Title: Abston v. Woodard
Citation: 398 So. 2d 237
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: April 10, 1981

398 So. 2d 237 (1981)
Richard A. ABSTON
v.
Thomas B. WOODARD, III et al.
80-91.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
April 10, 1981.
Rehearing Denied May 8, 1981.
*238 Jack Drake of Drake &amp; Pierce, Tuscaloosa and George D. H. McMillan, Jr. of McMillan &amp; Spratling, Birmingham, for appellant.
Raymond E. Ward of Ray, Oliver &amp; Ward, Tuscaloosa, for appellees.
MADDOX, Justice.
What due process rights does a nontenured public school teacher have in case his contract is nonrenewed? That is the sole question presented by this appeal.
Richard A. Abston, a public school teacher and head football coach at Pickens County High School, filed an action in the Circuit Court of Pickens County, in which he claimed that he was nonrenewed "because he complained about deficits in gate receipts at home football games played by Pickens County High School," which ultimately culminated in the resignation of the school principal, James Lawrence, who was responsible for the handling of the gate receipts. Abston charged in his complaint that "[o]ne of Lawrence's last acts, prior to his resignation, was to recommend to the Pickens County School Board that plaintiff not be rehired for the 1979-80 school year."
Some of the basic operative facts are as follows:
In 1976, Abston left his tenured position with the Opelika City School System at the invitation of Pickens County Board of Education to become head football coach and athletic director at Pickens County High School. During Abston's first season, the Pickens County football team had a 9-0-1 record and went to the state playoffs. In his second season, the football team had a 6-4 record, and in his third year, the team went 7-3, and again made the state playoffs. Abston was recognized as West Alabama 2-A Coach of the Year for all three years he was employed in the Pickens County School System.
In addition to his coaching duties, Abston taught five physical education classes per school day, maintained the school gym, and also maintained the football field and playground area.
When Abston first arrived at Pickens County High School, he was faced with a debt of $7,000 in the Athletic Department. Upon investigation, he learned that the gate receipts from the football games seemed to be lower than the size of the crowd would have indicated. Abston discussed this situation with a group called the Pickens County Athletic Club, and a procedure was established for counting the number of people attending home games. This *239 was done for the Aliceville game in 1976, and all home games in 1977. In 1976, and 1977, the principal of the high school, Lawrence, was in charge of the gate receipts from Friday night until the following Monday morning. When Abston would receive the money on Monday morning from the principal, he would make a report to members of the Athletic Club so they could correlate their numbers. It was estimated that for each game counted in 1977, the receipts appeared to be $250.00 to $1,000.00 short. The Pickens County Board of Education, through the superintendent, made several changes in the manner in which football tickets were handled and accounted for after the 1977 football season.
In March of 1979, a group of citizens formed an organization known as "Concerned Citizens of Reform School District" to discuss with the school board rumors that Abston would not be renewed as head football coach. One of the purposes of the group was to protect Abston's job so as to insure the success of a fund raising project to provide better lights for the football field. The "Concerned Citizens" also asked to have principal Lawrence fired.
There was some evidence that shortly before the "Concerned Citizens" formed, Abston was informed by the defendant Boyd Edgeworth, a school board member, that "[t]he only reason he could figure [for nonrenewal of Abston] was because he (Lawrence) could get his hands back in."
On March 19, 1979, the "Concerned Citizens" met with the school board and asked whether or not Lawrence would be fired and whether Abston would be rehired. The group was given no answer. In mid-April of 1979, the "Concerned Citizens" submitted a report to the board concerning principal Lawrence and reasons why he should be terminated. One of the affidavits attached to the many statements, figures, etc. was one signed by Abston, which was executed for the purpose of showing that Lawrence was not properly doing his job as principal. Again the "Concerned Citizens" asked that Lawrence be fired.
The March and April meetings were widely reported by local and state news media and the contents of the "Concerned Citizens" report were widely known in the rural area of Pickens County. Shortly thereafter, on May 10, 1979, principal Lawrence recommended to the superintendent of the Pickens County School Board that Abston be written a letter of nonrenewal for the 1979-1980 school year. The superintendent accepted the recommendation of principal Lawrence, and without further investigation, recommended to the school board that Abston's contract not be renewed. The school board accepted the recommendation without any discussion or inquiry whatsoever. The superintendent could not state that Lawrence's act was not an act of retaliation against Abston for his activities. On May 24, 1979, one day prior to the end of the school year, Abston was notified in writing that his contract would not be renewed. Immediately thereafter, Lawrence submitted his resignation as principal, effective July 1, 1979.
The trial judge found that the board, following the recommendation of the superintendent, who, in turn, had followed the recommendation of principal Lawrence, had "adhered to the statutory requirements regarding notice. . . ." On the substantive due process claim, the judge opined that Abston, as a nontenured teacher, had no constitutionally protectable property interest in his job in that he had no reasonable expectation of reemployment for the following school year. The trial judge cited this Court's case of Underwood v. Barbour County Board of Education, 372 So. 2d 22 (Ala.1979). The trial judge then opined:
It is clear that the trial court was aware of the applicable law in cases involving due process claims of non-tenured teachers; therefore, the only question is whether the trial judge erroneously applied that law to the facts of this case.
*241 The appellee asks us to focus our attention on the premise that Abston, as the trial judge concluded, failed to meet his burden of proof. Viewing the evidence in a vacuum, one could conclude, as did the trial judge, that neither principal Lawrence nor the school board knew of Abston's activities involving the "gate receipts" matter, but we do not sit in a vacuum. We have read the whole record and we are convinced that from the evidence presented, it is not mere speculation to conclude from the direct and circumstantial evidence that Lawrence must have known that Abston was connected with the effort to get him fired. In any event, there was direct evidence that the board knew of Abston's involvement, at least as early as when the Abston affidavit was filed with the board by the "Concerned Citizens of Reform School District." The aim of this group was to fire the principal and keep the coach.
Based on the foregoing, we cannot but conclude that Abston, at least minimally, met the standard of showing that Lawrence's recommendation for his nonrenewal was based upon Abston's efforts in the gate receipts matter. The evidence here is certainly as compelling as that found sufficient in Lindsey v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 607 F.2d 672 (5th Cir. 1979), to show the existence of a constitutional right to freedom of speech. This Court's case of Foster v. Blount County Board of Education, 340 So. 2d 751 (Ala. 1976), cited by the trial judge, is not to the contrary. There, this Court, without applying any presumption of correctness to the trial court's findings, reviewed the whole record and concluded that the trial judge was correct in finding that the teacher had failed to meet her burden of proof. Also, there, the school board, at trial, gave the reason for its decision to nonrenew, something the school board did not do in this case. In Foster, Justice Shores, writing for the Court, stated:
In Foster, this Court found support for the trial court's determination that Foster had failed to sustain her burden. We cannot find in this record the same support for the trial judge's legal conclusion that Abston failed to sustain his burden of proof.
*242 Since the trial judge based his denial of relief upon the principle that Abston failed to meet his burden of proof, and since we find that there was sufficient evidence to show that his nonrenewal may have been based on his having exercised his constitutional right of freedom of expression, we hold that Abston is entitled to have the Board show that the reason for his nonrenewal, at the time the decisions were made, was not based upon his exercise of freedom of speech; therefore, the judgment is due to be reversed and the cause remanded. Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S. Ct. 1731, 20 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1968).
The question to be answered in this case on remand is: Would the Board have reached the same decision in Abston's case absent its knowledge, if any, of Abston's involvement in the "gate receipts" matter, or in the attempt to get Lawrence fired? Mount Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S. Ct. 568, 50 L. Ed. 2d 471 (1977).
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
All the Justices concur.