Opinion ID: 1390955
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Inquiry Should be Allowed

Text: How can it be determined that the members of an administrative board are not prejudiced against an accused unless his or her attorney is permitted to inquire into the question? [3] It is not doubted that the men and women who serve on school boards are people of good will and high purpose  that is taken for granted. They would not submit to the massive discomfort and contentious thanklessness of school board public service if that were not the case. [4] But that is not the question. The question is: The Board had originated and adopted the complaint and resolution against the teacher  where criticism of and dissatisfaction with his teaching is charged, thereby bringing him before the membership to defend himself in humiliation and chagrin. Are the individuals who compose that Board, nonetheless, people of such unique mental and emotional attribute as to permit them to stand  as a class  so high above and beyond the pale and impact of human experience that they are not even subject to the implant of a prejudice which they might not be able to discard or erase no matter how hard they tried? [5] It was the thought of Anatole France that each of us has his own prejudice but the greatest prejudice is with him who says he has none. [6]