Title: Holliday v. West Point Mun. Sep. Sch. Dist.

State: mississippi

Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court

Document:

401 So. 2d 1296 (1981) Mae Rosie HOLLIDAY v. WEST POINT MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT. No. 52754. Supreme Court of Mississippi. August 5, 1981. *1297 Bennie L. Turner, Randolph Walker, Walker & Turner, West Point, for appellant. Thomas M. Tubb, Tubb, Stevens & Morrison, West Point, for appellee. Before PATTERSON, C.J., and SUGG and BROOM, JJ. BROOM, Justice for the Court: Reassignment of appellant Mae Rosie Holliday from the position of school principal to the position of administrative assistant in the office of the superintendent of West Point Municipal Separate School District (appellee herein) forms the background to this case appealed from the Chancery Court of Clay County, Mississippi. On appeal she argues (1) that she was deprived of her constitutional due process and statutory rights, and (2) that the evidence presented by the school was insufficient to support her reassignment. We affirm. On September 18, 1979, school district superintendent Griffin notified Holliday that she was being relieved of her duties as principal and reassigned as an administrative assistant in the superintendent's office continuing at her present salary. One day previously the school board had approved Holliday's reassignment. She sued in federal court for a preliminary injunction prohibiting her removal until she was granted an impartial hearing, which court ordered that she receive a due process hearing pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-9-59 (Supp. 1980). By letter dated January 21, 1980, Griffin notified Holliday that the hearing officer would be the University of Mississippi's Dr. Joseph Blackston who set the public hearing for February 6 and 7 in the Clay County Courthouse. The charges alleged that she was incompetent and derelict in her duties in the following areas: (1) in preparing for the opening of the school term, specifically her: (a) failure to schedule the sixth grade students according to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Guidelines, (b) failure to issue textbooks until after the second week of classes began, and (c) failure to provide prompt lunch service to qualified students; (2) in resolving parents' complaints, more particularly a charge against one of the teachers, her sister, for not adequately testing the students; (3) in failing to use correct grammar in speaking and writing and in communicating with parents and students; and (4) in failing to maintain the standard of education at Central School. The school district presented testimony from Griffin that Holliday was assistant principal of Central School when he became superintendent in 1976. In 1977 the principal's office at Central School became vacant and he recommended Holliday for the position primarily because of a federal court order in effect which required that any administrator or principal "who was demoted under the desegregation court order ... be offered and have the opportunity to turn down the first like position that became available." In a letter dated March 8, 1977, however, Griffin and the board appointed Holliday to the vacancy provided: At the conclusion of the termination hearing, Dr. Blackston rendered his opinion on March 19, 1980, affirming Holliday's removal and reassignment. On August 11, 1980, Chancellor Brand affirmed the action of the Board of Trustees and the hearing officer and Holliday appeals. There is only one issue presently before us: DID THE CHANCELLOR, BASED UPON THE RECORD COMPILED AT THE TERMINATION/REASSIGNMENT HEARING, AND UPON HOLLIDAY'S CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT, COMMIT REVERSIBLE ERROR IN UPHOLDING THE HEARING OFFICER'S AFFIRMANCE OF THE BOARD'S DECISION TO REMOVE AND REASSIGN HOLLIDAY? Deciding this issue requires a review of the testimony and charges raised at the hearing. According to Griffin, prior to the school board's action on September 17, he had received numerous letters from concerned sixth grade parents (Central School has all of the sixth grade students for the entire school district) protesting the conditions at Central School. The parents complained that textbooks had not been issued, and that their children's schedules had been repeatedly changed. After reviewing the complaints, the board approved Holliday's removal and reassignment as an administrative assistant for administrative services in the superintendent's office. Testimony given at the hearing established at least by substantial evidence that Holliday did not properly cope with the problem of scheduling students. Rev. John Bacot, a Presbyterian minister in West Point, also testified. Of Rev. Bacot's three children, a daughter was in the sixth grade at Central School. Although his daughter was preregistered for Central School in the spring of 1979, Holliday had no record of such registration, and the registration procedure had to be repeated that August. When Holliday testified, she responded to Rev. Bacot's complaints and stated that the records were requested in the spring of 1979, but, as in so many cases, the request for the records had to be made again. According to Holliday, Mrs. Blair, Holliday's former secretary, told her that she had sent off for the records. On registration day, Rev. Bacot accompanied his daughter and made the following observation: Rev. Bacot also complained that his daughter had not been issued textbooks during the first couple weeks of school and was using encyclopedias to do her assignments. When Holliday was asked why textbooks had not been issued, she explained: On cross examination, Holliday was asked what her philosophy was on issuing textbooks, to which she answered: According to Holliday, teachers had their textbooks two to three days before school began. Marcia Bryan, a sixth grade mother, also testified at the hearing. All four of the Bryan children attend public schools in West Point. Bryan was an active member of a volunteer group whose purpose was to enrich and support the public schools of West Point. On August 28, Bryan took her eleven-year old daughter to Central School for registration. She stated that from August 28 until September 10, her daughter did not know who her teachers were and was not assigned any textbooks. Bryan figured that anywhere between 250 to 300 sixth grade students were affected by the scheduling problem. On September 10, she returned to Central and observed the following: After the plaintiff rested its case, Holliday testified in her defense at length. She attempted to counter many of the charges alleged against her by Griffin and Tennyson. She disputed the fact that Tennyson *1300 had ever offered to help her with the scheduling problem prior to her visit on September 9, 1979. As to the charge that she was not proficient in English grammar, Holliday responded: She also attempted to counter the charge that eligible students did not receive their lunch tickets until September 10. She explained the free lunch program as follows: Several teachers testified on behalf of Holliday. Some of the testimony indicated that each teacher was responsible for obtaining textbooks from the storeroom at the beginning of the school year. One of the teachers, Earnestine Wicks, testified that it was left to each teacher's discretion when to issue textbooks. Her testimony revealed the rather startling school policy: Mrs. Neva Lane, a sixth grade English teacher, had taught school for approximately six years and had served under three principles. She stated that she had never made any comment to Marcia Bryan about conditions at Central School. Ms. Arteria Evans, a public school teacher for twenty-one years, stated that she had not had any problems with scheduling and did not know of any other problems in the school. After the defense rested, Dr. Blackston ordered the record typed to allow him a chance to review the testimony in order to render an opinion. He later upheld the reassignment and Holliday appealed to the chancery court. Upon review of the hearing record per Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-9-113(3) (Supp. 1980), the chancery court upheld Dr. Blackston's ruling concluding: Citing Calhoun Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. Hamblin, 360 So. 2d 1236 (Miss. 1978), Chancellor Brand held that Holliday had been given the opportunity to present "matters in extenuation or exculpation to present her position ..." and, therefore, the statutory requirements of Mississippi Code Annotated § 37-9-101 (Supp. 1980) had been complied with. The contract executed by Holliday with the school district provided: Although this case was decided by the hearing officer on facts found by him which we think were amply supported by substantial evidence, the contract which Holliday executed contemplated that she would be subject to reassignment by action of proper authorities. In our view, courts should be very reluctant to second guess school authorities when reasonably acting pursuant to a solemn contract. Here there is no showing that the reassignment clause in the contract was improperly applied. We are unable to find that any of Holliday's rights were viollated. Pertinent is the following language excerpted from Dr. Blackston's fact finding: Appellant alleges that Dr. Blackston and the chancellor upheld her removal not on grounds of "incompetence, neglect of duty, immoral conduct, intemperance, brutal treatment of a pupil of [sic] other good cause." While it is true that the chancellor relied heavily upon the fact that Holliday's employment contract specifically provided for her reassignment upon the superintendent's recommendation, he also noted that there had been a great deal of confusion as a result of inept student scheduling. This finding by the chancellor squarely falls within the incompetence category of the statute. See § 37-9-59 (Supp. 1980); Stegall v. Jones, 241 So. 2d 349 (Miss. 1970). Accordingly, affirmance is required. AFFIRMED. PATTERSON, C.J., SMITH and ROBERTSON, P. JJ., and SUGG, WALKER, LEE, BOWLING and HAWKINS, JJ., concur.