as “[m]inor disruption on bus.” By Terrell’s admission, there was “not a normal policy” about “what goes in the infraction box.” 2. Propositioning Girls to Have Sex in Bathrooms in January In the weeks prior to the rape in January 2010, CJC propositioned female students to have sex with him in the school bathrooms. There are two competing versions of CJC’s sexual activity in the bathrooms during January 2010. According to Teacher’s Aide Simpson, CJC “had been repeatedly propositioning other female students to have sex in the boys’ bathroom.” The allegations began shortly after Thanksgiving break in 2009. Simpson reported CJC’s sexual harassment to Principal Blair in early January and suggested school officials monitor CJC at all times. Blair responded that school officials “were going to have to catch [CJC] in the act” before taking any disciplinary action. Blair’s recollection differs from Simpson’s. According to Blair, he learned that approximately one and a half weeks prior to the rape on January 22, 2010, there was one “alleged incident” involving CJC and female student at the school. Simpson told Blair that CJC and another student were engaged in consensual sexual activity in a bathroom in the special education wing. Blair spoke directly to CJC and the female student about the activity and took notes of the conversations. Though he normally required students to create a written statement about such incidents, Blair cannot remember whether CJC made such a statement. Blair also cannot remember the identity of the female student who made the allegations. CJC and the female student both denied engaging in any sexual activity. Blair did not impose any disciplinary action in response to the allegation because it was a “he say/she say kind of deal.” Since he could not confirm the truth of the allegation, it did not count as sexual harassment and all documents relating to the investigation were shredded. Principal Blair did not examine CJC’s disciplinary records as part of his investigation. There was no reason to examine the records because he would “recall” those “big” incidents of sexual harassment that had already occurred. Nonetheless, he told Assistant Principals Terrell and Dunaway to maintain a “heightened state of alert” about CJC’s activity. Blair pointed one of the school’s security cameras, which had an unmonitored screen in the front office, towards the school’s special education bathroom. 8. Sexual Harassment on January 13 On January 13, 2010, there was another allegation that CJC was sexually harassing female students. Assistant Principals Terrell and Dunaway investigated a complaint that CJC “inappropriately touchfed]” another female student. There are no records of this incident. Principal Blair cannot recall the exact nature of the allegation, or even whether it involved sexual touching. Assistant Principal Dunaway remembers some students mentioning that CJC inappropriately touched a girl’s thigh during class, but she could not identify a witness with personal knowledge of the incident, nor could she remember the identity of the victim. Assistant Principal Terrell described the incident as “middle school drama.” During the investigation, Principal Blair did not review CJC’s iNOW record or any other documentation. Assistant Principal Dunaway checked CJC’s iNOW record, but it did not inform her decision about how to discipline him. Dunaway did not review the supporting paper documentation in CJC’s file regarding the October 28, 2009 “[inappropriate touching” infraction, the November 18, 2009 infraction for “refusing to obey driver and keep hands off a female student” infraction, or the November 25, 2009 infraction for “Missing.” Dunaway chose not to look at this documentation because she “had no reason to believe he was guilty. I had nobody to corroborate the story.” The incident was recorded in the iNOW database. The database entry says CJC received 20 days of in-school suspension for “[d]isobedience” due to “[c]on-stant[ ]distraction continued disruption of learning.” When asked why the school listed this incidence of sexual harassment as “[disobedience,” without any reference to inappropriate touching, Assistant Principal Dunaway explained the allegations had not been proven. Assistant Principal Terrell opined the investigation into the sexual harassment itself was “a constant disruption.” Even though “[njothing could be proven” regarding the allegation, Principal Blair assigned CJC to 20 days of in-school suspension as a “precautionary measure,” but “not as discipline for him.” In-school suspension involved, inter alia, sweeping hallways and cleaning the lunchroom. A student assigned to in-school suspension was supervised by a custodian or plant manager. When asked whether someone was supposed to be with CJC at all times, Blair responded, “[n]ot necessarily.” A student was assigned a particular task in a certain room or hallway and was not watched at all times, but instead occasionally left unmonitored. Blair would not have given CJC such latitude had he been found guilty of misconduct. CJC, however, had been assigned to in-school suspension as a precautionary measure. A Propositioning Doe to Have Sex Over a two-week period prior to January 22, 2010, CJC had been badgering Doe to have sex with him in the bathroom. Doe refused to respond to him. During school on January 21, 2010, Doe told Teacher’s Aide Simpson that CJC had been asking her to have sex. That same night, Doe told her guardian, Patricia Jones, that “a guy at school, [CJC], was trying to have sex with me at school.” Jones told her to refuse him. D. January 22, 2010 1. Prior to the Rape On Friday, January 22, 2010, Doe rode the bus to school, attended classes, and walked to gym class at 2:00 pm. The entrance to the gym sat directly opposite the main hallway where the principals’ office was located. CJC was in the hallway performing unsupervised cleanup duties as part of his 20-day, “precautionary” in-school suspension for sexual harassment. CJC began talking to Doe next to the principals’ office. CJC asked Doe to have sex with him in the sixth-grade boys’ bathroom. Doe said nothing and entered the gym. Doe lined up for roll call and then, rather than enter the locker room with other students to change into gym clothes, approached Teacher’s Aide Simpson. Doe and one of her friends (whose identity does not appear in the record) spoke to Simpson near the entrance of the gym. Doe told Simpson that CJC was still “messing” with her. Simpson said “do you want to get [CJC]” in trouble and Doe said “yes.” Simpson said, “Do you want to — • you have to go meet him so that we could set him up and get him caught because he’s been doing this for a while.” Doe responded that she “didn’t want to go,” and walked to the locker room. Doe and her friend then sat in the locker room a few minutes and conversed. A few minutes later, Doe approached Simpson again and “told her I would do it.” Simpson asked if Doe was “sure,” and Doe said yes. Teacher’s Aide Simpson escorted Doe to Assistant Principal Dunaway’s office, but the precise events that occurred in the office are disputed. The facts recalled by Doe and Simpson differ significantly from the events described by Dunaway and Andrea Hallman (another teacher at Spark-man). Doe recollects that, while in the office, Teacher’s Aide Simpson “told [an assistant principal] what was going to happen.” According to Simpson, Assistant Principal Dunaway and another teacher, Andrea Hallman, were in the office. Since Duna-way was on the phone, Simpson asked for Hallman’s advice about the plan to catch CJC in the act of sexual harassment. When Dunaway finished her telephone conversation, Simpson spoke directly to Dunaway and described the plan to use Doe as bait in a sting operation. Simpson said, “I hope this is legal. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Dunaway appeared “disinterested” and provided “no direction or advice.” Instead, Dunaway showed Simpson some “pictures of some tile on the cell phone.” At this time, Doe and her friend from gym class were talking to Hallman in the doorway of the office. Because she had spoken to Dunaway and Hallman, Simpson believed “someone else was handling the situation, so I returned to the gym.” Assistant Principal Dunaway’s description of the events in her office is quite different. According to Dunaway, she was speaking to Hallman about student literacy data when she saw Simpson enter the edge of her office and stand near the door. At some point, Dunaway spoke on the phone with her husband. Simpson’s back faced Dunaway, and Simpson appeared to be speaking to someone outside the door while looking right and left. Simpson stood near the door for three to seven minutes, but she never spoke to Dunaway. Dunaway claims it was “common” for staff members to stand in her office without speaking to her for long stretches of time because her office is large and sits next to the school’s main hallway. She disclaims any knowledge of the plan to use Doe as bait in a sting operation. According to Hallman’s affidavit, she was in Dunaway’s office when Simpson arrived. Simpson stated a male student had been asking girls to meet him in the bathroom for sex. When Simpson made this comment, Dunaway was possibly conversing on the phone. Hallman stepped into the hallway and saw CJC working with a school janitor, so she returned to Dunaway’s office. Simpson never told Dunaway or Hallman about the plan to use Doe in order to catch CJC in the bathroom. 2. The Rape After Doe and Teacher’s Aide Simpson left Assistant Principal Dunaway’s office, Simpson told Doe to inform CJC that she “would do it.” Doe found CJC alone in the hallway near the principals’ office. There was no janitorial supervisor around CJC at this time. Doe told CJC she would have sex, and he said to meet at the sixth-grade boys’ bathroom. Doe walked slowly toward the bathroom where she stood by the water fountain. CJC asked her to go inside the bathroom, and she went in first. CJC told Doe to go inside the most spacious stall. Doe complied and moved to the back corner of the stall. CJC directed Doe to pull down her pants, but, since she did not do it quickly enough, CJC unbuttoned her pants and then pulled his own pants down. Doe attempted to block the button of her pants, but he moved her hand away. Doe kept trying to “stall” CJC by telling him “the teachers are going to come,” but CJC said they would not arrive in time. When CJC pulled his own pants down, Doe told him “I don’t want to do this” and attempted to pull her pants back up. CJC, however, pulled them back down and said “I thought you wanted it.” CJC anally raped Doe. Doe kept telling him to stop. S. The Aftermath After leaving Assistant Principal Duna-way’s office, Teacher’s Aide Simpson returned to the gym. Shortly thereafter, Doe’s friend told Simpson that Doe had left to meet CJC. Concerned for Doe’s safety, Simpson returned to Dunaway’s office. Simpson asked Dunaway and Hall-man to search the sixth-grade bathroom. Dunaway said nothing, and Hallman said she didn’t want to catch students “with their clothes off.” Simpson called Kennedy, another teacher at Sparkman, and asked him to search the boys’ bathrooms. She returned to the gym and asked the gym teacher to also search the boys’ bathrooms. In the meantime, Hallman checked the hallway, saw a teacher checking a bathroom, and returned to her own classroom. Within approximately one minute of receiving Simpson’s phone call, Kennedy arrived in the sixth-grade boys’ bathroom and saw two pairs of feet “close together” beneath the stall. He did not feel comfortable saying anything without another adult present, so he left the bathroom, saw another teacher, Campbell, and motioned for her to help him. Kennedy and Campbell entered the bathroom. Campbell asked if anyone was there and told the students to come out. CJC and Doe exited the stall. Kennedy observed CJC was noticeably erect. CJC told Kennedy he and Doe “were not doing anything but making out.” Campbell spoke to Doe in the hallway and asked her what had happened, but Doe could only answer that he had “touched” her. The school receptionist learned about the incident and told Assistant Principal Terrell that a boy and girl were found in a bathroom. . Terrell approached the bathroom, located Doe, and told her “you’ll be suspended.” Terrell walked outside the school and spoke to Principal Blair, who was performing bus duty. Terrell said Doe had been instructed to enter the bathroom, but “things had changed a little bit — or a lot in the situation.” Terrell walked back inside the school to escort CJC and Doe to the principals’ office. Assistant Principals Terrell and Duna-way interviewed Doe. Terrell asked Doe why she had been in a boys’ bathroom. Terrell cannot remember Doe’s response, other than “[i]t was some wording in defense of herself.” Both Terrell and Duna-way claimed Doe appeared calm during this meeting. Teacher’s Aide Simpson entered the office and made a “fist pump” gesture, saying, “I sent [Doe] and we got [CJC].” After Simpson’s entrance, Terrell and Dunaway asked Doe to leave the office and remain seated in the lobby. Principal Blair interviewed Simpson in his office. Teacher’s Aide Simpson said she devised the sting operation with Doe in order to catch CJC in the act of sexual harassment. According to Blair, Simpson said the plan went awry because Doe failed to meet CJC at the correct bathroom where Simpson had originally planned to catch him. Principal Blair also interviewed CJC. CJC claimed he and Doe had only kissed consensually in the bathroom. Blair cannot recall whether he and CJC discussed any of the prior allegations of sexual harassment against CJC. Finally, Principal Blair interviewed Doe. She initially cried and could not tell him what happened. After her guardian, Jones, and Teacher’s Aide Simpson entered the office, Doe explained that CJC had raped her. During this interview, Doe wrote a contemporaneous statement describing the rape in vivid detail. Before the police arrived, the administrators conferenced to determine whether to punish CJC for the rape. They decided to suspend CJC for five days, subject to a subsequent disciplinary hearing at the central office". According to the “Suspension Notice” provided to CJC’s guardian, the administrators imposed the suspension for “[inappropriate touching.” After speaking to the police, Doe was transported to a child advocacy center where nurses performed tests and provided medical treatment. The medical records from the examination were consistent with anal rape. Doe suffered anal lacerations, rectal bleeding, redness, and swelling, all of which are well-documented with photographs. For reasons undisclosed by the record, the Madison County District Attorney’s Office never filed charges against CJC. E. The Board’s Response to the Rape After contacting CJC’s parents about the sexual assault, Principal Blair referred CJC’s disciplinary proceeding to Dr. Jim Nash, the Student Support and Personnel Director for the Board. Nash scheduled an expulsion hearing on Wednesday, January 27, where he presided as thé “Hearing Officer.” There is virtually no information in the record about this hearing. There are no minutes, no description of the evidence before Nash, nor an explanation of Nash’s reasoning. Nash allegedly wrote a report documenting the research and conclusions of his investigation, but the Board has not produced this report. The only evidence about the hearing is a one-page form. The form says Nash sentenced CJC to “Alt[ernative] School Placement / duration of school year unless results of investigation suggest [unintelligible] punishment.” Later documents show CJC was assigned to alternative school “pending investigation” of the rape. CJC attended alternative school at the “Promoting an Alternative Commitment to Excellence Alternative Education Program” (PACE) beginning on February 4, 2010. On February 24, 2010, while at PACE, a teacher caught CJC viewing pornography on a school computer. CJC claimed he looked at the picture “to impress a classmate.” PACE gave CJC two days of out-of-school suspension for this infraction. CJC stopped attending PACE on April 2, 2010, and returned to Sparkman on April 5. The record does not explain why CJC returned to Sparkman, other than a discharge notation from PACE stating “Dr. Nash approved return due to outcome of investigation.” The precise nature and findings of this investigation are unknown. The record also does not show that school officials placed any additional restrictions on CJC when he returned to Sparkman Middle School. On May 5, 2010, Sparkman had, according to an email from Assistant Principal Terrell to Principal Blair and PACE, “additional problems with [CJC].” Among other things, CJC “kept moving to the table with his girlfriend” and “hugged a girl in front of the cafeteria.” As a result, Terrell suspended him for three days and placed him in alternative school the rest of the school year from May 10 to May 26. This disciplinary infraction was never recorded in Sparkman’s iNOW database. CJC’s January 22, 2010 rape of Doe is listed in CJC’s iNOW record. The database entry says CJC received out-of-school suspension for “[s]exual [o]ffenses” due to “[inappropriate touching a female in boys bathroom.” Assistant Principal Terrell contends the report describes the incident as inappropriate touching, rather than rape, because CJC admitted to “making out” with Doe, whereas no one actually witnessed the rape. Thus, the rape was not definitively proven. No one appears to remember who told Secretary Abernathy to describe the rape as inappropriate touching. Principal Blair does not know whether he believes CJC actually raped Doe. Assistant Principal Dunaway never formed an opinion on whether CJC raped Doe because the police never arrested CJC or charged him with rape. Dunaway believes a rape cannot occur unless prosecutors bring criminal charges against the alleged student rapist. Dunaway also believes Doe’s decision to enter the bathroom makes CJC’s conduct “different” because, in her mind, he was not “dragging a cave woman by the hair and pulling her into your cave as opposed to someone saying sure, I’ll go with you.” Assistant Principal Terrell also never formed an opinion on whether CJC raped Doe because “[w]e turned it over to the police department for them to investigate it. That was not my place to make that decision.” After examining the medical photographs documenting Doe’s anal injuries, Terrell had no opinion on whether Doe was raped. With one exception, the Board has not changed a single policy in response to CJC’s rape of Doe. The Board decided to discontinue the one-day sexual harassment training workshop for administrators at the Madison County Administrator Academy. Otherwise, the Board has not changed its sexual harassment disciplinary policy and recordkeeping policies, nor has it altered the way it investigates sexual harassment complaints. Sparkman has not changed its practice of assigning students to unsupervised janitorial duty as punishment for alleged sexual harassment. Principal Blair would not change any policies because “we did as good a job I think as you could do under the circumstances.” F. Effect of Rape on Doe After the rape on January 22, Doe continued attending Sparkman until she withdrew on March 26. She returned to North Carolina to finish eighth grade. Doe never received any assistance from the Board, in the form of counseling or otherwise, to deal with her trauma. Upon her return to North Carolina, Doe attended mental health counseling sessions and was prescribed medication for depression. Doe discussed the rape with her counselor and how it has affected her. In seventh and eighth grade at Spark-man, Doe ' played intramural basketball. She stopped playing basketball at the end of her eighth-grade year because “I just didn’t feel like I could do it anymore” and “I was just depressed.” Doe has not participated in any extracurricular activities since leaving Sparkman. Due to the rape, Doe prefers to “be by myself’ and does not “trust being at school anymore.” Her grades have suffered because, even though she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder prior to the rape, her depression has been exacerbated. Doe’s grades have gone up and down, sometimes earning As, Bs, and Cs, but sometimes receiving Fs. G. Destruction of CJC’s Paper Disciplinary File In a letter dated April 30, 2010, approximately three months after the rape, Principal Blair received from Doe’s counsel a letter .notifying him to preserve certain records relating to the January 22, 2010 personal injuries of Doe. The letter stated: As you may be aware, my law firm represents [Doe] as a result of personal injuries resulting from an incident which occurred on January 22, 2010 at Spark-man Middle School. We specifically request that the following evidence be maintained and preserved and not be destroyed, modified, altered, repaired, or changed in any matter [sic]: 1. Any videos or documents pertaining to the above referenced incident. 2. Any communications, including emails, regarding the incident. Blair says he preserved all the records stemming directly from the January 22, 2010 rape of Doe. Blair preserved no documents, other than the iNOW records, related to CJC’s other alleged or proven infractions during the 2009-2010 school year. II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY A. Doe’s Complaint On September 23, 2010, Doe filed a complaint against the Board, CJC, Blair, Terrell, Dunaway, and Simpson. The complaint alleged (1) negligence against Blair, Terrell, Dunaway, and Simpson; (2) recklessness/wantonness against Blair, Terrell, Dunaway, and Simpson; (3) negligent/reckless/wanton hiring, training, retention and supervision against Blair, Terrell, and Dunaway; (4) the tort of outrage against Blair, Terrell, Dunaway, and Simpson; (5) a violation of Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, against the Board; and (6) a violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Substantive Due Process Clause, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against all Defendants. The complaint sought declaratory relief, injunctive relief, and damages. B. Motions for Summary Judgment The Board, Principal Blair, Assistant Principal Terrell,' and Assistant' Principal Dunaway collectively moved for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment to the Board on the Title IX claims because CJC’s sexual misconduct and violent behavior did not “constitute[ ] sexual harassment so severe that it was depriving female students of educational opportunities.” According to the district court, CJC’s disciplinary history was not enough to give the Board actual knowledge of CJC’s harassment of female students. The district court found that, even if the Board had actual knowledge, it was not deliberately indifferent because the disciplinary response to CJC was not clearly unreasonable. The district court granted summary judgment to the Board, Blair, Dunaway, and Terrell on the § 1983 claims. The district court granted summary judgment to Blair, Dunaway, and Terrell on the Alabama negligent/wanton hiring claims, as well as the tort of outrage claims. The district court also granted summary judgment to Blair and Terrell on the Alabama negligence/wantonness claims because they were entitled to state-agent immunity. The district court denied summary judgment to Dunaway on the negligence/wantonness claims, however, because she acted beyond her authority by ratifying the sting operation. In her own motion, Teacher’s Aide Simpson moved for partial summary judgment on the tort of outrage and § 1983 claims. The district court granted the motion for partial summary judgment. After the district court’s rulings on the two motions for summary judgment, the only pending counts were negligence/wantonness claims against Dunaway and Simpson. Dunaway timely filed an interlocutory appeal from the district court’s denial of summary judgment on the negli-genee/wantonness claims. The district court subsequently dismissed without prejudice the pending state law counts against Dunaway and Simpson because all claims over which the district court had federal question jurisdiction had been dismissed and the state-agent immunity issues were not settled under Alabama law. Doe timely appealed the orders granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants. This Court granted the parties’ joint motion to consolidate the appeals of Doe and Dunaway. III. STANDARD OF REVIEW We review de novo a grant or denial of summary judgment, viewing all facts and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Bridge Capital Inv’rs, II v. Susquehanna Radio Corp., 458 F.3d 1212, 1215 (11th Cir.2006). The propriety of summary judgment on state-agent immunity and qualified immunity grounds is a question of law to be reviewed de novo. Taylor v. Adams, 221 F.3d 1254, 1256-57 (11th Cir.2000); Johnson v. Clifton, 74 F.3d 1087, 1090 (11th Cir.1996). “Summary judgment is appropriate only if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Hallmark Developers, Inc. v. Fulton Cty., Ga., 466 F.3d 1276, 1283 (11th Cir.2006); see Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). TV. DISCUSSION Doe raises five issues on appeal. Doe argues the district court erred in granting summary judgment (1) to the Board on the Title IX claim; (2) to the Board, Blair, Dunaway, Simpson, and Terrell on the § 1983 equal protection claims; (3) to Simpson on the § 1983 substantive due process claim; (4) to Blair on the negligence/wantonness claims; and (5) to Simpson on the tort of outrage claim. In her consolidated appeal, Dunaway raises a single argument: the district court erred in denying her state-agent immunity against Doe’s negligence/wantonness claims. We first address Doe’s Title IX claim. A. Legal Standard for Title IX Student-on-Student Sexual Harassment Title IX states, in pertinent part, that “[n]o 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.” 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a). Although Title IX does not expressly permit private enforcement suits, the Supreme Court has found an implied private right of action for individuals to enforce Title IX through monetary damages actions. Franklin v. Gwinnett Cty. Pub. Sch., 503 U.S. 60, 76, 112 S.Ct. 1028, 1038, 117 L.Ed.2d 208 (1992); Cannon v. Univ. of Chi., 441 U.S. 677, 717, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1968, 60 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The Supreme Court first addressed Title IX claims in the context of teacher-on-student sexual harassment. In Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District, 524 U.S. 274, 277, 118 S.Ct. 1989, 1993, 141 L.Ed.2d 277 (1998), the Court held § 1681 creates a private cause of action against funding recipients for teacher-on-student sexual harassment when “an official of the school district who at a minimum has authority to institute corrective measures on the district’s behalf has actual notice of, and is deliberately indifferent to, the teacher’s misconduct.” The Court described the deliberate indifference standard as “an official decision by the [funding] recipient not to remedy the violation.” Id. at 290,118 S.Ct. at 1999. One year later, in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 526 U.S. 629, 633, 119 S.Ct. 1661, 1666, 143 L.Ed.2d 839 (1999), the Supreme Court held § 1681 creates a private cause of action for student-on-student sexual harassment. A Title IX funding recipient is liable for student-on-student harassment if it is “deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment, of which [it] has actual knowledge, that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school.” Id. at 650, 119 S.Ct. at 1675. The standard for student-on-student sexual harassment claims is far more rigorous than a claim for teacher-on-student harassment. See id. at 650-53, 119 S.Ct. at 1675-76. Student-on-student sexual harassment rises to the level of actionable Title IX discrimination only if the harassment is “sufficiently severe.” Id. at 650, 119 S.Ct. at 1674. The plaintiff must establish not only that the school district was deliberately indifferent to known acts of harassment, but also that the known harassment was “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denie[d] its victims the equal access to education that Title IX is designed to protect.” Id. at 651-52, 119 S.Ct. at 1675. The Court imposed this high standard to guard against the imposition of “sweeping liability.” Id. at 652, 119 S.Ct. at 1675-76. Unlike an adult workplace, children “may regularly interact in a manner that would be unacceptable among adults.” Id. at'651, 119 S.Ct. at 1675. Due to their immaturity, children at various ages will invariably engage in some forms of teasing, shoving, and name-calling that “target differences in gender.” Id. at 651-52, 119 S.Ct. at 1675. Some risk of sexual harassment is inherent to the enterprise of public education, in particular, because public schools must educate even the most troublesome and defiant students. We begin by clarifying the correct legal standard for student-on-student sexual harassment claims under Title IX. The parties dispute whether the district court applied the appropriate standard for evaluating the actual notice requirement of Doe’s student-on-student • harassment claim. The district court required Doe to prove the Board had actual notice of sexual harassment “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits.” Doe, with support from the United States Department of Education arid United States Department of Justice (collectively, DOJ) acting as amicus curiae, argues the district court erred in applying a “heightened” notice requirement unsupported by law. According to Doe, a plaintiff must show only that allegations of sexual harassment alerted the school district that the harasser posed a “substantial risk” of engaging in “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” harassment against other students. After this showing, a plaintiff may then prove the harasser’s conduct culminated in sexual harassment that was “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” that it harmed the victim by depriving him or her of educational opportunities. Doe’s and the DOJ’s proposed “substantial risk” standard lacks merit. The “substantial risk” standard emanates from teacher-on-student Title IX cases, whose requirements are not as rigorous as student-on-student cases. See Davis, 526 U.S. at 658, 119 S.Ct. at 1676 (noting that “[p]eer harassment, in particular,, is less likely” to breach the Title IX guarantee of equal access to education than “teacher-student harassment”). All of the cases cited by Doe and the DOJ applying a “substantial risk” standard or similar language involved teacher-on-student harassment. See Doe v. Bd. of Broward Cty., Fla., 604 F.3d 1248, 1254 (11th Cir.2010) (teacher-on-student harassment); Bostic v. Smyrna Sch. Dist., 418 F.3d 355, 360-61 (3d Cir.2005) (same); Williams v. Paint Valley Local Sch. Dist., 400 F.3d 360, 362 (6th Cir.2005) (same); see also Baynard v. Malone, 268 F.3d 228, 240 (4th Cir.2001) (Michael, J., dissenting in part) (same). We hold a Title IX plaintiff must prove the funding recipient had actual knowledge that the student-on-student sexual harassment was severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive. The plain language of Davis dictates this result: “[FJunding recipients are properly held liable in damages only where they are deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment, of which they have actual knowledge, that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school.” Davis, 526 U.S. at 650, 119 S.Ct. at 1675 (emphasis added). The high burden of Davis ensures school districts are not financially crippled merely because immature kids occasionally engage in immature sexual behavior. Simply put, “[t]he Supreme Court has applied a more rigorous standard when a Title IX plaintiff seeks damages against a school district for student-on-student harassment.” Sauls v. Pierce Cty. Sch. Dist., 399 F.3d 1279, 1284 (11th Cir.2005). Accordingly, the district court applied the correct standard to Doe’s Title IX claim. B. Application of Legal Standard for Title IX Studenb-on-Student Sexual Harassment We now apply this legal standard to Doe’s Title IX claim. In Williams v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 477 F.3d 1282, 1292-99 (11th Cir.2007), this Court applied Davis and held a plaintiff seeking recovery for a Title IX violation predicated on student-on-student sexual harassment must prove five elements. First, the defendant must be a Title IX funding recipient. Id. at 1293. Second, an “appropriate person” must have actual knowledge of the alleged discrimination or harassment. Id. (quotation omitted). Third, the discrimination or harassment — of which the funding recipient had actual knowledge under element two — must be “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.” Id. (quotation omitted). Fourth, the plaintiff must prove “the funding recipient aet[ed] with deliberate indifference to known acts of harassment in its programs or activities.” Id. (quotation omitted). Fifth, the plaintiff must demonstrate the discrimination or harassment “effectively barred the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.” Id. at 1298 (quotation and internal alterations omitted). Applying this test, the district court concluded no reasonable juror could find the Board had actual knowledge that CJC’s behavior constituted sexual harassment so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive as to deprive Doe of educational opportunities. For the reasons explained below, we disagree and reverse. 1. Is the Board a Title IX funding recipient? The first element requires Doe to prove the Board is a Title IX funding recipient. See id. at 1293. The parties do not address and therefore appear to agree the Board is a Title IX funding recipient. Doe succeeds on the first element. 2. Did the Board have actual knowledge of the sexual harassment and discrimination Doe faced? The second element requires Doe to prove an “appropriate person” capable of putting the Board on notice had “actual knowledge” of CJC’s sexual harassment and discrimination. See id. We begin by identifying the appropriate persons capable of putting the Board on notice of CJC’s sexual harassment. We then discuss whether the Board had actual knowledge of CJC’s sexual harassment. a. Appropriate persons The Supreme Court has explained that an “appropriate person” is an official of the recipient entity who “at a minimum has authority to address the alleged discrimination and to institute corrective measures on the recipient’s behalf.” Gebser, 524 U.S. at 290, 118 S.Ct. at 1999. In Floyd v. Waiters, 171 F.3d 1264, 1264 (11th Cir.1999), this Court elaborated on the “appropriate person” requirement, stating the school official must be “high enough up the chain-of-command that his acts constitute an official decision by the school district itself not to remedy the misconduct.” Applying this standard, this Court held a school security guard was not an appropriate person. Floyd v. Waiters, 133 F.3d 786, 788, 793 & n. 15 (11th Cir.1998), vacated by 525 U.S. 802, 119 S.Ct. 33, 142 L.Ed.2d 25 (1998), reinstated in 171 F.3d 1264 (11th Cir.1999). The parties agree Principal Blair, Assistant Principal Dunaway, and Assistant Principal Terrell were appropriate persons capable of putting the Board on actual notice of sexual harassment and discrimination. The parties dispute, however, whether Teacher’s Aide Simpson was an “appropriate person” such that her knowledge is attributable to the Board. We conclude Teacher’s Aide Simpson was not an “appropriate person” who could put the Board on notice of sexual harassment and discrimination. No evidence in the record suggests teacher’s aides at Sparkman have the authority to discipline students for sexual harassment. See Gebser, 524 U.S. at 290, 118 S.Ct. at 1999. The principal and assistant principals alone possessed that authority. As a teacher’s aide, Simpson had to answer to a teacher, the assistant principals, and the principal, and she was not high enough on the chain-of-command at Sparkman for her acts to “constitute an official decision by the school district itself not to remedy the misconduct.” See Floyd, 171 F.3d at 1264. Accordingly, in evaluating whether the Board had notice of CJC’s sexual harassment, we evaluate only the knowledge of Principal Blair and Assistant Principals Dunaway and Terrell. b. Actual knowledge We now ask what the Board knew — vis-a-vis Principal Blair or Assistant Principals Dunaway or Terrell — about CJC’s alleged harassment and discrimination. Under element two, we are concerned only with the Board’s knowledge. Williams, All F.3d at 1293. The analysis of whether CJC’s alleged harassment was sufficiently severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive is reserved for element three. The determination of whether the Board’s response to CJC’s alleged harassment was deliberately indifferent is reserved for element four. The Board knew — again, vis-a-vis Blair, Dunaway, or Terrell — the following facts. The Board admits it had knowledge of CJC’s disciplinary history that was tersely recorded in the iNOW database. The Board does not contest it had actual knowledge of CJC’s unrecorded instances of alleged sexual harassment in January 2010. Administrators learned weeks before the rape that CJC had been propositioning girls to have sex in bathrooms. On January 13, 2010, ten days before the rape of Doe, the administrators learned CJC had allegedly inappropriately touched a female student. We recognize there is a dispute of fact as to whether Teacher’s Aide Simpson informed Assistant Principal Dunaway a few minutes before the rape about her proposed sting operation and CJC’s propositioning of Doe to have sex in the boys’ bathroom. Construing the facts in favor of Doe for purposes of summary judgment, the Board (through Dunaway) had actual knowledge of the use of Doe as rape bait for CJC in the sting operation and CJC’s propositioning of Doe to have sex. And it is undisputed that the Board became aware of the rape-bait scheme and the rape when Principal Blair interviewed Simpson and Doe and discovered these events. At that point, the Board also definitively knew CJC’s verbal harassment of Doe led Simpson to implement, the sting operation. 3. Was the sexual harassment and discrimination Doe faced, of which the Board had knowledge, severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive? As to the third element, we ask whether the sexual harassment and discrimination, of which the Board had actual knowledge, was sufficiently “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.” Davis, 526 U.S. at 651, 119 S.Ct. at 1675; see Williams, 477 F.3d at 1294. “Whether gender-oriented conduct rises to the level of actionable [Title IX] harassment ... depends on a constellation of surrounding circumstances, expectations, and relationships, including, but not limited to, the ages of the harasser and the victim and the number of individuals involved.” Id. (quotations and citations omitted). To be severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, the behavior must be serious enough to have a “systemic effect” of denying equal access to an education. Id. at 652, 119 S.Ct. at 1676. A “single instance of sufficiently severe one-on-one peer harassment” cannot have such a systemic effect in light of “the amount of litigation that would be invited by entertaining claims of official indifference to a single instance of one-on-one peer harassment.” Id. at 652-53,119 S.Ct. at 1676. This is a unique case because the administrators effectively participated in CJC’s sexual harassment by setting Doe up in a rape-bait scheme involving CJC in order to “catch him in the act.” Thus, in considering the third element, we examine and count (1) CJC’s past sexual harassment of Doe and others; (2) Doe’s complaints about CJC to the Board (through Simpson and Dunaway) to which the Board responded by having Doe participate in a sting operation with CJC; (3) the Board’s “catch in the act” policy that motivated Simpson to conduct, and Dunaway to approve, a rape-bait scheme with CJC as a participant that directly harassed, injured, and impacted Doe further; and (4) after the rape, the Board’s utter failure to respond to Doe’s traumatic injury and experience orchestrated by the Board. In Williams, this Court reversed the dismissal of a Title IX claim brought by a female student at the University of Georgia (UGA), who was gang-raped by three student-athletes in a dorm room. The Williams plaintiff alleged UGA had actual knowledge of the following forms of discrimination or harassment that she faced. 477 F..3d at 1294. UGA had actual knowledge of prior sexual harassment of women by the ringleader of the gang-rape, -and then despite that conduct UGA recruited him to play basketball and admitted him as a student. Id. The plaintiff also alleged UGA had actual knowledge of the rape and the subsequent discrimination of the plaintiff caused by the university’s own inadequate response to the rape. Id. This Court concluded that UGA’s failure to supervise the ringleader on campus was deliberately indifferent in light of UGA’s knowledge of his prior sexual misconduct at other schools. Id. at 1296. This Court also concluded that UGA again responded with deliberate indifference by waiting almost a year after the rape to conduct a disciplinary hearing, and by failing to take any precautions to prevent future attacks by, for example, removing the rapist from student housing or implementing a more protective sexual assault policy. Id. at 1296-97. As Williams ■ shows, a school’s deliberately indifferent response to sexual harassment can create Title IX liability. Here, a jury similarly could find the Board’s knowledge of CJC’s prior sexual harassment on multiple occasions; the Board’s catch in the act policy; Doe’s complaints about CJC; the Board’s knowing use of Doe as rape bait in its sting operation with CJC; and the Board’s failure to respond at all, much less adequately, to Doe’s allegations or the rape itself, were sufficiently “severe” and “objectively offensive” to satisfy the third element. These facts differ markedly from the “rarely actionable, theoretical single incident mentioned in Davis.” Williams, 477 F.3d at 1298. We conclude the harassment here is materially different because the physical act of penetration in the bathroom was (1) preceded by CJC repeatedly propositioning Doe for sex for two weeks and (2) orchestrated by school officials during a botched rape-bait scheme with CJC. Like the rape in Williams where the ringleader conspired with his friends beforehand to commit sexual assault, a jury could find CJC’s rape of Doe was the culmination of “a continuous series of events,” id, at 1298, and was therefore pervasive. These are highly unique and extreme facts that will hopefully never again be repeated. A' jury could find CJC’s rape of Doe was the culmination of CJC’s two weeks of harassment and the school’s choice to use Doe as bait for CJC’s sexual harassment, and thus satisfies the third element. A Was the Board deliberately indifferent to the sexual harassment and discrimination Doe faced? As to the fourth element, funding recipients are deliberately indifferent “only where the recipient’s response to the harassment or lack thereof is clearly unreasonable in light of the known circumstances.” Davis, 526 U.S. at 648, 119 S.Ct. at 1674. A clearly unreasonable response causes students to undergo harassment or makes them more vulnerable to it. See Williams, 477 F.3d at 1295-96. To survive a summary judgment motion, a Title IX plaintiff must present evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude “the Title IX recipient’s deliberate indifference to the initial discrimination subjected the plaintiff to further discrimination.” Id. at 1296. We therefore ask whether the Board’s decision to use Doe as bait in a sting operation with CJC, a known and already disciplined sexual harasser, combined with the Board’s failure to change any sexual harassment policies after CJC’s rape of Doe, was clearly unreasonable in light' of the known circumstances. See, e.g., Williams, 477 F.3d at 1297 (“[The School] acted with deliberate indifference ... when it responded to the January 14 incident [of rape.]”). We conclude a genuine dispute of material fact exists as to whether the Board’s deliberate indifference to Doe’s “initial discrimination subjected [Doe] to further discrimination” that prevented her from continuing to attend Sparkman. Id.' at 1296. As outlined above, the Board’s knowledge of CJC’s sexual harassment, its catch in the act policy, its orchestration of a sting operation using Doe as bait for CJC’s sexual activities, and its failure to help Doe in any way was patently odious. In addition, the Board made only one policy change: it discontinued a one-day sexual harassment training workshop for administrators at the Madison County Administrator Academy. Although Principal Blair believes the Board did not need to change any policies because “we did as good a job I think as you could do under the circumstances,” a reasonable jury could disagree. In evaluating whether the Board’s above conduct was deliberately indifferent, a jury might conclude the Board’s failure to revise its iNOW recordkeeping policy was clearly unreasonable. After the rape, a jury could find the Board should have known it needed to develop a more accurate system for recording sexual harassment in order to adequately monitor and respond to student misconduct and complaints of sexual harassment. As an example, the Board recorded CJC’s rape of Doe in CJC’s disciplinary file as “[ijnappropriate touching a female in a boys’ bathroom.” In response to the allegations that CJC was harassing female students by propositioning them to have sex in bathrooms, the Board recorded the incident as “[disobedience” due to “[c]onstant[ ]distraction continued disruption of learning.” The evidence reveals school officials never recorded CJC’s placement in alternative school for “hugg[ing] a girl in the front of the cafeteria.” School officials apparently did not find this incident worth recording, even though CJC had raped Doe three months earlier. A jury could find the policy of entrusting the school secretary to make iNOW database entries through an ad hoc, rather than systematic, method of classifying sexual misconduct was flawed. As Assistant Principal Terrell conceded, the Board did not have a “normal policy” about iNOW recordkeeping. A jury could find the Board’s failure to create an accurate and systematic iNOW database policy a