Opinion ID: 1745905
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Did the Chancellor Err in Failing to Grant Appellant's Motion to Strike?

Text: On appeal of the Board's decision to the Chancery Court of Jackson County, they sought to include in the record transcripts of hearings before the board's review committee. Included were transcripts of hearings for Stacey Mixon, Patricia and Tammy Dean. These three students stated Regina Jones distributed Vivarin tablets to them at school. The Joneses motion to strike these transcripts was overruled. Here the Joneses assign as error the chancellor's denial of the motion to strike. The thrust of their complaint, however, is that they were denied procedural due process by not being informed of these accusations or given the opportunity to confront these students. We address first the Joneses' claim that they lacked notice. There is no question that expulsion or suspension from school involves deprivation of a property interest protected by the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Goss v. Lopez, 419 U.S. 565, 95 S.Ct. 729, 42 L.Ed.2d 725 (1975). The question with which many courts have struggled since Lopez is, what process is due? In Lopez the U.S. Supreme Court held that for a short suspension: [T]he student [must] be given oral or written notice of the charges against him and, if he denies them, an explanation of the evidence the authorities have and an opportunity to present his side of the story. Id. at 581, 95 S.Ct. at 740, 42 L.Ed.2d at 739. However, the Court noted that [l]onger suspensions or expulsions for the remainder of the school term, or permanently, may require more formal procedures, such as the right to call or confront witnesses. Id. at 584, 95 S.Ct. at 741, 42 L.Ed.2d at 740. Thus, at a minimum, the due process clause requires notice and opportunity to be heard. In Warren County Board of Education v. Wilkinson, 500 So.2d 455, 460 (Miss. 1986), it is said: It is almost trite to state that one has to be advised of the nature and cause of his accusation against him, and that such cause must be previously determined. Nevertheless, from time to time courts find it necessary to advise the citizenry of the existence of such constitutionally protected rights.       The cases in this jurisdiction announcing the same principle are legion, and apply to school boards as well as the courts. The Court in Wilkinson upheld a chancellor's ruling that a student was improperly expelled by lack of due process. This is true because she was not provided the witnesses against her, though requested in writing as provided by the rule. No witnesses at all were presented nor afforded for cross-examination. She was tried and convicted for an offense that did not exist. Id. at 461-62. Thus, in Wilkinson the Court did not rest its decision exclusively on the board's failure to adequately inform the student of the charge against her, but rather looked to the board's failure to provide witnesses against the student and to the substantive failure of the proof to show a violation of school rules. Notice given the Joneses involved charges of distributing valium only. A January 15, 1986, letter from Principal Dambrino to Mr. and Mrs. Jones informed the couple their daughter had been suspended and would be recommended for expulsion based on: Without exception, all information (evidence) received regarding the distribution of ten (10) valium tablets implicate Regina, even though she denies having anything to do with taking the valium from the prescription in your home and distributing the valium tablets to Colmer (Junior High) students. Thus, the notice did not include any reference to accusations that Regina had dispensed vivarin, which Patricia and Tammy Dean and Stacey Mixon all testified to before the disciplinary review committee. There is nothing to indicate the full board considered the accusations of distributing Vivarin. Principal Dambrino made one reference to three students suggesting Regina distributed Vivarin; however, the board made no specific findings and heard no other evidence at the hearing regarding other charges. Further, the record discloses that during the disciplinary review committee hearing, prior to the hearing before the full board, counsel for the Joneses knew nine students had mentioned Regina and, in fact, questioned Principal Dambrino or Assistant Principal Curry about their statements to the extent he was satisfied that he needed to call only three students as witnesses at the full hearing. On this record, it just is not clear that the board considered anything other than the listed charges, or that the Joneses lacked any informal notice of the Vivarin allegations in any event. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that to sustain a violation of procedural due process, the aggrieved party must show substantial prejudice. Keough v. Tate County Board of Education, 748 F.2d 1077, 1083 (5th Cir.1984). We cannot find substantial prejudice in this record. Perhaps the chancellor should not have allowed the additional disciplinary hearing transcripts to be included in the record. Our focus, however, is whether the administrative proceedings were conducted according to due process requirements and whether the board acted based on sufficient evidence. We have already stated there was substantial evidence. There was no substantial deviation from the minimal procedural due process notice requirements. Finally, the Joneses argue they should have been given a list of the witnesses and been given an opportunity to cross-examine them. Specifically, the Joneses refer to the Dean sisters, Stacey Mixon and another student  essentially the same students who the Joneses contend leveled additional charges at Regina. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that normally a pupil should be provided a list of witnesses along with an explanation of the charges. Keough, 748 F.2d at 1083. In Wilkinson this Court intimated that a list of witnesses was necessary; however, there the school board's own rules required that a witness list be given. Since how much process is due depends on the particular circumstances, a denial of a list of witnesses will not always amount to a prejudicial denial of due process. Particularly, this must be so with student witnesses, since a school board has not been given the power of subpoena. Here the Joneses did obtain a list of witnesses testifying to the particular charges at the disciplinary review committee hearing. The Joneses requested these students to attend the hearing before the full board and these students did appear and were cross-examined. Further, as noted above, the Joneses were given information that other students had mentioned Regina as a drug source, but they did not seek these students' names or ask that they be present. Likewise, the Joneses were not denied confrontation rights. The cases gathered in Annot., Admissibility of Hearsay Evidence in Student Disciplinary Proceedings, 30 ALR 4th 935-39 (1984), seem to suggest that courts will not uphold actions taken based solely upon hearsay statements of students, see De Jesus v. Penberthy, 344 F. Supp. 70 (D.Conn. 1972); Tibbs v. Board of Education, 59 N.J. 506, 284 A.2d 179 (1971), but that hearsay testimony from school employees is apparently treated differently, and admitting this type of hearsay does not deprive a student of due process. See Tasby v. Estes, 643 F.2d 1103 (5th Cir.1981); Boykins v. Fairfield Board of Education, 492 F.2d 697 (5th Cir.1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 962, 95 S.Ct 1350, 43 L.Ed.2d 438 (1975); Racine Unified School District v. Thompson, 107 Wis.2d 657, 321 N.W.2d 334 (Ct.App. 1982), compare Franklin v. District School Board, 356 So.2d 931 (Fla.Ct.App. 1978) (hearsay testimony alone insufficient by statute). In summary, we note that the Board of Trustees of the Pascagoula Municipal Separate School District might not have denied Regina Jones due process in this case, but surely it granted the barest minimum and no more. Especially where charges of misconduct are denied and proof is based solely on testimony of other students, school boards should be especially sensitive to rights of students to know the complete nature of the charges. Though confrontation may not be an absolute necessity  or even advisable  in every case, written statements should ordinarily be provided. Especially where there are multiple allegations, findings of fact should be made. School boards should take note that though courts should not become involved in running schools, expulsion and suspension are severe sanctions requiring solemn attention to a pupil's rights. However, based upon this record we find sufficient evidence to support the expulsion and, therefore, the judgment of the Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, dated the 20th day of May, 1986, upholding the expulsion of Regina Jones from the Pascagoula Municipal Separate School District for the remainder of the 1985-86 school year, is affirmed. AFFIRMED. ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., HAWKINS, P.J., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, ANDERSON, GRIFFIN and ZUCCARO, JJ., concur.