Title: Blair v. Mayo
Citation: 450 S.W.2d 582
Docket Number: N/A
State: Tennessee
Issuer: Tennessee Supreme Court
Date: February 16, 1970

450 S.W.2d 582 (1970) Norman BLAIR et al. v. Gentry MAYO, et al. Supreme Court of Tennessee. February 16, 1970. *583 James H. Cummings and Marshall E. Duggin, Woodbury, for appellants. Charles Hampton White, Nashville, for appellees. McCANLESS, Justice. The complainants, Gentry Mayo and Robert A. Harris, Jr., brought their suit against Norman Blair, Superintendent of Schools, and the members of the Board of Education of Cannon County to prohibit their dismissal as principal and as assistant principal, respectively, of Central High School at Woodbury. By their original bill, filed on June 19, 1969, the complainants averred that each had permanent tenure under Section 49-1401, T.C.A., the complainant, Mayo, having served as a classroom teacher for nine years at Central High School and as principal of that school for three years and the complainant, Harris, having served as a classroom teacher for eighteen years and as assistant principal of Central High School for two years; that they had performed their duties in conformance with the highest standards of their positions and that neither had received any criticism regarding the performance of their duties. They then averred that the defendants, the members of the County Board of Education, had met in regular session on March 13, 1969, to elect principals and teachers for the academic year, 1969-70, at which meeting the Board, over the objection of the County Superintendent, had elected the complainant, Mayo, as classroom teacher and the complainant, Harris, as physical education and basketball coach at Central High School; that the defendant, Blair, on March 27, 1969, had written the complainants of the Board's action and thereafter the complainants had written a number of letters to the superintendent by which they had demanded that they be furnished in writing the reasons for their transfers, which they described as dismissals, and that the Board give them a hearing. The complainants, now the appellees, averred that as teachers enjoying permanent tenure status under Sections 49-1401, et seq., T.C.A., they were entitled to notice of any charges which would warrant their dismissal and their transfers to lower positions, which were, in effect, dismissals; that they were not subject to dismissal except for incompetence, inefficiency, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct or insubordination, and that no charges of that nature had been filed against them with the Cannon County Board of Education and that they had received no notice of any such charge; that the Board had deprived them of an effective hearing to which they were entitled. The complainants claimed the right to invoke the inherent equitable powers of the court without having to exhaust the administrative remedies provided by the Teachers' Tenure Act, the pattern of conduct of the Board having been such as to indicate that further demand for an administrative hearing would be useless and an idle gesture and that any appeal to the Board for a reconsideration "would be an exercise in futility"; that the action of the members of the Board was arbitrary and capricious and should be enjoined. *584 The complainants prayed that a temporary injunction issue, restraining the defendants from carrying out the transfers or dismissals of the complainants unless the superintendent should concur and unless they should be given a hearing by the Board on written charges and that upon the hearing of the cause the injunction be made permanent. On July 8, 1969, the complainant, Mayo filed an amended and supplemental bill by which he charged that the Chancellor had signed a fiat directing the Clerk and Master to issue the temporary injunction for which the complainants had prayed and that a copy was given the County Superintendent, and defendant, Blair, who attending a meeting of the Board on the evening of June 19, 1969, at which all but two members were present, had told the members about the injunction but that the Board thereafter had voted by a majority of seven to four to dismiss the complainant, Mayo, as a classroom teacher. The prayer was that the seven members, whom the bill named, be ordered to appear and to show cause why they should not be found guilty of and punished for contempt and that the court enter an order vacating the order of the Board. The Board of Education in its corporate capacity became a party to the suit and filed a demurrer which the court overruled, whereupon the defendants to the contempt citation answered it and denied that when they took their action on June 19, 1969, they knew about the injunction. The defendants filed a demurrer to the original and the amended and supplemental bills which the court overruled, granting the defendants leave to rely on the grounds of the demurrer in their answer. The Board then filed an answer admitting the facts generally but denying that its action in transferring the complainants was unlawful, arbitrary, capricious and that it stemmed from personal malice; that the action of March 13, 1969, was a dismissal or suspension; that a concurrence or approval of the County Superintendent was not necessary for the transfer of the complainants; that the complainants were without advance notice of the Board's action. The Board admitted that if the complainant, Mayo, was "a duly elected and appointed tenure teacher" on June 13, 1969, his dismissal as a teacher would have been illegal; and said that the Board had been without counsel at its meetings. The Chancellor heard the case in July, 1969, and in his opinion said: "The trial of the issues in this case required three long, hard, hot days" and that a court reporter had been present and had recorded the evidence verbatim. Since the defendants have not preserved the testimony by a bill of exceptions it will be helpful to an understanding of the facts to quote from the Chancellor's memorandum opinion which he filed and ordered made a part of the record in conformity with Section 27-113, T.C.A. His findings of fact are conclusively presumed to be correct. Findlay v. Monroe, 196 Tenn. 690, 270 S.W.2d 325. We quote the following from the Chancellor's opinion: The Chancellor decreed that the complainants should continue to occupy their positions as principal and assistant principal of Central High School in Woodbury; that the action of the Board by which it undertook on June 19, 1969, to discharge the complainant, Gentry Mayo, as a classroom teacher was vacated; and the defendants, members of the Board of Education, be permanently enjoined from transferring, dismissing, or suspending the complainants until written charges should be filed against them pursuant to Section 49-1414, T.C.A. The Chancellor dismissed the contempt charges but decreed that costs incident to the contempt proceeding against *586 the defendants to that proceeding individually. Nine members of the Board and the Board in its corporate capacity have perfected their appeal to this Court as provided by Section 49-1417, T.C.A., and have assigned two errors: The appellants earnestly insist that the only judicial procedure available to the appellees was by a suit for mandamus. State v. Yoakum, 201 Tenn. 180, 297 S.W.2d 635; State v. Hendrixson, 202 Tenn. 428, 304 S.W.2d 624; State ex rel. Stewart v. Lunsford, 207 Tenn. 33, 336 S.W.2d 20; and State ex rel. Taylor v. Rasnake, 209 Tenn. 229, 352 S.W.2d 427, all are suits for mandamus and mandamus is appropriate under proper circumstances for the obtaining of relief under the Teachers' Tenure Act; but the procedure provided in Section 49-1417, T.C.A., and which the appellees followed, clearly was available to the compainants in this cause. We overrule the appellants' first assignment of error. The appellants' contention that the appellees were not entitled to an administrative hearing before they were transferred, must be considered in the light of the facts of the case as the Chancellor found them. The appellees were summarily demoted from the positions they had held for years to lower paying positions without being given any reason for the demotions. This action was as the appellees contend, dismissal from their existing positions and violated their rights under the Teachers' Tenure Act. The appellees had the right to bring this suit without making any further effort to get an administrative hearing before the Board. The language of Mr. Chief Justice Burnett in State v. Yoakum, supra, is particularly appropriate to the facts of this case: *587 We therefore overrule the complainants' second assignment and affirm the decree of the Chancellor. The costs incident to this appeal are decreed against the appellant, Board of Education.